2022 edition to take place between August 3-7
Portimão Sardine Festival has been hailed the number one summer food festival in Europe by travel blog Big 7 Travel.
The festival leads a list of the 25 best summer food festivals in the continent put together by author Aleyna Thompson.
“Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that sardines are very much loved in the Algarve,” Thompson writes.
“The Sardine Festival is held to celebrate the start of the sardine season while celebrating their long and delicious history. The salty fish is cooked to perfection here – the tinned sardines that you might know of are basically sacrilege,” the author adds.
“Enjoy them the Portuguese way – place each fish on a piece of bread, peel off the skin, eat the meat of the fish, and then enjoy the sardine-soaked bread to complete the meal. Washed down with a nice cold Sagres. Of course, the sardines are the main attraction. But there are other food options, stalls selling local handicrafts, street artists, and live music. By night, it’s a big party.”
The feat has been highlighted by Portimão Council, which stresses that the last edition of the festival – held in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic – welcomed a record-breaking 100,000 people.
The festival is returning this year between August 3 and 7 to the Portimão riverside between the museum and the Lota building, bringing its usual selection of live music, delicious grilled sardines and regional handicraft and sweets. The festivities will be preceded by a recreation of a boat unloading fish – a common sight along the riverside several decades ago – on August 2.
The musical line-up has been announced and features João Leote and Maria Liz (August 3), David Fonseca (August 4), Bárbara Tinoco (August 5), Wet Bed Gang (August 6) and David Carreira (August 7).
