Portugal’s most Portuguese Carnival in Torres Vedras is the perfect place for travelers to get an authentic and exciting festival experience without losing traditions to mainstream chaos. As an American traveling to a less commonly known Carnival festival, I had a lot of questions when preparing for my trip. Here is everything you need to know as an American at “The Most Portuguese Carnival” in Torres Vedras.
Brief History of Carnival in Torres Vedras
Observed in February across the world, Carnival is a festival celebrates the end of winter and beginning of Lent for Catholics. The festival is most known for originating in Italy and having the largest celebration in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Many people don’t realize that Rio De Janeiro’s festival stems from the Portuguese colonization. Portugal has several Carnival celebrations across the country, with Torres Vedras being known as “The Most Portuguese Carnival”. (Smithsonian)
Carnival in Torres Vedras is believed to be the oldest Carnival celebration that dates back to the 13th century but did not have official celebrations until the 19th century. In 1912, the Carnival Commission in Torres Vedras first met to organize an orchestra and dances the days leading up to Fat Tuesday. Over the next 30 years, festivities grew as the municipalities introduced a processional of floats, masked dancers, a king and queen and matrafonas (men dramatically dressed as women). The Carnival festival was cancelled during World War II and once resumed, festivities were very inconsistent until the municipalities formed a committee and reinstated the annual festival in 1985. Now, Carnival in Torres Vedras consists of four days of day and night entertainment with a new theme each year. (Visit Portugal)
The 2023 theme was the 100 year anniversary, so it only made sense that the 2024 Carnival theme was futuristic! The festival budget was 1.1 million euros, with over half a million visitors attending. Total revenue has not been officially confirmed yet, but it was expected to reach $12 million euros in economic impact. (Portugal Pulse)
Where Is The Festival? How Do You Get There?
Torres Vedras is a small town 45 minutes north of Lisbon. You can fly into Lisbon and either take a direct car or public transportation. From the airport, you will need to take the metro to Campo Grande and then the bus N700 towards Torres Vedras.
What Activities Can You Expect?
Across the four days there will be several parades, usually beginning around 2 pm. Attendees may arrive early to walk around the floats, buy food at the many food trucks, watch the live streaming shows and dancers and get a good spot to watch the parade. Parades consist of drumming groups, masked dancers, large floating heads, matrafonas, and political cartoon floats. Almost every float was satirical, addressing different issues within the Portuguese and global governments and social culture.
After the parade ends around 5pm, the partying continues and guests take a break to grab dinner before the DJ set begins at 11pm. The DJ party runs from 11pm to 4 am officially, but locals have traditions that follow until the early morning. Some locals don’t leave the festival until 8 am.
How Do You Buy Tickets for Carnival in Torres Vedras?
Tickets to Carnival in Torres Vedras go on sale in late December or early January. You can buy an Official Carnival Kit for $16 Euros that includes passes for all four days, transit bracelet and a piece of memorabilia. Once this sells out, you can buy daily passes for $8 euros each. I bought my tickets ahead of time on the website and I am glad I did because by then, the official kit had already sold out. The online tickets should have bracelets that get shipped to you, but in the United States you just get sent a virtual ticket to print out.
What Should You Wear?
A costume! The theme of the festival each year is a great way to get inspiration, but only half of the attendees actually dressed to match the theme. I wore a bejeweled top to look like stars, holographic pants and futuristic sunglasses. Meanwhile, some attendees wore a bumblebee costume, fuzzy onesies, pirates, etc. Whatever you do, don’t dress in your normal clothes or you will really stick out.
Were There Many Tourists?
Tourists? Yes! Americans? No. I only met one American who was going to the festival and that was because I sat next to him on the plane to Lisbon. Even then, he only knew of the festival because his friend from college is Portuguese. Everyone I met while at the festival was Portuguese with a handful of Germans or Australians visiting. Everyone was doing their own thing, I didn’t really make any friends here which led me to believe that everyone really was local to Portugal and came with their friends.
Where Should I Stay?
I stayed in a hostel 20 minutes from Torres Vedras at Praia da Santa Cruz. While I loved my hostel, Santa Sea and Sun. It really is better for those looking for a place to stay while surfing in the summer not attending Carnival. Mostly because there just weren’t many guests there for me to make friends with and attend the festival together like I had imagined. If you aren’t traveling solo, then it isn’t as big of a deal so stay here!
There is one hotel in Torres Vedras that if you are willing to book ahead of time and splurge on, I would recommend staying there.
If not, it may be worth just staying in Lisbon and taking the 45 minute bus to Torres Vedras there and back. It is cheaper than an Uber from Santa Cruz even though it is double the time.
The last option would be to rent an airbnb or homestay if you have a large group of friends traveling with you.
Is There Anything You Need To Bring?
An open mind! As dumb as it sounds, Carnival is so different from any festivals we have in the United States. Sure, we have just as much partying, but the Portuguese are so less serious. They make fun of themselves and their government and it is not polarizing. You will even see cartoon floats making fun of the US government too. The entertainment groups in the parade are walking with a beer and cigarette in their hands. Matrafonas, where men dress as women, are extremely common and raunchy. The Matrafonas are shaking their fake boobs and flipping their skirts showing off their spandex to be funny. Again, it is very different from what is socially acceptable in the United States. I had so much fun being a part of the festivities without everything being interpreted so deeply.
On a more practical level- bring Euros, a portal charger, a rain jacket and comfortable sneakers.
Final Advice for Carnival in Torres Vedras:
If you are a solo traveler like myself, add Carnival to the end of your trip instead of the beginning. At the beginning of my trip I did not have the self confidence or knowledge of truly how safe Portugal was so I did not attend the night DJ events. It was absolutely better to be safe than sorry as a solo female traveler but if I got the opportunity to do it again with the knowledge I have now, I would!
If you are looking to visit Portugal during Carnival, let me know because I would love to help you plan it!
