Portimão's St Martin's Fair has been going since 1662. This year it runs 6 to 15 November
The 363rd Feira de São Martinho fills Portimão's fairground from 6 to 15 November, free to enter, with rides, roast chestnuts, farturas and grilled octopus. 11 November is Youth Day and 15 November Family Day, both with special prices at participating stalls.
Plenty of Portuguese fairs claim tradition. Portimão’s can date it: 1662. The Feira de São Martinho is back at the city’s fairground from 6 to 15 November for its 363rd edition, with the usual line-up of roast chestnuts, farturas, chouriço bread, grilled octopus and fairground rides running until one in the morning.
Entry is free. Portimão council describes it as the city’s oldest popular event, and it always straddles 11 November, St Martin’s Day.
Opening hours
It opens on Friday 6 November from 4pm to 1am. Saturday the 7th runs 10am to 1am. From 8 to 12 November it’s 10am to midnight, the 13th and 14th go back to 1am, and the final day, Sunday the 15th, closes at midnight.
The two cheaper days
If you can only make one visit, pick your day. Wednesday 11 November (St Martin’s Day itself) is Youth Day, aimed at children and teenagers, and Sunday 15 November is Family Day. Participating stalls and rides offer special prices on both, which adds up fast on the bumper cars.
What else is there
Beyond the food you’ll find little tavern stalls, clothes, shoes, kitchenware, towels and the full range of household plastics. Next door, the Portimão Arena hosts a new and used car show, open 4pm to midnight on the 6th, 7th, 13th and 14th, until 11pm from the 8th to the 12th, and until 10pm on the 15th.
Getting there
There’s a south entrance from the riverside by the railway bridge, where you can park, and a north entrance for anyone walking from Largo Gil Eanes and the Cardosas area. Portimão’s Vai e Vem town buses stop at Cardosas, the fairground and Largo do Dique.
Planning a longer Algarve trip? The fair wraps up five days before MotoGP arrives in Portimão. And if horses appeal more than carousels, the Golegã horse fair runs on exactly the same dates in the Ribatejo.
Illustration: Tugadaily
