Festival da sardinha Portimao – The Portimao Sardine Festival

It’s a good thing that the Portimao Sardine Festival exists, otherwise this town would be nothing more than just another resort city.

The Portuguese town of Portimao is one of the many Algarve resorts that attract many millions of visitors each year. It is located on the southern coast of Portugal and offers a plethora of attractions and activities for its visitors thanks to the presence of the sea and such.

However we’ll be talking about one event that sets Portimao apart from the many other Algarve resorts, namely the Portimao Festival da Sardinha, or the Portimao Sardine Festival.

Being located on the coast, the initial settlement was nothing more than a fishing village, but that steadily changed as more and more people became aware of the great weather and wonderful culture that the region offered.

Similarly, grilled sardines used to be nothing more than the simple popular meal of the fishermen here, but their ‘ritual’ of grilling their fish for a quick meal started attracting the attention of residents and then that of tourists.

This became such a major characteristic of Portimao that this year, between 3 and 11 of August, the city will be celebrating its 18^th consecutive Sardine Festival.

Eating sardines isn’t exactly an acquired taste; however they do have a particular type of aroma and flavor, especially when grilled in the Portuguese style. Rest assures this is not the same fish that you eat from a can, not by a long shot. Technically it is the same fish, but taste-wise it’s a completely different thing. You can hardly compare grilled sardines served piping hot on homemade bread or with a wonderfully flavorful Algarve salad. This is one culinary festival that you’ll not ever forget, because you won’t find it anywhere else.

During each day of the festival, a parade will start from the Portimao Museum, then goes along the waterfront and onto the festival grounds. Sardines and fishing have been crucial to the existence of Portimao and the Museum features a sardine canning exhibition which might interest you, since you’ll be seeing, smelling and tasting a lot of this fish during the festival.

Portimao sardines festival will include 3 stages for shows and lots of entertainment

MAIN Stage Sardine Festival entertainment with music, comedy and great rhythms will be taking that it will be between 23:00 and 24:00:

Portimao sardine festival - Festival da sardinha

Stage 2 “SARDINHA” entertainment is between times: 19:40 – 21:40 where it will be a huge range of things on offer here every day, different kinds of music, comedy, folk music, jazz:
3, 8 and 11 August - The band DESBUNDIXIE will be taking us on a journey through the history of jazz in the Dixieland style – promising plenty of exciting moments of fun and entertainment!
6 and 7 August - Stand-up Cooking – “Comídia” is the Lol Fest Sardine Special: imagine the best humour combined with a wooden spoon and a top chef! There can only be one tasty result, accompanied by lots of laughter!
2 evenings of laughter, because laughing is the best remedy!

Stage 3 “FADO & Petiscos” entertainment is between times: 20:00 – 22:00
Silence please for some FADO singing! – Every day, fado will be performed at the Sardine Festival by Portuguese singers, names already well-known to the public, link para info sobre artistas. In a bohemian setting, Portuguese flavours will be available at a little eatery on the banks of the River Arade.
*On 6 and 7 August – the stage will be making way for the up and coming talents from the Open Mic competition of the Lol fest – casting Lol Fest – where the best contestants win 10 minutes of fame and perform on the FADO stage.

Do not forget that parade begins at the Portimão Museum at 18:45.

Entertainment Hours: for Portimao sardine festival are between 18.30 to 01.00.
If you want to buy tickets, the prices are:
Family/Group Ticket (1 day/4 persons) – € 16,00
Festival Ticket (9 days/1 person) – € 30,00
3-day ticket (3 days/1 person) – €14,00
Single ticket (1 day/1 person) – € 5,00
Children up to the age of 10 (free)

The sardines may be the main focus of the Festival but there are many other things that happen around the cooking and the eating to keep you entertained for much of the day, including music concerts, comedy shows.

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Festival da sardinha Portimao, Portimao Sardine Festival

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