5 Portuguese Traditions Worth Planning a Trip Around

You can visit Portugal anytime and see beautiful places. But if you arrive at just the right time, the whole place will feel totally different.

For example, there's a time of the year when the entire Porto becomes one big party where strangers tap each other on the head with plastic hammers. Seriously.

Wouldn't that be something to experience?

You won't see this every day, though. Some things happen once a year, others every 4 years. There are also those that depend on the weather or the religious calendar, so timing is of the utmost importance.

Portuguese Traditions You'll Want to Experience

Carnival in Podence

Most of the time, Podence is a quiet village. But that totally changes during carnival.

What you'll see are masked figures called caretos charge through the streets in bright fringed costumes. They jump, yell, and shake the rattles tied around their waists, and since they're wearing pointed masks, the whole thing gets pretty wild. One thing you'll notice is that this celebration feels a lot older and rougher than something you'd see in a big city, but that's why so many people enjoy it.

The tradition is connected to the end of winter and the arrival of spring, and it's even recognized by UNESCO.

The main events happen around Carnival Sunday and Shrove Tuesday, and the dates for those change every year. Keep in mind that Podence is small, so you'll want to book ahead, or you won't find a place to stay.

Holy Week in Braga

Braga takes Easter VERY seriously. During Holy Week, the city center is decorated with flowers, lights, and religious symbols. At the same time, the churches prepare for ceremonies. The whole atmosphere is solemn, especially once the evening processions start.

Farricocos is one of the most recognizable sights.

Those are black-clad figures that walk barefoot through the city, and they carry rattles and torches. You'll see them in the Ecce Homo procession. They look almost medieval, but it's important to remember that this is first and foremost an expression of faith, not a historical reenactment.

The events last for the whole week, although Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are the most important.

Grape Harvest in the Douro Valley

This isn't a festival, and there's no opening ceremony for it. The grapes decide when it starts, which is usually in September, when the fruit is ripe.

Some estates allow visitors to join in the harvest. They can pick grapes or tread them in stone lagares, but they can also have lunch and talk with the growers. You can book a Douro Valley wine experience if you're more interested in the result of the harvest than in the harvest itself.

Madeira Flower Festival

What might have ended up as an excuse to cover Funchal with colorful decorations has turned into a celebration of the island's subtropical climate and its plants. The parade is really something to see. There are floats covered with flowers, elaborate costumes, music on Avenida do Mar, and the entire central Funchal looks like a moving garden.

The festival has a quieter side, too. During the Wall of Hope ceremony, children carry flowers and place them together as an appeal for peace. This is a tradition that started in 1979.

Beyond the parade, there are concerts, displays of flowers, and smaller performances. Usually, it happens in spring, but dates move around, so check in advance. If you don't like crowds but you want to see the decorations, don't come on parade day but a few days before.

Popular Saints' Festival in Lisbon and Porto

For Lisbon and Porto, the bedtime doesn't matter in June. Lisbon celebrates Santo António on the night of June 12th, when the neighborhoods are full of music, grilled sardines, decorations made out of paper, basil plants, and street parties. The focal point is the marches along Avenida da Liberdade, but you'll also have fun in Alfama and Mouraria.

Porto follows on the night of June 23rd with São João. The celebration goes all the way from the city center toward the Douro. There are fireworks, dancing, food, and those famous plastic hammers that everyone uses to tap strangers on the head. And it's even funnier in person!

Both of these festivals are crowded and noisy, but it would make no sense to expect otherwise.

Conclusion

Portugal is always worth visiting, plastic hammers or not.

But the timing can totally change your experience there, so if there's an event or a festival you want to see in person (and maybe even participate in), then be sure to check the dates before you finalize booking your trip.

Who knows! You might even end up in a village you never even heard of, eating sardines at midnight on a rooftop, making friends with strangers (both tourists and locals).

These types of things definitely aren't something you experience every day, but they are things that'll stay with you pretty much forever.