Lisbon Entertainment

After you’ve spent the day sightseeing or checking out the capital’s museums, you’ll be eager to unwind and experience what Lisbon has to offer in the evening. Visitors who consider themselves night owls will feel right at home here, as the city comes alive after dusk and its excellent selection of restaurants, bars and discotheques entice residents and visitors alike. Things don’t generally get going until late and partying can often last until the next day.

Nightlife

Lisbon has an incredibly vibrant nightlife. Drinking, dancing, live music and late-night dining are on offer every night of the week until dawn. Most bars are open until at least until 02:00, and discos keep the party going until 06:00.

A wide variety of bars and restaurants are located in popular areas such as the Bairro Alto and Docas waterfront district. Bairro Alto is an ancient quarter that has traditionally been a nightspot, and the area harbours its own unique style. The waterfront area known as Docas is a newer nightlife district in Lisbon, with several bar, restaurants and street cafés.

Gamblers may wish to travel out to the Costa do Estoril, where the Estoril Casino claims to be the largest in Europe.

Theatre and music

Alfama and Bairro Alto are well-known for their fado houses, places where you can enjoy the vibrant guitar music that is particular to Portugal. You can also find some great fado houses in Alcântara, where legend has it that the music originated with sailors many centuries ago. The word fado is usually translated as ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’, and the songs speak of daily life, with sailors having traditionally sung these melancholic songs when at sea.

Lisbon is also heralded for its rich cultural calendar, with top-notch ballet, opera and concerts throughout the year. Check listings for renowned venues such as the Belém Cultural Centre, the Gulbenkian and Culturgest.

Festivals

Several cultural festivals are celebrated in Lisbon throughout the year, many marking the Catholic calendar of holidays and tributes, while the city also heralds several art, fashion and pride festivities as well.

• Festival of the People’s Saints is a joyous citywide celebration commemorating the saints: Anthony, John and Peter. It is the climax of the festival calendar, when paper chains are hung throughout the city’s streets, fado guitar music is played everywhere and residents and visitors eat their weight in popular fish dishes, while Lisboans traditionally exchange love notes (June).
• Carnival celebrations in Lisbon are right out of Rio, with people jamming, street dancing and participating in boisterous parades featuring floats and street artists. The events are free and last throughout the night (February).
• Bullfighting season brings one of the largest such events in the world to Lisbon’s Campo Pequeno bullring, a wonderful Moorish building (May to September).
• Gay Pride Festival comprises a week of films, parties, presentations, debates and drag shows, which are held all across Lisbon, with events culminating in the National Pride March and the subsequent Arrail Pride Party (June).
• Sintra Music Festival is known over the world for delivering classical music concerts and recitals by Portuguese and international performers (July).
• Baixa Anima Street Festival brings musical performances, dancing, street theatre and circus antics to Rua Augusta (July to September).
• Moda Lisboa brings together Portugal’s best designers, who strut their stuff on the catwalk. Lisbon is inundated by high-fashion types and the evenings are filled with after-show-parties (October).
• Noite Magica is Lisbon’s farewell to the year, with hotels hosting spectacular New Year’s Eve parties and festive celebrations taking hold of the streets. A musical festival surrounds the Torre de Belém, with fireworks and a huge outdoor disco (December).