Porto for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Fifty minutes on a flat-bottomed rabelo under all six bridges, which counts as the big thing for the afternoon; the boats leave on the hour.

Dinner at six on the Gaia side: stalls under one roof so everyone chooses something different, and a riverfront to run along after.

The cable car up over the lodge roofs to the Jardim do Morro, then the top deck of the bridge back, which the children will ask to repeat.

Sharks over a walk-through tunnel, rays to touch and otters, an hour and a half; the beach and the fort are across the road after.

Portugal's biggest urban park: lakes with ducks, lawns to run on and a path that comes out at the sea; the nap gap is the bus back.

Dinner at six at the Foz pastry house with a sea terrace: toasties, omelettes and a case of cakes to negotiate over.

The 1930s wooden tram runs along the river to Foz, half an hour of bell-ringing; sit at the front and get off at Passeio Alegre for the garden.

The tram museum in the old power station, where the children can climb into the 1872 horse car and the parents can sit down.

Dinner at six at the sandwich counter near the Clérigos, big filled rolls and a soup, out in forty minutes.

Peacocks on the paths, a playground, and the terraces to look down at the river one more time; flat enough for the pushchair.

Count the 225 steps with them; the top is railed, the bells are loud at the quarter hour, and the ticket includes the church.

Lunch of soup, a toasted sandwich and a pastel de nata each in the 1896 pastry shop, two minutes from the Bolhão metro to the airport.