Pink Palace - Rosé Wine Museum — Attraction in Vila Nova de Gaia

Note to the uninitiated - this is NOT a museum full of art and antiquities where you can’t touch anything; it’s the exact opposite! It’s basically FUN HOUSE FOR ADULTS and a rose wine tasting at the same time. This doesn’t mean that you won’t come out learning a lot about rose wine – there are placards everywhere explaining how it’s made, which countries produce and it and which countries imbibe it, but what I found most interesting is how it was revered by royalty back in the day (legend has it that Louis XIV noticed the joyful demeanor of the workmen at Versailles and discovered that they were drinking Rosé des Riceys, a pink wine from the Champagne region, so he tried it himself and took a real shine to it, making it famous among the elite of the time) and now it’s still beloved by royalty and wanna-be royalty (Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex has recently launched a brand) and American celebrities go absolutely ga-ga over the pink stuff and many are affiliated with certain brands like John Legend, Cameron Diaz, Jon Bon Jovi, Drew Barrymore, and Post Malone (Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie are still battling over who will get the shares in their rose winery, Miraval). Rosé has become so popular in posh places like the Hamptons that people are worried it’s going to run out every summer! (Quelle Horreur!) Here’s how the Pink Palace Experience works.. You get a bracelet at the entrance with 5 little buttons inserted. Scattered throughout the rooms that are set up cleverly and creatively like Broadway stage sets, you'll find wine tasting stations. You trade one of the buttons on your bracelet for a glass of Rosé wine served by a charming young lady who will explain to you about how the wine was made, tell you where it was produced, and answer your questions about it. (4 of the wines I tasted were from Portugal, 1 was from France). I won’t want to be a spoiler and overshare what all of the rooms looked like and all the cool things you could do in them, but you will be able to tell from my photos that the purpose of it all was to have fun – pure, unabashed unapologetic fun, that will make you feel like a little kid again! OK, fine, maybe the World of Wine IS a tourist trap (at the end, you end up in a gift shop) but let me tell you, IT WORKED! When I came out the other end, I felt only a little bit poorer but many years younger! And I met a super cool couple from Colombia that recently relocated to Porto and we took pics of each other going through the crazy rooms and exchanged WhatsApp info so now I have a Porto connection all because of the Pink Palace. Uh-huh, that's right. So don't second guess yourself or take yourself too seriously....

We had a lovely time on our hen do here, enjoying the wine and the photo opportunities. The facilities were fun and very enjoyable.

The most special part of this venue though is Ivo the staff member who assisted us with our tourism questions and helped us with our onwards plans and other fun activities to partake in, in the Wow facilities. He was so helpful, patient, kind and a credit to the company, I would honestly recommend this to anyone who wants a fun hour with wine and fun photos and a ball pit, but mostly: super knowledgeable, helpful, kind and attentive staff throughout the experience who are and to assist in at least two languages (Portuguese and English).

For anyone reading this review from the organisation, Ivo is a credit to your company and embodies the type of customer service, naturally, that companies waste hundreds of thousands of euros paying a consultancy firm to "train"...

This place is amazing - I had so much fun in there and learnt so much more about rosé, and the rosé port is really good, so I bought 3 bottles. However, I realised there’s an issue with the packaging. The cashier lady did offer me a paper ‘box’ for the 3 bottles so that it’s easier for me to carry, but she didn’t give me any bubble wrap/paper wrapping. I’m now struggling to put them in my checked in bag - I’m so worried that the bottles would be broken (fingerscrossed, we’ll know tomorrow), but perhaps this is a development point - to consider offering bubble wraps going forward coz it would be really hard for visitors to bring the bottles home if they...