Summer Festivals and Festivities in Lisbon and Around
Publish date : October 7, 2022
Greater Lisbon hosts a remarkable variety of festivals and festivities in the summer, some so international that you can forget where you are, and others powerfully connected with their Portuguese roots.
Why not have a bit of both? If you’re here in the summer, consider going to these awesome events.
Festas de Lisboa
June 2022
I’ll let you in on a Lisbon secret: lisboners are not quite sure who their patron is. They celebrate Festas de Lisboa day after day for two weeks in a large festival that culminates on Saint Anthony’s feast day, the city’s supposed patron. However, coming from Lisbon, I can tell you that a lot of people take delight in explaining, pseudo-history mode on, that Saint Vincent is our one true patron.
Regardless, it is Saint Anthony that the people chose to celebrate with iridescent decorations found in traditional neighborhoods and by organizing arraiais, street parties with deliciously grilled sardines where they never run out of wine, beer, and sangria. You can play it stationary or walk from arraial to arraial in search of the very best.
Arraial Lisboa Pride
June 25, 2022
Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon
Free
4pm–2am
One of the June arraiais is actually Arraial Lisboa Pride, the biggest LGBTI event in Portugal, which appreciates and gives visibility to gay, lesbian, bi, trans, queer, and intersex people.
You’ll never see Praça do Comércio more colorful than this (OK, except maybe at Festas de Lisboa!), the whole square turning into a pride village, with food stands, bars, a stage, DJs, and a dance floor.
Arraial Lisboa Pride takes place at a later date than the pride parade, scheduled for June 18, 2022.
Rock in Rio
June 18–19, 2022
June 25–26, 2022
Parque da Bela Vista, Lisbon
€74 for a daily ticket
€121 for a weekend pass
It’s hard to beat Rock in Rio’s lineups (which is perhaps what justifies a hefty price tag). This year is no different. During the first weekend, you can catch the performances of The National, Liam Gallagher, and Xutos & Pontapés on day 1; Black Eyed Peas, Ellie Goulding, Ivete Sangalo and David Carreira on day 2. Over the next weekend, the headliners are Duran Duran, A-ha, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, and Bush on day 3; Post Malone, Anitta, Jason Derulo and HMB on the last day.
In what is another pandemic story, Foo Fighters were forced to cancel their concert scheduled for the first day of the festival, and Rock in Rio is committed to replacing them with other big-name rock stars.
You can buy your tickets here.
VOA Heavy Rock Festival
June 30–July 1, 2022
Estádio Nacional, Oeiras
€50 for a daily ticket
Doors: 5pm; last entry: 11:30pm
VOA Heavy Rock Festival is the greatest hard rock and heavy metal event in Portugal. After an imposed two-year hiatus, in 2022, the festival is ready to make some noise with superstars Megadeth, Rise Against, Mastodon, Sabaton, and Bring Me the Horizon.
Festival passes have sold out, but you can still get daily tickets.
NOS Alive
July 6–9, 2022
Passeio Marítimo de Algés
€69 for a daily ticket
€159 for the 3-day pass
NOS Alive is another annual music festival, focused on booking some of the world’s best indie and alternative music. It’s gained quite a lot of popularity over the years and it’s consistently made it to the top European festivals lists.
The only good thing about the last two years’ cancellations of NOS Alive is that, for this year, the organizers pledged to ‘return even stronger, alive and more eager than ever’. You can count on well-established, as well as newfound talent, to make your experience unforgettable. A few invited crowd-pleasers are The Strokes, The War On Drugs, Stromae, Florence + The Machine, Jorja Smith, Alt-J, Glass Animals, Metallica, Stormzy, M.I.A, St. Vincent, Imagine Dragons, Haim, Two Door Cinema Club.
Passes and tickets for the last day of the festival aren’t available anymore. More information on the tickets can be found here.
Need to recharge your batteries after a festival? We've got just the thing to perk you up — our article on the top 7 Must-Try Local Restaurants in Cascais!
