What All Saints' Day Actually Looks Like in Porto
You will notice it first in the florists. In the days leading up to 1 November, the flower stalls around Bolhão and the small shops along Rua de Santa Catarina fill with chrysanthemums — white, yellow, bronze — because in Portugal the chrysanthemum is the flower of the dead, and on All Saints' Day the cemeteries of Porto are covered in them. You will see families carrying armfuls, and by the morning of 1 November the cemeteries — Agramonte, Prado do Repouso, the great municipal cemeteries — are full of people tending graves, lighting candles, and standing quietly in the autumn damp. This is not a festival in the carnival sense. It is a solemn, deeply observed public holiday, and to be in Porto on 1 November is to see the city at its most quietly itself.
Go to the Cemeteries — Seriously
The single most authentic thing you can do on All Saints' Day in Porto is visit a cemetery. This is where the city goes. In Portugal, 1 November is a public holiday, and the tradition of visiting family graves is observed across all generations.
- Cemitério do Prado do Repouso — one of Porto's oldest and most atmospheric burial grounds, with family chapels, cypresses and a stillness that is genuinely affecting.
- Cemitério de Agramonte — the city's main cemetery, where the scale of the observance is most visible: thousands of candles, flowers laid on every plot, families moving between graves.
- Cemitério de Paranhos — another large municipal cemetery where the same traditions play out.
Go in the morning. Wear something sober. Bring nothing but your attention. The flower sellers outside the gates will be doing brisk business, and you can buy chrysanthemums to lay if you wish.
The Markets and the Flowers
The run-up to 1 November transforms Porto's flower trade. The Mercado do Bolhão and the surrounding streets are your best bet for seeing the seasonal trade at full volume — chrysanthemums in every colour, wrapped in paper, being bought by the armful. The same happens at the smaller markets and florists in neighbourhoods like Bonfim and Campanhã. If you want to understand what the day means to Porto, watch what people buy in the days before it.
What to Eat Around the First of November
Late October and early November in Porto is chestnut season. You will find castanhas assadas — roasted chestnuts — sold from carts on street corners and outside markets, wrapped in paper cones, hot and charcoal-scented. This is the food of the season, and it belongs to the cold-weather street life of the city. Alongside them, look for água-pé and other roasted-chestnut traditions, and for the warming soups and stews that Porto's tascas serve as the weather turns. The city's cafés and pastelarias will be doing steady business through the holiday, though some smaller shops close for the public holiday itself, so plan your meals around the larger cafés and tascas that stay open.
Neighbourhoods to Walk on the Holiday
On 1 November much of the city slows down. Commerce largely stops. What remains open is the city itself — and it is a good day to walk it without crowds.
- Ribeira and the riverfront — quieter than usual, with the river and the bridges to yourself in the morning.
- Foz do Douro — where the Douro meets the Atlantic; a bracing walk along the seafront suits the season.
- Bonfim and Campanhã — residential neighbourhoods where you will see ordinary Porto life on a family holiday, including the walk to and from the cemeteries.
- The historic centre around the Sé and São Bento — the monuments remain, and the streets are calmer than in summer.
Practical Timing
All Saints' Day falls on 1 November each year and is a national public holiday in Portugal. In 2026, 1 November falls on a Sunday. Expect cemeteries to be busiest in the morning, flower sellers to be active from a few days before, and many shops and restaurants to close for the day itself. The chestnut carts and the chrysanthemum trade are the reliable seasonal markers — they appear every year as the date approaches, and they are what you should look for rather than any single scheduled event.
Book your trip for the last days of October so you arrive before the holiday, not on it. Give yourself the morning of 1 November for a cemetery, the afternoon for a long walk along the river or out to Foz, and the evening for chestnuts and a bowl of something hot in a tasca that has stayed open. Porto on All Saints' Day is not a spectacle — it is a city keeping its own quiet customs, and you are welcome to keep them alongside it.