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Holy Week in Portugal

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My family and I will be in Portugal (Lisbon) during Holy Week. We are not religious, but we would like to experience some of the festivities, processions, traditions, etc. Do you recommend a location within Lisbon or a village within an easy drive or using public transportation? I imagine many sites will be closed on Good Friday and Easter. Does anyone have any experience visiting Portugal during Holy Week? What can we expect in regards to crowds?

Will we have problems finding places to eat on a Good Friday and Easter? Recommendation?

Thank you.

Posted by
1671 posts

There is, surprisingly, not a lot of big Easter celebrations in Portugal. And, most things will be open that weekend. The big sites only close on Christmas and New Year’s Day (and their one day a week), so finding things to do and places to eat will be no problem. There are a lot more tourists around, as a lot of Spanish people comes to Portugal for the Easter school break.

There are a couple of smaller towns that do more of the Spanish type Semana Santa festivities but I’ve never been, so can’t advise you. I tried googling Semana Santa Portugal and didn’t get much.

I guess the good news is to not worry about being adversely affected by Easter - other than more people around.

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