Moving to Portugal Forums

Nightlife

magnusiax — Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:36 am

Author: magnusiax

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:36 am

What's new in Portugal? Can someone share information where is the famous night life of gigs in Portugal? Thanks.

Dermalogica Products insalon & online in Portugal

Senses Skin Care — Thu May 28, 2009 12:31 pm

Author: Senses Skin Care

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:31 pm

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Pizza in Gois

omostra06 — Wed May 13, 2009 10:32 am

Author: omostra06

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:32 am

I like pizza too, in Tomar we have about 4 great italian resturants as well as the run of the mill pizza delivery places, the portuguese must like food from around the world too, the chinese is always full and a another chinese resturant has just opened in Town. and the place that sells kebabs is always busy with students, nothing changes..

anyone thinking of visiting Tomar, we have over one hundred returants, here are a few of my favorites,
http://www.gekkoportugal.com/eating_out_in_tomar.htm

food and drink in Portugal info.
http://www.gekkoportugal.com/food%20and%20drink%20in%20portugal.htm

FOOD & DINING IN PORTUGAL

Portugal Info — Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:54 pm

Author: Portugal Info

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:54 pm

FOOD & DINING IN PORTUGAL

Portuguese food is distinctive and varied, featuring many regional specialities that have evolved from local traditions and ingredients.
Much of Portuguese cooking is spice based, thanks largely to Vasco da Gama and the other navigators of his time. He and his seafaring countrymen traversed the globe collecting pepper, cloves, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a range of savoury foods which serve as the base of many dishes today.

A typical meal in Portugal starts with a selection of appetizers such as goat of sheep's cheese, pâté, olives, cornbread and delicious smoked ham called presunto.

Soup (sopa) is a regular feature on the restaurant menus, normally made on the premises with fresh ingredients bought at the local market. Vegetable soup (sopa de legumes) is very common and always a good choice, or the traditional caldo verde - a soup made with potatoes, shredded cabbage and smoked sausage. Most seaside restaurants serve a delicious fish soup (sopa de peixe), made from fresh pieces left over from the main dishes.

Fish is a mainstay of Portuguese cuisine, particularly sardines (sardinhas) and the ever-present dried codfish known as bacalhau. Other popular fish dishes include hake (pescada), sole (linguado), salmon (salmão), trout (truta) and monkfish (tamboril). Some of Europe's tastiest seafood (marisco) can be found in restaurants up and down Portugal. Lobster (lagosta) is widely available, while crab (sapateira), clams (ameijoas), mussels (mexilhões) and prawns (gambas) are normally good value.

Portuguese meat is both tasty and safe to eat, particularly pork (porco) which for centuries has been an important livestock in the country's rural economy. The annual slaughter (a matança do porco) between December and Easter is still a major event in the winter calendar of most farms and villages. In the Bairrada region north of Coimbra, many restaurants specialise in roast sucking pig (leitão assado). Some parts of the pig in feijoada, a bean stew made with black pudding (morcela) and pork knuckle.

DINING IN LISBON

The explosion of restaurants in Lisbon in the late 20th and early 21st centuries indicates that the Portuguese regard dining just as seriously as Spaniards. High prices have not suppressed their appetites, and residents of the capital are dining out more frequently than in the past.

Plenty of restaurants serve the usual fish and shellfish, and many erstwhile Portuguese colonials from Brazil, and even Mozambique and Goa, have opened restaurants in the capital. The menus in the top establishments remain on par with those of Europe's leading restaurants. In Lisbon, you'll encounter the best of Portuguese cooking mixed with continental classics.

You needn't pay exorbitant prices for top-quality food. Restaurants featuring Portuguese and foreign fare -- from beer-and-steak taverns to formal town house dining rooms to cliff-side restaurants with panoramic views -- suit all budgets. For the best value, look for the "tourist," or fixed-price menu, which usually includes two or three courses, and sometimes wine, for far less than ordering a la carte. You might also want to consider an evening meal at a fado cafe. Lisboans tend to eat much later than most American, Canadian, and British visitors, although not as late as their Spanish neighbors. Some restaurants (including Gambrinus, Bachus, and Cervejaria Trindade) stay open very late.

A Picnic in a "Green Lung"--Lisbon has many "green lungs" (public parks) where you can go with picnic fixings. Of these, the most appealing is the Jardim Botânico, Rua do Alegria (tel. 21/362-25-02), with its ornate iron benches and shrubs and trees from all parts of the world. A good place to stock up is Pingo Doce, Rua do 1 de Dezembro 81 (tel. 21/342-74-95). To accompany your sandwiches, you'll find a wide selection of cheese and wine, along with fresh fruits and breads. You can also order a roast chicken for 5€ ($6.25) per kilo (2.2 lb.). It's open daily from 8:30am to 8pm (Metro: Rossio and Restauradores).

DINING IN PORTO

When Prince Henry the Navigator was rounding up the cattle in the Douro Valley to feed his men aboard the legendary caravels, he shipped out the juicy steaks and left the tripe behind. The people of Porto responded bravely and began inventing recipes using tripe. To this day they carry the appellation "tripe eaters," and it has become their favorite dish. To sample this specialty, the adventurous can order tripas à moda do Porto (tripe stewed with spicy sausage and string beans).

"Porting" & Dining -- Much of the character, architecture, and history of Porto is derived from its wine trade. As such, you'd be well advised to take a morning tour of two or three of the wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia, learning about the nuances of port and the vast amounts of time and labor that go into it. And if you happen to be on that side of the river already, consider a lunch at a restaurant that's richly permeated with the old-fashioned mystique of the port industry, Barão Fladgate, Rua do Choupelo 250, Vila Nova de Gaia (tel. 22/374-28-00; www.tresseculos.pt). Owned and operated by the Taylor Wine Company, and set within the walled compound the company maintains on a hillside high above the Douro, it's slow, graceful, and much more formal and old-world than any other restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia. In some ways, it's a gastronomic showcase for the port wine industry and the Taylor Wine Company, in particular.

If you arrive on foot, expect to be seriously winded by the time you reach the restaurant, thanks to the steep uphill climb past forbidding stone walls that line the narrow streets on either side. Once at a table, you'll be offered a glass of Taylor (white port) and then be presented with a list of the company's other products by a formally dressed battalion of waiters. Menu items are strictly Portuguese, including dried cod with fresh cream sauce, pork medallions with caramelized pineapple, and old-fashioned specials including a cozhinado (stew) of the day. As you dine, views of Porto, just across the river, spread out across the panorama. Main courses cost 8€ to 15€ ($10-$19) each. Meals are served daily 12:30 to 3pm. During the month of August, the restaurant is also open for dinner every Monday to Saturday from 7:30 to 10:30pm. Reservations are required.

INTERESTING PLACES TO DINE

Clara (Lisbon; tel. 21/885-30-53): This elegant citadel with its soft piano music is a refined dining room serving a remarkable Portuguese and international cuisine that has made it a favorite among serious palates. The chefs take special care with all their ingredients, and we sing their praise year after year for their impeccable offerings.

Gambrinus (Lisbon; tel. 21/342-14-66): It isn't as upscale as some of its competitors or the preferred rendezvous of the country's most distinguished aristocrats. Nonetheless, this is one of the hippest, best-managed seafood restaurants in Lisbon; the stand-up bar proffers an astonishing array of shellfish. Enjoy a glass of dry white port accompanied by some of the most exotic seafood in the Atlantic.

Casa da Comida (Lisbon; tel. 21/388-53-76): This restaurant is probably at its best on foggy evenings, when roaring fireplaces remove the damp chill from the air. Don't let the prosaic name fool you -- some visitors prefer its Portuguese-French cuisine over the food at any other restaurant in Lisbon. Portions are ample, and the ambience is bracing and healthful.

Conventual (Lisbon; tel. 21/390-92-46): The facade that shields this restaurant from the medieval square is as severe as that of a convent -- which, in fact, it used to be. Inside you're likely to find the prime minister of Portugal dining with assorted ministers. You'll always find a collection of panels from antique churches, and rich but refined cuisine based on the bourgeois traditions of Old Portugal.

Cozinha Velha (Queluz; tel. 21/435-02-32): During the 1700s, food for the monarchy's most lavish banquets was prepared here (the name means "old kitchen"). Today the high-ceilinged kitchens serve an unusual restaurant whose cuisine reflects the old days of Portuguese royalty. Dishes include cataplana, a savory fish stew with clams, shrimp, and monkfish. Equally outstanding is soufflélike bacalhau espiritual (codfish), which takes 45 minutes to prepare and should be ordered when you make your reservation. The restaurant is celebrated for its desserts, many of which are based on ancient convent recipes.

Restaurante Porto de Santa Maria (Guincho; tel. 21/487-10-36 or 21/487-02-40): The understated beige-and-white decor highlights the restaurant's bubbling aquarium and sea view. The menu lists nearly every conceivable kind of shellfish, served in the freshest possible combinations in a justifiably popular dining room.

Four Seasons (in the Palácio Hotel, Estoril; tel. 21/464-80-00): This tranquil restaurant, with its rich colors and artful accents, has been a fixture in Estoril since the days when deposed European monarchs assembled here with their entourages. High glamour, old-world service, and impeccably prepared international cuisine are this place's hallmarks.

Casa Velha (Quinta do Lago, near Almancil; tel. 28/939-49-83): On a rocky hilltop above the modern resort of Quinta do Lago (with which it is not associated), this restaurant occupies a century-old farmhouse, with kitchens modernized for the preparation of gourmet food. The sophisticated cuisine includes preparations of upscale French and Portuguese recipes.

Churrascão do Mar (Porto; tel. 22/609-63-82): Porto's most elegant restaurant, serving a Brazilian cuisine, is housed in a 19th-century antique manor restored to its Belle Epoque glory. The town's finest chefs turn out a savory cuisine specializing in grilled seafood.

SHOPPING IN PORTUGAL

Portugal Info — Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:40 pm

Author: Portugal Info

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:40 pm

SHOPPING IN PORTUGAL

GENERAL

Shopping in Portugal is not so expensive in comparison with other European countries. The assortment isn't as extensive as in the neighbouring countries either. Everywhere in Portugal you can buy directly from the producer. It is not only for economic products, but also for arts and crafts, despite Portugal's modernisation. In the morning market which is held mostly in the centre of the town, one can buy the daily needs.

The shops are opened from 9.00a.m. to 7.00 p.m. and big supermarkets have usually opened 7 days a week from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.

SOUVENIRS/ GIFTS

Portugal has a fine tradition of handicrafts, most notably wickerwork, ceramics, embroidery, rugs, copper, brass, wrought iron, woodwork and leather. It is also popular for its leather goods, which mostly come from sheep and lambskins. Hundreds of shops all over the country sell leather jackets, coats, gloves, pocketbooks, wallets etc.

Filigree jewellery is another best buy, particularly from the Minho region in the north, where gold and silver threads are worked into fine, intricately designed brooches, earrings and pendants.

Artesanato Regional Português
One of the oldest handicraft shops in Lisbon, with a rich assortment of genuine hand made regional products displayed in 300 square metres of showrooms.
Praça dos Restauradores, 64

Loja dos Descobrimentos
Located right beside the Casa dos Bicos, this shop stocks a wide variety of regional Portuguese articles, especially hand-painted tiles and ceramics. Also has a workshop where you can watch a craftsman at work.
Rua dos Bacalhoeiros, 12- A.
Lisbon

Centro Colombo
Lisbon's largest shopping centre, this is a leisure complex rather than just a shopping centre, with a multiplex cinema, a health club, golf driving range, bowling alley, funfair and a karting track on the roof. Wheelchairs and pushchairs are available free and there are kiddycars for rent. The nursery, chapel and a breakdown service are downstairs by the car park.
Avenida Lusíada
1500-392 Benfica

Centro Vasco da Gama
A popular shopping destination that can be combined with a visit to the Parque das Nações, the former Expo site. Stores are conveniently clustered by type.
Avenida Dom João II
1990-094 Parque das Nações
Lisbon

MARKETS

Street markets are an integral part of Portuguese life. Most Portuguese towns and cities also have covered markets which are open in the mornings from Monday to Saturday, selling all sorts from fish and vegetables to handicrafts and clothes. Almost every smaller town and village has a weekly market. The majority take place in the morning, although in tourist areas they often continue into the late afternoon. Portugal's most famous market happens every Thursday in Barcelos in the north. Here, visitors can pick up all kinds of souvenirs, including locally made pottery, lace, embroideries and rugs.

Tuesday (and Saturday mornings) - Lisbon's most famous flea market, the Feira da Ladra held in the Alfama district, is good for antiques, bric-a-brac, jewellery, clothes etc.

Wednesday - Cascais

Thursday - Carcavelos

Saturday - Coimbra (on the last Saturday of the month), Estremoz (Saturdays), Lagos (first Saturday), Loulé (Saturdays), Albufeira (second Saturday)

Sunday - Portimão, Oeiras (first Sunday of the month), Sintra's Feira de São Pedro (second and fourth Sundays)

SHOPPING IN LISBON

Shops operate all over the city, but Baixa, in downtown Lisbon, is the major area for browsing. Rua Aurea (Street of Gold, the location of the major jewelry shops), Rua da Prata (Street of Silver), and Rua Augusta are Lisbon's three principal shopping streets. The Baixa shopping district lies between the Rossio and the river Tagus.

Rua Garrett, in the Chiado, is where you'll find many of the more up-market shops. A major fire in 1988 destroyed many shops, but new ones have arisen.

Antiques lovers gravitate to Rua Dom Pedro V in the Bairro Alto. Other streets with antiques stores include Rua da Misericórdia, Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara, Rua da Escola Politécnica, and Rua do Alecrim.

Regardless of where it's made -- from the Azores to the remote northeast province of Trás-os-Montes -- merchandise from all over Portugal ends up in Lisbon stores. But if you're going to a particular province, try to shop locally, where prices are often about 20% less than those in Lisbon. A general exception is the fabled handmade embroideries from Madeira; prices there are about the same as in Lisbon.

Products made of cork, which range from place mats to cigarette boxes, are good buys. Collectors seek out decorative glazed tiles. You also might find good buys in Lisbon in porcelain and china, in fishermen's sweaters from the north, and in fado recordings.

Intricately woven lightweight baskets make attractive, practical gifts. It's best to shop for handmade lace in Vila do Conde, outside Porto, where you get a better buy; many Lisbon outlets carry the lace as well.

The best buy in Portugal, gold, is strictly regulated by the government. Jewelers must put a minimum of 19.2 karats into the jewelry they sell. Filigree jewelry in gold and silver is popular in Lisbon and elsewhere in Portugal. The art of ornamental openwork made of fine gold or silver wire dates to ancient times. The most expensive items -- often objets d'art -- are fashioned from 19 1/4-karat gold. Filigree is often used in depictions of caravels. Less expensive trinkets are often made of sterling silver, sometimes dipped in 24-karat gold.

SHOPPING IN PORTO

Much of Porto's commercial space consists of shops that appeal mainly to residents and, except for their curiosity value, only rarely to international visitors. In recent years, many of these have clustered in shopping malls. The newest and most elegant are the Centro Comercial Peninsular, Praça do Bom Sucesso, and the particularly charming Centro Comercial Via Caterina. It's in the pedestrian zone of the city's most vital shopping street, Rua de Santa Catarina, at the corner of Rua Fernandes Tomar. The storefronts inside duplicate the facades you'd see in a folkloric village of northern Portugal.

If you're looking for the designer wares of noteworthy clothiers from France, Italy, and Spain, these malls will have them. Other shopping malls have a sometimes uneven distribution of upscale and workaday shops. They include the Centro Comercial de Foz, Rua Eugênio de Castro, which is adjacent to the sea and especially pleasant in midsummer, and the Centro Comercial Aviz, Avenida de Boavista, rather inconveniently located in the middle of the city's largest concentration of automobile dealerships. The big but seriously decayed Centro Comercial Brasilia, which is, to an increasing degree, being stocked with inexpensive manufactured goods from Asia, is on Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque. More chic and upscale, with a greater emphasis on clothing, furniture, and housewares, is the Centro Comercial Cidade de Porto, Rua do Bom Sucesso, whose shops are interspersed with restaurants, bars, movie theatres, and cafes.

The local showcase for the fabled Arraiolos carpets is Casa dos Tapetes de Arraiolos, Rua Santa Catarina 570 (tel. 22/205-48-16). The nubby, pure wool carpets of Portugal that teams of women spend hours crafting are sold here in all their glory. Look for symmetrical patterns that make full use of the subtle palettes of grays, blues, greens, and soft reds that have attracted non-Portuguese homeowners to these carpets for many generations.

Cutting-edge home furnishings, most of them in a minimalist Iberian style that evokes the best of the movida movement that swept over Spain after the death of Dictator Francisco Franco, are sold at Móvel, Rua 1 de Maio 243 (tel. 22/961-70-20). For high-quality leather ware, including suitcases, wallets, belts, briefcases, duffel bags, and handbags, go to Haity, Rua de Santa Catarina 212 (tel. 22/205-96-30). At Casa dos Linhos, Rua da Fernandes Tomás 660 (tel. 22/200-00-44), you'll find linen and embroideries -- many of them excellent examples of the exquisite handiwork that has traditionally been produced in the north of Portugal. A bookstore that has been cited as the most beautiful in Iberia, stocking a small percentage of its titles in English, is the Livrario Lello, Rua das Carmelitas 144 (tel. 22/201-81-70). Partly because of its inventories, but especially because of its lavish Art Nouveau design, this is the best-known and most prestigious bookstore in Porto. A fixture among readers in northern Portugal since around 1900, it has two floors of lavishly ornate iron and plasterwork, a small cafe on the second floor, and a staff that's congenial but impossibly slow. And if you're looking for any of the standard international perfumes, as well as more esoteric brands available for the most part only in Iberia, head for Perfumaria Castilho, Rua de Sá de Bandeira 80 (tel. 22/208-56-5.

Among voguish women's fashion designers, Ana Salazar, Rua Nova de Alfândega 65 (tel. 22/203-97-01), is the market leader. In Porto, she maintains a high-tech showroom with a minimum of architectural distractions. Here you'll find women's clothing that's sexy, clingy, and chic, at prices that are expensive compared to most other clothing outlets in Portugal but relatively reasonable when compared to the clothing of other designers in, let's say, Paris. In addition to office wear, eveningwear, and sportswear, you'll find bags, shoes, and other accessories.

NIGHTLIFE IN PORTUGAL (LISBON & PORTO)

Portugal Info — Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:07 pm

Author: Portugal Info

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:07 pm

NIGHTLIFE IN PORTUGAL (LISBON & PORTO)

LISBON'S NIGHTLIFE

If you have only 1 night in Lisbon, spend it at a fado club. The nostalgic sounds of fado, Portuguese "songs of sorrow," are at their best in Lisbon -- the capital attracts the greatest fadistas (fado singers) in the world. Fado is high art in Portugal, so don't plan to carry on a private conversation during a show -- it's bad form. Most of the authentic fado clubs cluster in the Bairro Alto and in the Alfama, between St. George's Castle and the docks. You can "fado hop" between the two quarters. If you're visiting the Alfama, have the taxi driver let you off at Largo do Chafariz, a small plaza a block from the harbor; in the Bairro Alto, get off at Largo de São Roque. Most of the places we recommend lie only a short walk away.

Fado outshines all other nighttime entertainment in Lisbon. For a change of pace and more information about nighttime attractions, go to the tourist office which maintains a list of events. Another helpful source is the Agência de Bilhetes para Espectáculos Públicos in Praça dos Restauradores (tel. 21/346-11-89). It's open daily from 9am to 9:30pm; go in person instead of trying to call. The agency sells tickets to most theaters and cinemas.

Also consult a copy of What's On in Lisbon or Your Companion in Portugal, available at most newsstands. You might also consult Sete, a weekly magazine with entertainment listings, or the free monthly guides Agenda Cultural and LISBOaem. Your hotel concierge is also a good bet for information because one of his or her duties is reserving seats. The local newspaper, Diário de Noticias, carries all cultural listings, but only in Portuguese.

By the standards of the United States and Canada, "the party" in Lisbon begins late. Many bars don't even open until 10 or 11pm, and very few savvy young Portuguese would set foot in a club before 1am. The Bairro Alto, with some 150 restaurants and bars, is the most happening place after dark.

Fado Clubs--It isn't necessary to have dinner; you can just have a drink. However, you often have to pay a minimum consumption charge. The music begins between 9 and 10pm, but it's better to arrive after 11pm. Many clubs stay open until 3am; others stay open until dawn.

Coffeehouses

To the Portuguese, the coffeehouse is an institution, a democratic parlor where they can drop in for their favorite libation, abandon their worries, relax, smoke, read the paper, write a letter, or chat with friends about tomorrow's football match.

The coffeehouse in Portugal, however, is now but a shade of its former self. The older and more colorful places, filled with turn-of-the-century charm, are rapidly yielding to chrome and plastic.

One of the oldest surviving coffeehouses in Lisbon, A Brasileira, Rua Garrett 120 (tel. 21/346-95-41; Metro: Rossio), lies in the Chiado district. It has done virtually nothing to change the opulent but faded Art Nouveau decor that has prevailed since it became a fashionable rendezvous in 1905. Once a gathering place of Lisbon's literati, it was the favored social spot of the Portuguese poet Bocage of Setúbal, whose works are read by high school students throughout Portugal. He was involved in an incident that has since been elevated into Lisbon legend: When accosted by a bandit who asked him where he was going, he is said to have replied, "I am going to the Brasileira, but if you shoot me I am going to another world." Patrons sit at small tables on chairs made of tooled leather, amid mirrored walls and marble pilasters. A statue of the great Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa sits on a chair amid the customers. At a table, sandwiches run 2.20€ to 2.50€ ($2.75-$3.15), pastries are 1.25€ to 2.50€ ($1.60-$3.15), a demitasse costs 1€ to 2€ ($1.25-$2.50), and bottled beer goes for 1.75€ to 2.50€ ($2.20-$3.15). Prices are a bit lower at the bar, but you'll probably want to linger a while -- we recommend sitting down to recover from the congestion and heat. It's open daily from 8am to midnight and accepts cash only.

Although lacking A Brasileira's tradition and style, the Pastelaria Suiça, on the south corner of Praça de Rossio 96 in the Baixa (tel. 21/321-40-90), is a sprawling cafe-pastelaria. It stretches all the way back to the adjoining Praça da Figueira. This house draws more visitors than any other cafe in Lisbon. The outdoor tables fill first, especially in fair weather. In addition to serving an array of coffee and tea, the pastelaria is known for its tempting pastries baked on-site. The atmosphere is boisterous, and the place is generally mobbed. It's open daily from 7am to 9pm.

Another possibility is Versailles, Avenida da República 15A (tel. 21/354-63-40), long known as the grande dame of Lisbon coffeehouses. It's also an ideal place for afternoon tea, in a faded but elegant 60-year-old setting of chandeliers, gilt mirrors, and high ceilings. As an old-fashioned and formal touch, immaculately attired waiters serve customers from silver-plated tea services. In addition to coffee and tea, the house specialty is hot chocolate. The homemade cakes and pastries are delectable. (They're baked on-site.) It's open daily from 7:30am to 10pm. Metro: Saldanha.

The Bar Scene

Port Wine Tasting--Solar do Vinho do Porto (tel. 21/347-57-07) is devoted exclusively to the drinking and enjoyment of port in all its glory and varieties. A quasi-governmental arm of the Port Wine Institute established the bar a few years after World War II as a low-key merchandizing tool. In a 300-year-old setting near the Glória funicular and the fado clubs of the Bairro Alto, it exudes Iberian atmosphere. The lista de vinhos includes more than 200 types of port wine in an amazing variety of sweet, dry, red, and white. A glass of wine costs 1€ to 25€ ($1.25-$31). Open Monday through Saturday from 2pm to midnight, it's located at Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara 45 (Metro: Restauradores; bus: 58 or 100).

Gay & Lesbian Bars & Clubs--Although this ultra-Catholic country remains one of the most closeted in Western Europe, at least eight gay nightspots have sprung up in the district known as Príncipe Real. With each passing year, the gay presence in Lisbon becomes more visible.

INTERESTING PLACES

CLUBS

Ritz Clube
Former cabaret club now with African music groups performing after midnight. Late suppers are served until 03.00.
R. Glória, 57
1200 Lisboa
Open daily 22.00 - 04.00

Bar da Graça
Live music show, theatre, exhibitions
Tv. Parreira, 43
1100 Lisboa
Open 22.00 - 02.00 Monday - Saturday

T-Clube
The local jet-set's favourite. Saturday is 'full-house', with people queuing to get on the dance floor. Also has a terrace with a charming view of the Tagus River. Dress code is smart, so no trainers.
Av. Brasilia, Ed. Espelho d'Água
1300 Lisboa
Open: 13.00 -15.00 and 19.30 - 23.00 Monday to Friday

BARS

Metalúrgica
Modern, atmospheric bar and one of the trendiest in Lisbon.
atmosphere.
Av. 24 de Julho, 110
1200 Lisboa

DISCOS

Abs
A luxurious disco with music for all, from the latest hits to Júlio Iglesias. Food served until 04.00.
R. Dom Luís I, 5
1200 Lisboa
Open: 24.00 - 06.00 Friday and Saturday

Ad Lib
Top floor Oriental style disco decorated in and frequented by people in their 30s and 40s.
R. Barata Salgueiro, 28 - 7º
1250 Lisboa
Open: 23.00 - 04.00

PORTO'S NIGHTLIFE

Porto isn't as vital a centre for fado music as Lisbon, so only a few clubs promote the art form. The most appealing is Mal Cozinhado, Rua do Outeirinho 13 (tel. 22/208-13-19; bus no. 1). The name translates as "badly cooked." Five singers and musicians (three women, two men) perform folkloric guitar music and the evocative, nostalgic lyrics that go with it. They perform in 6-hour stints to an enthusiastic crowd Monday to Saturday beginning at 9:30pm. Reservations are required. A la carte dinners, priced at around 30€ to 40€ ($38-$50) per person, are served beginning at 8:30pm. After the music begins, most people opt just to drink, paying an initial 13€ ($16), which includes the first two drinks. After that, beer costs 5€ ($6.50) a bottle.

Opening in 2005, Casa da Música, Avenida da Boavista 604-610 (tel. 22/012-02-00; www.casadamusica.com), has become the new cultural centre of Porto. Designed by Ellen van Loon and Ram Koolhaas, this house of music contains a 1,250-seat Grand Auditorium and a 315-seat Small Auditorium, plus a Cybermusic Arena, where musicians can install multimedia projects and composers produce electronic works. A complete range of classical and jazz events is presented, with most tickets costing under 25€ ($31), although some performances are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance on their website. The building's daringly avant-garde architecture in a traditional city has caused much controversy, including an auditorium sheathed in plywood and dyed fire-engine red.

Many night owls simply walk through the commercial district, along streets radiating from Rua de Santa Catarina, and stop at any appealing tavern or cafe. If you're looking to dance, try the Bar Indústria, in the Centro Comercial de Foz, Avenida Brasil 843 (tel. 22/617-68-06; bus no. 1). It has a stripped-down interior that caters to a crowd of artists, writers (and their readers), architects, and other well-behaved, cosmopolitan patrons. It's open Friday and Saturday from 10:30pm to 4am.

For years, Disco Swing, in the Centro Commercial Italia, Rua Julio Dinis 766, near Rotonda de Boavista (tel. 22/609-00-19; bus no. 3), has been one of Porto's most popular dance clubs, with a mixed, mainstream clientele that appreciates the broad spectrum of musical forms (rock 'n' roll, '80s-era disco, house, garage, and, in rare instances, rave music) that's presented here. The setting is a battered and dusty shopping centre in a residential neighbourhood near the Rotonda de Boavista. It's open daily from 8pm to 6am. Minimum drink consumption is 4€ to 7€ ($5-$8.75).

If you're looking for a cocktail bar where people in their 50s won't feel hopelessly out of place, head for the Bar Hiva-oa, Av. de Boavista 2514 (tel. 22/617-96-63; bus no. 19).

Set within a graceful three-story 19th-century villa, Triplex, 911 Avenida de Boavista (tel. 22/606-31-64; bus no. 19), contains two bars and a dining room that glitters with crystal chandeliers, lots of room for socializing with strangers, and occasional bouts of live music. Its restaurant is open daily from 12:30 to 3pm and from 6 to 11pm, but frankly, we prefer the bars to the food-service areas. These don't become popular until after around 10pm; they continue to rock and roll till at least 3am. Entrance is free; drinks begin at 4€ ($5).

O Labirinto, Rua Nossa Senhora de Fátima 334 (tel. 22/606-36-65; bus no. 3), is an oddity in Porto. This town house art gallery and bar is as hard to classify as its clientele (mixed, straight, gay, whatever). It's set behind a yellow-tiled facade of a distinguished but battered-looking town house in the Boavista neighbourhood, a 2-minute walk from the Rotunda de Boavista. After you admire the paintings from whatever exhibition is being conducted there at the time, head for the garden, a verdant refuge, or any of the several bars scattered amid its confusingly laid-out spaces. You'll be happiest here if you accept it as a kind of indoor/outdoor salon where paintings are displayed, drinks are served, and dialogues flow. It's open nightly from 9pm till 7am or later, depending on the crowd.

One of our favourite bars and nightclubs in Porto, Aniki Bobo, Rua de Fonte Taurina 36-38 (tel. 22/232-46-19; bus no. 1), is set within a 17th century building a few steps from the port. A team of designers transformed it into a triplex nightclub with three distinctly different ambiences and settings. Hip and counterculture, with an ambience you might have expected within a late-night watering hole in Lisbon, it's named after one of the three or four most famous Portuguese films ever made, a 1930s classic that's immediately recognizable to virtually everyone in Portugal. The clientele here is about 25% to 40% gay, as defined by one of the alert staff members, a percentage that helps transform this place into one of the most frequently recommended counterculture bars in Porto. There's a minimum drink charge of 5€ ($6.25).

A gay hot spot is Moinho de Vento, Rua Sá Noronha 78 (tel. 22/205-68-83; bus nos. 3, 35, or 37), set within a medieval building on a narrow street near the Infante do Sagres Hotel. Only a brass plaque and a bright light that's illuminated every night beginning around 11pm identify this place. Expect a bar area that's really busy only on weekends, a dance floor, some dungeon-inspired artifacts, and a scattering of Portuguese-speaking residents of Porto and the surrounding regions. Entrance is free, and beer begins at around 3€ ($3.75).

Boys 'R US, Rua Dr. Barbosa de Castro 63 (tel. 91/754-99-88; Metro: Trinidade or San Bento), is one of Porto's newest dance clubs, a late-night celebration of loud house and garage-style music, flashing lights, and homosexuality. Set within the warren of narrow medieval streets near the San Bento railway station, it's open Wednesday and Friday to Sunday 11pm to 2:30am, remaining open till between 2 and 4am, depending on business. There's no entrance fee, but everyone is expected to order a minimum of 5€ ($6.25) of drinks during their time inside.

The most beautiful and historic cafe of Porto is Café Majestic, Rua de Santa Catarina 112 (tel. 22/200-38-87; bus nos. 29 or 53), set on an all-pedestrian stretch of the city's busiest shopping street. This cafe evokes the grand era of Porto's gilded age prosperity more artfully than any other establishment in town. It was built in 1921, but because of its neo-baroque detailing, an art historian might be fooled into thinking that it's at least 40 years older than that. Angels and cherubs cavort on the ceiling, leaded glass shimmers, and the Belle Epoque comes alive again within a setting that's surprisingly down-to-earth and workaday. If you don't stop by for a drink or coffee in the evening, you can come here for breakfast, priced from 9€ ($11), or a full-fledged afternoon tea for 8€ ($10), complete with jam, bread, and toast. And if you're looking for a meal, platters -- which include codfish "Oporto style," omelets with port-soaked shrimp, and filet mignon with mushroom sauce -- are priced from 8.25€ to 18€ ($10-$23).

Vila Nova de Gaia, on the opposite side of the Douro River, is a lot less interesting after dark than Porto. But if you happen to be here, or if you're interested in an evening stroll across one of Porto's bridges for a panoramic view of Porto's old harbor, Contra Corrente Bar, Avenida Diogo Leite 282, Vila Nova de Gaia (tel. 22/375-75-77; bus: nos. 32 or 33), is a cozy bar with a waterfront terrace offering a superb vista of Porto. It manages to be both hip and traditional at the same time, welcoming a clientele of locals or workers in the port trade, along with an occasional foreign visitor. Drinks and platters of food are available.

Battered but hip, with hints of the psychedelic era of the 1960s, the 31 (Treintaeum) Bar, 564 Rua do Passeio Alegre in Foz do Douro (tel. 22/618-57-21; bus no. 1), occupies a compact town house on the cobble-covered, seafront main avenue in the residential suburb of Foz. Immediately adjacent and under the same ownership is the Cerveja Viva, where the bar list contains mostly beers, as opposed to the cocktails that are available in the more cutting-edge 31. Many first-timers make it a point to duck into both establishments, just as a comparison, for a quick nip and taste of local nightlife.

For the best view of the raging Atlantic to go with your drink, head for Praia da Luz, Avenida do Brasil (tel. 22/617-32-34; bus nos. 1, 7, 8, or 24), which occupies prime real estate on a rocky shoreline near the point where the Douro empties into the Atlantic. Watching waves from the ocean breaking and frothing from behind large windows is reason enough to visit -- that and catching the live music. It's open daily 9am to 2am.

Somewhat surprisingly, the industrial suburb of Matosinhos, easily reached by bus no. 1, is a new nightlife center for Porto. The site is about 11km (6 3/4 miles) northwest of the historic core of Porto.

The nightclub La Movida, Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo (tel. 22/615-12-65), is set behind what looks like the entrance to a car repair shop. There's no sign in front. Inside you'll find a sprawling warehouse outfitted with artificial palm trees, accessories you might find on a beach in Cuba, and vibrant tones of lime green, lemon yellow, and russet. Latino music prevails here as party-makers dance their nights away, usually with heavy doses of rum- and tequila-based cocktails. The restaurant opens at 8pm on Thursday and Saturday to Tuesday, with a dance action beginning at midnight. The cover charge ranges from 13€ to 15€ ($16-$19), depending on the night of the week.

Estado Novo, Rua Sousa Arosa 722 (tel. 22/938-59-89), in Matosinhos, is one of the most popular and crowded dance clubs in the Porto area, with a hard-dancing, hard-drinking clientele. It's set within a white-sided industrial building, originally built as a warehouse and canning factory. Its name was derived from a tongue-in-cheek reference to a slogan of Salazar, Portugal's once-all-powerful dictator whose call to arms for an estado novo (new state) catalyzed many changes, both good and bad, throughout Portugal. Expect lots of space to mingle and dance, and a catchall, late-night environment that could include just about anything. Hours are Thursday to Saturday 11pm to 4am, with a cover of 9€ to 15€ ($11-$19). This entrance cost is credited against your drink tab. On Thursday, women enter and drink for free.

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