Everything important happening over the weekend, from Friday to Sunday. It’s already Thursday. We’ve gone through all the listings, drawn our conclusions, and now we’re telling you about them. Save, share, and don’t stay home.
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MEO Kalorama
📅 August 28–30
📍 Parque da Bela Vista, Lisbon
💸 €65 per day, €160 for all three
Kalorama was created by Basque company Last Tour — the same company behind Bilbao BBK Live — and brought the festival to Bela Vista Park in 2022. The name is Greek and means exactly the same thing as “bela vista”: beautiful view.
Kalorama differs from other Portuguese festivals in two ways. Geography: the ordinary residential neighborhood of Chelas — and that is a real feature. From the very first year, the festival has worked with the local association Chelas É O Sítio, founded by rapper Sam The Kid: it has its own artistic residency at the festival, and musicians from the neighborhood — yes, yes, neighborhood rock bands — make it onto the main lineup.
Genre-based division of the days is a new feature this year. Previously, they could easily put Massive Attack and Sam Smith, Pet Shop Boys and Father John Misty on the same evening. This year, for the first time, there are three separate lineups, so a day ticket finally has a particular point.
Friday — pop heavyweights and cold guitars for those who know how not to sleep. Robbie Williams closes the main stage at 1:20 a.m., preceded by Interpol (11:10 p.m.) and MARO (9:00 p.m.). On the Sagres stage: Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff with her organ-driven art pop (6:15 p.m.), Melody’s Echo Chamber (7:55 p.m.), Spanish artist Judeline, bringing flamenco into electronic music (10:05 p.m.), and at 12:15 a.m. Grace Jones. She is 78, and has been to Portugal exactly once in her life — in 2019, at NOS Alive. The two main stages have been scheduled with no overlap whatsoever that day.
Saturday — hip-hop and soul. Vince Staples (7:55 p.m.), Ravyn Lenae (10:00 p.m.), and at 12:05 a.m. Lauryn Hill performs “The Miseducation” in full plus Fugees classics — with Wyclef Jean and sons YG Marley and Zion. The last time she was in Lisbon was in 2010. Black Star pulled out in July, and their slot was taken by Sam The Kid with an orchestra and Orelha Negra (11:00 p.m.) — performing under his own name on this stage for the first time. Plus Criolo, Amaro Freitas and Dino D’Santiago together (6:50 p.m.).
Sunday — the heaviest day. Or rather, the lightest and best day for those who like their music on the heavier side. Turnstile (10:30 p.m.) and Deftones (12:30 a.m.), preceded by Peaches’ electronic eroticism (8:30 p.m.). On Sagres, meanwhile, Freddie Gibbs with The Alchemist (9:30 p.m.) and reunited Clipse (11:30 p.m.). The Panorama dance stage has been handed over entirely to the Príncipe label — DJ Lycox, DJ Marfox, Nídia, that is, Lisbon batida.
Full schedule. Tickets are available for all three days at the time of publication. Gates: Friday 4:30 p.m.–3:30 a.m., weekend days 2:30 p.m.–2:30 a.m. A day ticket allows one entry only: once you leave, you cannot get back in; the three-day pass allows re-entry, but it needs to be exchanged for a wristband at the Bela Vista roundabout. The metro runs later than usual: until 4:00 a.m. on Friday and until 3:00 a.m. on the weekend, Bela Vista station. navegante holders get a €12 discount on a day ticket and €34 off the pass.
Festas do Mar
📅 August 28–30, concerts at 7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
📍 Baía de Cascais
💸 Free
The 29th brings Mozambican Stewart Sukuma with marrabenta and Angolan Matias Damásio with semba. The 28th is Portuguese pop; skip it if you don’t sing along. On the 30th at 3 p.m., fishing boats head out in a procession for Our Lady of Seafarers — the weekend’s best picture, and it’s free.
Festival Inferno das Febras
📅 August 28–29, gates at 4:00 p.m.
📍 Parque de Lazer de Casais, Lousada
💸 Two days — €25, one day — €18
For the eighth year, LSD Bookings brings Whores from Atlanta on the 28th, Fugitive with Power Trip musicians on the 29th, plus Arkangel and Belzebong. The Iberian Festival Awards calls it the best small festival in Iberia. Forty minutes from Porto; from Lisbon, only if heavy music is a way of life.
Somersby Out Jazz
📅 August 30, 5:00 p.m. — until sunset
📍 Parque Urbano do Jamor, Oeiras
💸 Free
Milton Gulli, Lisbon musician of Mozambican origin and co-founder of Cacique’97, followed by Angolan DJ Lady G Brown, whose sets range from Fela Kuti to Afro-house. Blanket, grass, sunset. The festival is twenty years old, and this is the last Sunday in Jamor this season.
Bach: Sonata No. 1 and Partita No. 1 for Solo Violin
📅 August 30, 11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
📍 Igreja de São Nicolau, Porto
💸 €20, children under 16 free
Forty-five minutes of Bach in the middle of touristy Ribeira. Gaspar Santos plays two of the six pieces Bach wrote around 1720, in a Baroque church dating from 1671. If you’re in Porto on Sunday morning, this is a good way to spend the time before noon.
Arredas Folk Fest
📅 August 27–29, from 7:30 p.m.
📍 Tregosa River Park, Barcelos
💸 Free, camping included
Go for Tanxugueiras, the Galician trio that won around 70% of the audience vote in Spain’s 2022 Eurovision selection, only to lose the jury vote. One stage stands over the Neiva riverbed. The festival ends Saturday, so either go for the whole weekend or don’t go.
Festival Les Siestes
📅 August 28–29, Friday 6:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m., Saturday 6:00 p.m.–midnight
📍 Jardim da Sereia, Coimbra
💸 Free
Born in Toulouse in 2002, Les Siestes brings experimental music to city parks. Friday: Alana Vegana, feeo, Daisy Ray and Gil.Barte; Saturday: Just Fish, Ottomani Parker and Malesa. Ambient, noise, drone, dub, techno, trip-hop and more — all for €0.
If experimental electronics aren’t your thing, six hours on the grass may feel long. But where else will you hear this? Afterparty on the 29th at O Teatrão until 6 a.m. — €10 presale, €15 at the door.
Dance
Fuse Records: 15 Years
📅 August 29, 3:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m.
📍 Anfiteatro de Pedra, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisbon
💸 Ticket
Booka Shade are playing their final concert here — not “taking a break,” but saying a final goodbye to the stage, and the live set of the duo whose “Body Language” was on every dance floor in Europe in the mid-2000s will never happen again. Ten hours across two stages in a stone amphitheater, with Moullinex alongside them; this is worth moving all your other Saturday plans around.
Arrábida Electrónica
📅 August 29, 6:00 p.m.–4:00 a.m.
📍 Parque Urbano de Albarquel, Setúbal
💸 From €20, children under 11 free
DJ Vibe and Rui Vargas — the very figures who helped shape Portuguese electronic music in the 1990s — are playing in Setúbal for the first time in more than ten years, and they’re playing on the banks of the Sado, with the Arrábida hills on the horizon. First edition, limited capacity, no re-entry — arrive at sunset and stay until morning.
Brunch Electronik Porto
📅 August 29, 2:00–10:00 p.m.
📍 Parque da Cidade, Porto
💸 €32 including fees
The Barcelona-born daytime open-air series is coming to Porto for the first time — headliner South African artist Shimza, followed by Tiago Cruz, Martim Rola, Sollu and Isis Sage. This is a debut, not a major event: if you’re not in Porto and weren’t planning to go, there’s no need to make the trip.
Brunch Electronik #5: Charlotte de Witte
📅 August 30, 2:00–10:00 p.m.
📍 Lagoa Branca, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisbon
💸 Ticket, 18+
Belgian techno heavyweight Charlotte de Witte is closing out the season, and the final Brunch under the pines of Tapada da Ajuda will bring the whole city together. Tickets are selling fast; entry is strictly with the original ID document, and there is no re-entry.
Bungee at Cavo Rooftop
📅 August 30, 4:00–11:00 p.m.
📍 Terminal de Cruzeiros, Av. Infante Dom Henrique, Lisbon
💸 Free
A riverside terrace, Ukrainian DJs DARIAH and OLI LIU, plus Portuguese artists NEAPO and Rui Alves. A way to close out Sunday without buying a ticket.
See
From Here to Ear v.26 — birds play electric guitars
📅 until August 31, 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. (Friday until 9:00 p.m.)
📍 MAAT Gallery, Lisbon
💸 €12–16, children under 12 free
Twenty electric guitars and a hundred zebra finches that land on the strings and play them — Celeste Boursier-Mougenot has brought his best-known work to Lisbon for the first time in the project’s thirty-year history and for the first time in Portugal. Go now: everything closes on the 31st, and on Friday after 7 p.m. the ticket costs half as much.
Feira do Livro do Porto
📅 until September 6, weekdays 12:00–9:00 p.m., weekends from 11:00 a.m.
📍 Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, Porto
💸 Free
One hundred and forty-four publisher and second-hand book stalls in the gardens above the Douro, plus twenty concerts on the Concha Acústica stage — on the 29th at 7:00 p.m., Mão Verde with rapper Capicua; on the 30th at noon, a Porta-Jazz set. The talks are in Portuguese, but you don’t need the language for the books, music or river view.
Worten Mock Fest
📅 August 28–30
📍 Cinema São Jorge, Avenida da Liberdade 175, Lisbon
💸 €25–45, 16+
Three nights of stand-up in the halls of the old cinema on Avenida da Liberdade: Chris D’Elia on the 28th at 10:00 p.m., Michelle Wolf on the 29th at 8:00 p.m., Sam Morril on the 30th — all in English. For those who don’t speak Portuguese, this is one of the few comedy festivals in the country worth going to.
FUSO — video art festival
📅 August 28 and 29, screenings at 10:00 p.m.
📍 Palácio Sinel de Cordes (28th) and MAAT Central (29th)
💸 Free
The eighteenth edition of Portugal’s only video art festival: on the 28th, the garden of Palácio Sinel de Cordes hosts a program curated by Kunsthalle Lissabon about body and territory; on the 29th at MAAT, the competition section, the announcement of the EDP/MAAT Prize winners and the closing party. A nighttime open-air screening at the end of August is the kind of thing worth leaving the house for, even if video art means nothing to you.
Eat/Drink
Festival da Sopa da Pedra
📅 August 26–30
📍 Parque das Tílias, Almeirim
💸 Free
Four thousand liters of pork, bean and mint soup, cooked by fourteen local associations. Eleven tents, same menu and price. Proceeds go to the associations. On Saturday, Ferreira do Alentejo brings its cuisine; Sunday closes with Fernando Daniel.
Festival da Sardinha na Telha e da Batata n’Areia
📅 August 28–30, dinner Friday and Saturday, lunch Sunday
📍 Residents’ Association Gardens, Praia da Tocha, Cantanhede
💸 Free entry, food at symbolic prices
Sardines baked on roof tiles and potatoes buried in salty sand with a fire on top — an old arte xávega fishing tradition. For the tenth year, locals keep it alive. Fires depend on the fire-risk level; if banned, potatoes are baked for demonstration, while the sardines are served anyway.
ZimbraMel
📅 August 28–30, 10:00 a.m.–11:30 p.m.
📍 Parque Augusto Pólvora, Maçã, Sesimbra
💸 Free
For the twenty-seventh year, local beekeepers sell honeys from the Arrábida hills: rosemary, thyme, myrtle and rockrose. Plus Azeitão cheese, wood-fired bread and a best-honey competition. A relaxed family fair.
Vindimas “Manta de Retalhos” — Soalheiro
📅 until August 30, from 9:30 a.m. for the whole day
📍 Monção and Melgaço, near the Spanish border
💸 €75, reservation required, groups of six
Take pruning shears and harvest alongside owners of one of 700 tiny plots worked by more than 200 families — hence “patchwork quilt.” Then: village lunch, winery visit during harvest and an experimental cellar working with Alvarinho. Three days remain in the season.
Activities
Vizinhanças: last day of the season
📅 August 30, 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
📍 Parque da Pasteleira, Porto
💸 Free
A botanical walk with Luís Alves at 11:00 a.m., plus folk music at 3:00 p.m., Pé de Vento at 4:00, a Bollywood dance workshop at 5:00, ben&G at 6:00, and jewelry, children’s and senior bike activities throughout the day. The program closes for the year after this.
Morcegos no Castelo
📅 August 28, 8:30 p.m., around two hours
📍 Castelo de São Jorge, Lisbon
💸 Ticket, 5+
Biologists from Biota provide ultrasonic detectors and lead a night search for the castle’s six bat species, from horseshoe bats to common pipistrelles. The nearly empty castle at night is a bonus.
Porto Saudável
📅 August 29, 10:00 a.m.
📍 Jardim de Arca d’Água, Porto
💸 Free, registration required
A five-kilometer city walk with physical education specialists, through historic neighborhoods for all ages and mobility levels. It’s a municipal wellness walk, not a tour.
Massa Crítica do Porto
📅 August 28, gathering at 6:30 p.m., start at 7:00 p.m.
📍 Praça Marquês, Porto
💸 Free
A bike ride on the last Friday of every month. Bring a bicycle, e-bike, scooter or other non-motorized transport, ride together, then chat. The point is taking over the road with bikes.
Where to Go with Kids?
Histórias com Magia para Dragõezinhos
📅 August 29, 11:00–11:50 a.m.
📍 Museu FC Porto, Porto
💸 Ticket
An interactive storytelling program for children aged 3–10. The August edition, “Na Praia dos Tesouros,” takes young viewers on a story full of adventure and magic, led by Rui Ramos from the O Baú do Contador project.
A Fada Jújú
📅 August 29, 5:30 p.m.
📍 Parque Urbano da Quinta da Marialva, Corroios
💸 Free
An interactive children’s show about Jújú the fairy, who uses music, dance, imagination and sign language to talk to children about inclusion and accepting differences.
Pequenos Jardins Secretos
📅 August 29, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
📍 Museu Aurélia e Sofia de Souza, Porto
💸 Free
A family creative workshop with Gonçalo Fonseca. Participants create their own miniature garden from cardboard, paper and other materials — complete with lakes, trees, bridges and little figures. For children aged 5+, maximum 16 participants, advance registration required.
Na Onda do Oceano
📅 August 28, 4:00 p.m.
📍 Oceanário de Lisboa
💸 Ticket
A family educational program about the ocean and its inhabitants. Through games and activities, children and adults learn about marine life and biodiversity together.
O Tesouro dos Estilos Perdidos
📅 August 30, 10:30 a.m.
📍 Parque Botânico do Monteiro-Mor / Museu Nacional do Traje, Lisbon
💸 Free
A family treasure hunt through the botanical park: participants follow clues and search for different corners of the garden while learning curious facts about the history of fashion connected to the nearby Museu Nacional do Traje. Free to join, but advance registration is required.
What Else Is Interesting
Feira da Luz
📅 August 29–September 27, weekend concerts at 9:30 p.m.
📍 Largo e Jardim da Luz, Carnide, Lisbon
💸 Free
The fair is more than 500 years old: it grew out of the medieval romaria to the Nossa Senhora da Luz sanctuary, and the pot sellers, fruit vendors and basket makers who came to trade with pilgrims never went away — they just now have to share the space with carousels, an escape room, farturas stalls and a stage. It’s Lisbon’s oldest fair and the last of the city’s big festas to stretch summer into the end of September. The fair runs for a month, with concerts every weekend.
Santo Ovídio and Feira das Cebolas
📅 August 25–30
📍 Monte de Santo Ovídio and Praça 5 de Outubro, Castelo da Maia
💸 Free
An onion fair on top of a hill that was a fortified settlement long before a saint appeared here. Santo Ovídio himself is the patron saint of those who lose their hearing, and local tradition also makes him the protector of unfaithful husbands — which says a lot about the sense of humor with which people here approach their own piety. Onions, garlic, pumpkins, a dozen varieties of legumes and unglazed terracotta are brought up the hill — farmers from Maia and neighboring municipalities sell exactly what their great-grandparents sold. Worth going if you’re in Porto and willing to get up early: the fair opens at 9 a.m., and by noon the most interesting things are already gone.
