Half-Day Tour by Van: a visit to the Portuguese Industrial Tourism, a Tour to São João da Madeira Town.

Every day we dress differently, with different clothing and footwear, but have you ever thought about the whole work that is behind the production of all these goods? Portugal is a country well-known for its highly productive and manufacturing component, as ceramic, metallurgical products, textiles and shoes, goods which are exported all over the world. 

This tour is a good way to access to a different side of tourism in Portugal, the Industrial Tourism. With this Tour, you will have a direct contact with the daily duties of two different factories, from the initial design of the product, until the employees who manufacture. You will have the chance to observe the production line and to see the internal operation/procedure.

The group leaves from Porto towards to São João da Madeira, a city located more or less 30 minutes away of Porto.

During the Tour we will take you on an epic journey, visiting two of the following Factories and/or Institutions: Héliotextil, a company that creates, develops and produces labels, transfers, elastics, among other accessories; Cortadoria Nacional do Pêlo dedicated to the preparation of the leather used for hats; The Shoes factory Helsar, an ex-libris regarding the shoes making, exporting its footwear worldwide (it is well reputed for his handcrafted working allied to the modern design); Viarco, is the only pencil factory in Portugal, and probably one of the most versatile in the world; Everest Company, currently has 70 employees in the production of high quality of shoes; Fepsa, being nowadays a world leader in the production of quality felt hats.

After visiting two of these institutions or factories, the group will go to the Welcome Centre and then takes the van to go back to Porto.