How we research & earn
The short version: official sources, dated checks, no invented experiences, labelled partner links, and a real inbox for corrections.
Where our facts come from
We build every guide from official and primary sources and link them on the page. The ones we use most are:
- Transport: Comboios de Portugal (CP) timetables and fare tables, Metro do Porto timetables and fares, STCP for buses and historic trams, and ANA for the airport.
- Public authorities: Câmara Municipal do Porto and Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Gaia (tourist tax), Visit Porto (the city’s tourism office), UNESCO, Portugal’s weather institute (IPMA) and the U.S. Department of State for travel documents.
- Wine: the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) and each Port house’s own visitor pages.
- Venues and businesses: official websites for opening hours, inclusions and published prices.
Where sources disagree, we say so on the page and send you to the official one. Where a number changes daily, such as hotel rates or tour prices, we leave it out rather than guess.
How facts are checked and dated
- Every guide has a Key facts box with links and a “Last checked” month.
- Every guide shows a Last updated date in its byline.
- Timetables and fares carry the date they are valid from, such as CP’s Douro timetable valid since 5 August 2026.
- We re-check prices, timetables and taxes before each update.
What we will and won’t claim
Porto Pulse guides are research guides, not travel diaries. We don’t claim to have stayed in hotels, taken tours or eaten in restaurants unless a page says so explicitly, and we don’t publish invented reviews, ratings, quotes or personas. Descriptions of named hotels, lodges and venues come from their own published information, and we say so on the page.
How we use software tools
We use software, including AI writing and research tools, to help gather sources, organise information and draft text. Before anything is published, every fact on the page is checked against the source we link, and nothing is presented as a first-hand account.
How we earn money
Porto Pulse is free to read. It earns commissions when readers book through some partner links for hotels, tours, transport, insurance and eSIMs. You pay the same price. Partner links are labelled on the page, marked rel="sponsored" in the code, and summarised in a disclosure line near the top of every page that has them. Commission never decides what we recommend or how we order options. See the affiliate disclosure for the full list of partners.
Corrections
If you find an error, email contact@portopulse.com with the page and what is wrong. We check it against the source, fix it if it is wrong, and update the page’s “Last updated” date. For example, in October 2026 we corrected our Douro pages to say that most direct trains to Pinhão leave from Porto Campanhã rather than São Bento.
Contact
Last updated: 30 Oct 2026.