Portuguese Culture and Etiquette: Fado, Azulejos, Festivals and Phrases

Fado is Portugal’s best-known music: a solo singer, usually dressed in black, accompanied by the 12-string guitarra portuguesa and a classical guitar (the viola). It was born in the poor quarters of Lisbon in the 19th century and was added to UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2011. Its theme is saudade, a word with no exact English equivalent that means a longing for someone or something absent or lost, mixed with the knowledge that it may not return. You do not need to understand the words to feel it; fado singers perform with closed eyes and full force, and the room goes silent.

Lisbon fado is sung in casas de fado (fado houses) in Alfama, Mouraria, Bairro Alto and Madragoa. Most serve dinner, with singers performing sets of three or four songs between courses from about 20:00 or 21:00. Expect €40 to €70 per person for dinner, or a minimum spend of €15 to €30 for drinks in houses that allow it. Fado vadio (“vagrant fado”) is amateur fado in neighbourhood tascas, where locals take turns at the microphone; it is cheaper and often more moving. The Museu do Fado in Alfama explains the history and the great singers, above all Amalia Rodrigues, whose house in Lisbon is also a museum.

Coimbra fado is different: sung by men, often students and former students in black academic capes, with lyrics about love and student life. Hear it in the small concert venues of the old town below the University of Coimbra, with daily evening shows for about €10 to €15. Do not clap at a Coimbra serenade in the street; the custom is to clear your throat or cough in approval.

Azulejos, glazed and painted ceramic tiles, cover church interiors, palaces, railway stations, fountains and ordinary house fronts all over Portugal. The art arrived through Moorish Spain in the late 15th and 16th centuries, became the famous blue-and-white style in the 17th and 18th centuries, with huge scenes of saints, battles and hunts, and spread to whole facades in the 19th century, when tiles kept houses cool and dry. Modern artists still use them, including in Lisbon’s metro stations.

Where to see them:

• National Azulejo Museum, Lisbon: in the Madre de Deus convent, with five centuries of tiles, a gilded church and a 23-metre panorama of Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake. Budget two hours.
• Sao Bento station, Porto: an entrance hall lined with about 20,000 tiles by Jorge Colaco showing Portuguese history. Free.
• Capela das Almas and the Igreja do Carmo, Porto: blue-and-white tiled exteriors, two of the most photographed walls in the country.
• Church of Sao Francisco, Porto, and the Evora cathedral: tiled cloisters and chapels.
• Sintra National Palace: some of the oldest tile rooms in Portugal, in Moorish geometric patterns.
• Aveiro and Ovar: whole streets of Art Nouveau tiled houses.

Most Portuguese are Catholic, and while church attendance has fallen, the calendar still runs on saints’ days, processions and pilgrimages. Every town and village has its own festa, usually in summer, with a procession carrying the saint’s statue, a brass band, fireworks and food stalls.

• Santos Populares (June): the popular saints’ festivals fill the old quarters with grills, paper garlands and music. Lisbon celebrates Santo Antonio on the night of 12 June, with the marchas populares (neighbourhood parades) down Avenida da Liberdade and street parties in Alfama and Mouraria; 13 June is a city holiday. Porto celebrates Sao Joao on the night of 23 June, when the whole city stays out until dawn, people tap each other on the head with plastic hammers, and fireworks go off over the Douro at midnight; Braga also has a big Sao Joao. Sao Pedro on 29 June is celebrated in towns such as Sintra and Povoa de Varzim. Expect crowds and higher hotel prices on those dates.
• Holy Week (March or April): Braga, Portugal’s religious capital, holds the most dramatic Easter processions, at night by torchlight.
• Fatima (12 to 13 May and 12 to 13 October): hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk to the Sanctuary of Fatima for the candlelit procession on the anniversaries of the 1917 apparitions; smaller pilgrimages are held on the 13th of each month from May to October.
• Festa dos Tabuleiros, Tomar: held every four years in early July, when women carry towers of bread and flowers on their heads in procession. The next is expected in 2027; check dates before you go.
• Romaria da Senhora da Agonia, Viana do Castelo (August): a festival of the Minho region’s traditional costumes and gold jewellery, with sawdust and flower carpets laid in the streets.
• Festas do Espirito Santo, Azores (spring and summer): Holy Spirit festivals with free soup and bread shared in every parish.
• Carnival (February or March): liveliest in Torres Vedras, Ovar and Loule. In Guimaraes, the Festas Gualterianas take over the old town in early August.

Greetings. Say “bom dia” (until lunch), “boa tarde” (afternoon) or “boa noite” (evening) when you enter a shop, a cafe or a lift, and “obrigado” or “obrigada” when you leave. Strangers shake hands; friends and family greet women with two kisses on the cheeks. Address older people as senhor or senhora; people with degrees are often called “doutor” or “doutora” in formal settings.

Churches. Cover shoulders and knees at major churches, cathedrals and Fatima, keep your voice down, and do not wander around during mass. Some churches ban photography or charge a small entry fee (about €2 to €5) to visit cloisters or treasuries.

Eating and drinking. Meals are long and not to be rushed; the waiter will not bring the bill until you ask for it. The bread and olives brought to your table are charged only if you eat them. Drunkenness in public is frowned upon even though drinking is relaxed. Our Portugal food guide covers couvert, meal times and tipping in detail.

Time and tone. Social time is flexible, so arriving 15 minutes late to a dinner is normal, but business meetings and tours start on time. Portuguese people tend to be modest and reserved at first, and dislike loud behaviour. In small towns such as Obidos and Evora, keep noise down late at night in the walled centres, where people live above the bars. Queues are respected, and many offices and pharmacies use a numbered ticket system.

Beaches. Topless sunbathing is accepted on most beaches; full nudity only on designated naturist beaches. Walking around towns in swimwear or shirtless is not.

Football. Benfica, Sporting and FC Porto dominate, and rivalries are serious. A rival club’s shirt in the wrong bar can draw comments; national team shirts are safe everywhere.

The language is Portuguese, and the single most common mistake visitors make is to treat Portugal as part of Spain. Do not open a conversation in Spanish, say “gracias”, or assume the food and customs are the same; many Portuguese understand Spanish but prefer to be addressed in English, which most people under 50 in cities and tourist areas speak well. A word or two of Portuguese earns real warmth.

European Portuguese sounds very different from Brazilian Portuguese: it swallows many vowels, and the “s” at the end of a word sounds like “sh”. If you learned Brazilian Portuguese, you will be understood. Menus in tourist areas usually come in English, but in villages and small tascas they often do not, and some older people speak French better than English.

Portuguese crafts make the best souvenirs: hand-painted tiles; cork goods (Portugal produces about half the world’s cork); Barcelos pottery and the painted Barcelos rooster, a national symbol; filigree gold jewellery from the Minho; embroidered linen from Madeira and the “lencos dos namorados” (embroidered love handkerchiefs) of Viana do Castelo; Arraiolos wool rugs from the Alentejo; and tinned fish in designer packaging, sold in specialist shops in Lisbon and Porto for €4 to €10 a tin. Bordallo Pinheiro ceramics (cabbage-leaf plates, swallows) are a Lisbon classic.

• Drugs: personal possession was decriminalised in 2001, which means it is handled as an administrative offence rather than a crime; it is still illegal. Street dealers in Lisbon’s Baixa and Bairro Alto who offer hashish and cocaine are selling fakes, often bay leaves and flour.
• Smoking: banned in indoor public places, restaurants and on public transport.
• Alcohol: the legal drinking age is 18, and some city centres limit takeaway alcohol sales late at night.
• Monuments: climbing on monuments, removing azulejos, and taking sand, shells or stones from protected areas can bring fines.
• Identity: you must be able to show ID to the police; carry your passport or a copy plus another photo ID.
• Bullfighting: Portuguese bullfights (touradas) still take place, mainly in the Ribatejo and Alentejo, and the bull is not killed in the ring. Many Portuguese oppose them, so raise the subject with care.

Portugal travel guide · Beaches · Best Time · Costs · Food · Getting Around · Itineraries · Visas