By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Marchas Populares down Avenida da Liberdade, from around nine in the eveningSaturday 12 June 2027
- The feast day itself, with the mass weddings at the SéSunday 13 June 2027
- Where
- Alfama and the neighbourhood arraiais
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- June
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
Fixed to 12 and 13 June every year because it is a saint’s day, so it does not move. In 2027 both fall at a weekend, which makes the arraiais busier than usual. The wider Festas de Lisboa programme runs across most of June; these two nights are the peak.
The night that matters is the first one, not the saint’s day itself. That is when the Marchas Populares come down Avenida da Liberdade and every neighbourhood arraial runs until it gets light. The following day is the feast proper: a procession, the mass weddings at the cathedral, and a city sleeping most of it off. Plenty of people book the second night, arrive to a quiet street, and never work out what they missed. If you can only be here for one, be here for the first.
What Santo António actually is
Lisbon’s own city festival, held for Saint Anthony, who was born here and is buried in Padua. It is not a single event in a single place. Each old neighbourhood, Alfama, Graça, Mouraria, Bica, Madragoa and Castelo among them, builds its own arraial: bunting strung between the houses, a bar knocked together out of scaffolding, a sound system, and charcoal grills going all night with sardines on them. The formal half is the Marchas Populares, a competition running since the nineteen thirties in which each neighbourhood fields a costumed marching team and parades down the Avenida in front of several hundred thousand people. The informal half is everything that happens afterwards in the lanes, and it is the reason to come.
Where to watch Santo António
- Avenida da Liberdade for the Marchas, and get there early. The teams come down the avenue from about nine in the evening and the whole thing runs for hours. Standing room along the route is free and it fills from late afternoon. Ticketed grandstand seating exists if you would rather not stand for four hours.
- Alfama for the street party, but go late. The lanes below the castle are the postcard version and they are genuinely good, but they do not really start until the Marchas have finished and the crowd walks back down. Before about eleven you are queueing among people who came for dinner.
- Graça and Mouraria if you want the same thing with room to move. Ten minutes uphill and the crowd thins noticeably, the grills are the same, and you can usually get a table. Mouraria is where much of the city’s fado came from and it shows on this night.
- The Sé cathedral for the weddings on the feast day. Couples are drawn by lottery from Lisbon residents and married en masse, and the whole thing is televised nationally. You can watch the procession from the cathedral steps without a ticket.
- A miradouro if the crush is not for you. Senhora do Monte and Graça both look down over the lit-up neighbourhoods, and you get the sound of six arraiais at once without being inside any of them.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing about the festival requires a ticket. The Marchas are free to watch from the pavement, and every arraial is open to whoever walks in. What you spend is on food and drink at the stalls, and it is deliberately cheap: a grilled sardine on bread, a beer, a shot of ginja. The one real cost is the bed. Alfama rooms that sit around a hundred and twenty to a hundred and eighty euros a night in an ordinary week run three to five times that across these two nights, and they are gone months ahead. Staying somewhere else in the city and walking in costs nothing and is what most people who live here would tell you to do.
Official information and booking: www.visitlisboa.com
Getting there
Do not plan to use Tram 28. It is unusable on these nights and will be either rerouted or stationary. The metro is the answer: Avenida or Restauradores for the Marchas route, Baixa-Chiado or Rossio for the walk up into Alfama and Mouraria. Metro service is extended into the small hours for the festival, but check the night itself rather than assuming. Everything worth reaching is walkable from the Baixa, and the walk uphill is part of it. Taxis and ride-hailing cannot get into the old lanes at all, so expect to be dropped at the edge and walk regardless.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Coming for the saint’s day and missing the night before
The feast day is the quiet one. The Marchas and the all-night arraiais belong to the evening before it. A lot of people book the wrong single night and come away thinking the whole thing was oversold.
Booking in Alfama without checking what it costs, or sounds like
Rates in the old neighbourhoods multiply for these dates and sell out months ahead. They are also directly above a sound system that will run until dawn. Both facts surprise people who booked for the atmosphere.
Expecting to eat quickly
Every grill has a queue and no restaurant in Alfama is taking walk-ins. Eat properly somewhere else before you come up, and treat the sardines as something you get to eventually rather than dinner.
Planning around Tram 28
It is the first thing to stop working. Assume you are walking up and down the hill, and wear something you can walk cobbles in for several hours.
Treating the basil pot as a souvenir
The manjerico sold everywhere comes with a paper flag carrying a short verse, usually a flirtatious one, and the point is that you give it to someone and the verse gets read. Buying one and packing it misses what it is for.
Other Lisbon events
Frequently asked questions
What is Santo António?
Lisbon’s own city festival, held for Saint Anthony of Lisbon on his feast day and the evening before it. It combines a formal parade competition down Avenida da Liberdade with informal all-night street parties in each of the old neighbourhoods, built around charcoal grills, sardines and cheap wine. It is the biggest thing that happens in the city all year and it is almost entirely free.
Which night should I pick if I only have one?
The evening before the feast day, without hesitation. That is when the Marchas Populares parade and when the arraiais run until dawn. The feast day itself has a procession and the mass weddings at the cathedral, but the city is largely recovering and the streets are quiet by comparison.
Do I need a ticket for the Marchas Populares?
No. Standing along Avenida da Liberdade is free and always has been. Grandstand seating is sold separately if you would rather sit, but the free stretches of the route see the same parade. Arrive in the late afternoon for a position near the front, because the avenue fills long before the first team appears.
Is Alfama the only place to go?
No, and it is the most crowded. Graça, Mouraria, Bica, Madragoa and Castelo all run their own arraiais with the same grills and the same music, and you can usually move and get served in them. Alfama is the one everybody has heard of, which is exactly why it is the hardest work.
How much do rooms cost during the festival?
In the old neighbourhoods, roughly three to five times the ordinary rate, and they book out months in advance. Elsewhere in the city the rise is much softer. Staying twenty minutes away and walking or taking the metro in is the sensible trade, and it is what most residents would suggest.
What should I actually eat and drink there?
Grilled sardines on a slice of bread, which is the whole point and best eaten standing up, alongside caldo verde, bifanas and grilled peppers. Drink the cheap beer or a ginja, the sour cherry liqueur, often served in a small chocolate cup at the stalls. None of it is expensive and none of it needs booking.
Sources
- Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, which runs the Festas de Lisboa
- Visit Lisboa, the official city tourism board
- Carris, Lisbon trams and buses
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.