Cold Sore Treatment in Porto

Healthcare in Porto: what visitors and residents should know

How local care works in Porto and across Norte, Portugal — and where an online doctor fits alongside it.

Porto is served by two of the new local health units — ULS de São João and ULS de Santo António — each combining a university hospital centre with health-centre groupings covering different halves of the city and its surrounding municipalities, so which unit you fall under depends on your address rather than on distance. Portugal restructured its health service on 1 January 2024: the five regional health administrations (ARS) were dissolved and replaced by 39 Unidades Locais de Saúde (ULS), each combining hospitals and health centres under one management. For non-emergency symptoms the national triage line SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) assesses you by phone and directs you to self-care, a health centre or an emergency department. EHIC and UK GHIC holders access state care on resident terms. Out of hours, pharmacies run a rota — the farmácia de serviço — posted at every closed pharmacy. Porto's tourism has grown very rapidly around the Ribeira, the port-wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia and the Douro valley cruises, and much of it is short-stay city-break travel where a half-day spent in an emergency department costs a disproportionate share of the trip. The city's climate is Atlantic rather than Mediterranean — considerably wetter and cooler than the Algarve, with a long autumn and winter respiratory season — and its historic centre is steep and heavily cobbled, producing the same pattern of falls and ankle injuries as Lisbon.

• Growing expat and remote-worker community
• Major tourist and wine destination
• Increasingly popular relocation city

Areas we cover around Porto and Norte

An online consultation is not a substitute for emergency care. If you are in Porto and your symptoms are severe or life-threatening, call 112 or go to the nearest emergency department.