We always strived to maintain you informed about the Lisboa Restaurant Week here on our blog, and this time is no exception.

But given that the Restaurant Week seems to have taken up a regular twice per year frequency, we thought it would merit a more permanent home on GoLisbon.com, and we’ve therefore created this page, which will be updated for each occurrence of this fine-dining, money-raising event.

Bon appetit!

September is probably the best month to be in Lisbon. The big August tourist crowds are gone, the weather is still pleasant, and the prices for hotels and apartments go down. Locals also go back to work, meaning there’s much more going on. There are several annual events taking place, and below is what is happening this year:

HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
Taking place in Avenida da Liberdade‘s Cinema São Jorge from the 7th to the 11th of the month, this horror film festival will screen features from the USA, Japan, UK, Belgium and Canada among other countries. There will also be international short films, including several from Portugal competing for the MOTELx Award.

COM’OUT LISBOA
There are several outdoor festivals and activities throughout the summer in Lisbon, and they don’t end in August. Until September 11 you’ll still find many outdoor activities throughout the city, from jazz concerts (on the 1st in Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcânatara or the 8th in Rossio Station) and other live performances (September 4th in Cais do Sodré and September 11 in Camões Square, both at 7PM).

VOGUE FASHION’S NIGHT OUT
Vogue magazine is organizing a special shopping event in the city. Stores (related to fashion, beauty and lifestyle) in the main shopping districts (Avenida da Liberdade, Chiado and Principe Real) will stay open from 7PM to 11PM, when it’s sort of after-hours happy hours. Some shops will have DJs and free drinks, inviting you to enter, browse, and perhaps buy something at special prices.

QUEER LISBOA
The 15th annual edition of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival takes place between the 16th and 24th of the month. It continues to be one of the biggest gay film festivals in Europe, with dozens of films that were released within the last two years from all over the world. There are long and short features as well as documentaries, and the program includes other activities such as performing arts and installations.

EXPERIMENTADESIGN
This event happens every two years and is back in 2011. It’s the city’s design biennial, this year happening between September 28 and November 27. In addition to design, the special events also focus on architecture and “contemporary creativity.” For this edition there are 21 main events and around 50 related activities happening around the city. The headquarters will be a former courtroom building in Chiado (former Tribunal da Boa-Hora in Rua Nova do Almada).

It recently added half a dozen kiosk-cafés which together with the always-increasing number of sophisticated shops makes it one of Lisbon’s most attractive addresses. Now it’s introducing a number of activities and special events throughout the year, and especially during the summer. That’s Avenida da Liberdade, the grand central boulevard of the city, also home to many top hotels.
This is the result of a private organization made up of the local business owners, planning fashion shows, antique fairs, flower shows, and expanded opening times of the shops, especially on weekends.
Once a busy avenue where most of Lisbon went for a stroll, Avenida da Liberdade has been in decline in the past two decades, as everyone began to prefer the shopping malls. Now there is an evident rebirth of the area and these activities will help bring it back to its centuries-old place as the main meeting point of the city.
It all begins this Thursday with live music, then this weekend will bring an antiques and crafts fair which is to be repeated every second weekend of the month.
The following Thursday will be a night of Fado and the shops will remain open until 10PM, with some of them displaying precious pieces of art belonging to the collection of the Medeiros e Almeida Museum found nearby.
Also planned for the near future are classical music concerts, contemporary dance shows, photo exhibitions in the shops, and movie screenings in the open air on Mondays this August.
When the colder temperatures and the rain comes this winter the activities won’t end, meaning there is always a good reason to go down the avenue.

Apparently having beaches just a few minutes away from downtown is not enough for the people of Lisbon. Soon they’ll also have a beach right in the center of the city, by its largest square. By the end of this summer, work will begin to create a real urban beach by the river next to Comercio Square.
This area was in fact a beach in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it was where many of the ships used during Portugal’s Age of Discovery were built and docked. The name comes from that time — “Ribeira das Naus” (the “Ships’ Riverfront”).
This new urban space will cost close to 15 million euros, and will include plenty of shade from a 10-acre park.
Everything is supposed to be ready in just over a year from now, so if it all goes as planned, you can sunbathe by the Tagus at the end of next summer or early autumn.
Next year the Lisbon waterfront will also be in the spotlight during one of the stages of the worldwide 2012 Volvo Ocean Race, happening on the eastern waterfront of the city, where the river becomes the Atlantic.

Rihanna, Within Temptation, Guano Apes

Lisbon’s Calendar of Events has just been updated with a list of concerts scheduled until the end December. Others will be announced throughout the year, but so far the names sure to attract the largest crowds are Bon Jovi and Rihanna. Other acts have also been announced to be part of the annual Optimus Alive Festival, which this year will have Coldplay, Foo Fighters, 30 Seconds to Mars and others on stage.
After the summer festivals the concerts continue, and there are already a few scheduled, including that of Within Temptation and Guano Apes.
For the list of all of Lisbon’s events (and ticket information) click here: Lisbon Events and Concerts.

If you’ll be in Lisbon in the next few weeks, there are some special events you may want to catch. Most of them happen every year, so if you return next year at this time, you’ll also be able to attend them. Those are film, music, and gastronomic festivals, but at the moment there is also a special art exhibition and the river cruises that start at this time of year and are offered throughout the summer months.

“MONSTRA” – THE ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL
From March 21st to the 27th, this animated film festival will present long, short and “very short” features mostly from Europe, Asia and the United States. Most of the screenings will take place in the São Jorge cinema in Avenida da Liberdade, in the Cinema City Alvalade theater, and at the Gulbenkian Foundation. You can find all of the addresses and complete information on the website (click above).

“FISH & FLAVOURS”
Lisbon’s biggest gastronomic festival will happen on the 7th of April this year, and lasts until the 17th. As always, its theme is the art of cooking fish, and although full details haven’t yet been revealed, it has been confirmed that 13 restaurants and 12 chefs will be part of the event which will take place in the new Patio da Galé in Comercio Square.

“DIAS DA MÚSICA”
This year’s “music days” are April 15th, 16th and 17th. It’s an annual event celebrating Spring with a marathon of classical sounds. In total there will be 65 concerts in seven different spaces of the Belem Cultural Center, and tickets cost between 3.50 and 10 euros, depending on the auditorium. This year’s theme is Western music from “between the death of Richard Wagner and the end of WWII.”

THE GOLDEN AGE OF PORTUGUESE PAINTING
We said it was one of the things to do last December, but this exhibition has been extended to April 23rd. It’s being shown in the Ancient Art Museum, and it’s a collection of works from between 1450 and 1550, the time when Portugal was mapping most of the globe.
If you go on a Sunday until 2PM, you may see it all for free.

RIVER CRUISES
From April until the end of October you can always see Lisbon from the river. Take a cruise that goes past the city’s main monuments and under 25 de Abril Bridge, for some fantastic photos to always remember your trip.

SEGWAY TOURS
These two-wheelers are fun to ride anywhere but especially in Lisbon, allowing you to go through alleys and up hills that even the city’s famous trams don’t go through. You’ll tour the medieval district of Alfama in an experience that can be fun as a family and even romantic as a couple.
And if you book online you get a special discount: Lisbon Segway Tours

BUGGY TOURS
Allow these GPS-guided buggies to be your Lisbon tour guides. These vehicles are fun and easy to drive, and the audio guide won’t allow you to get lost. You can explore the center of the city of the historic Belém district in the company of one or three other people, making it a perfect experience if you’re traveling in a group.
Booking here gets you a special discount: Lisbon Buggy Tours

GOCARS
Called “one of the coolest inventions of the year” by TIME magazine, these funny-looking cars look like big toys. They’re very easy to drive and have pre-programmed tours on the GPS, describing the sights in several languages. The audio includes humorous commentary about the local culture and attractions but you can also tour at your own pace and make your own route.
GoLisbon offers you a discount: Lisbon GoCars Tours

SINTRA TOURS
The fun here lies not in the tour itself but on the destination: In Sintra you can imagine yourself in a fairytale, going through Disneyesque palaces and standing on the Westernmost point in Europe! No one can leave Lisbon without a daytrip to Sintra and going on a tour will take you places you may miss on your own.

PHOTOGRAPHY WALKING TOUR
Aspiring photographers will want to walk around the city and capture it forever through photos. Passing by picturesque corners often missed by tourists, this tour will also allow you to see aspects of Lisbon you’d otherwise overlook.

The weekly travel Q&A column of the New York Times travel section will this week answer a question about the holiday season in Portugal.
I have contributed to this report which will be published in this Sunday’s printed edition and is already available on the newspaper’s website.
It highlights the events scheduled for this year in Lisbon, but also tells you about the city’s annual traditions at this time.
Outside the capital, the biggest celebrations in Portugal take place in Obidos and in the island of Madeira.
More specific information about the holidays in Lisbon will be posted here when it’s fully scheduled and confirmed, and you can now read the entire New York Times article here: Q&A Portugal for the Holidays

It’s officially autumn in Europe, but it only gets really cold in Lisbon in December. So, rain or shine, it’s still a wonderful time to walk around the city, and for that reason the Chiado district throws a party every year at this time.
Taking place from the 9th to the 16th of the month, the “Festa no Chiado” is a variety of events and activities which will include special exhibitions in the neighborhood’s galleries and oldest bookstores, outdoor concerts in Praça do Camões and inside São Carlos Theater, and free guided tours of the São Roque Museum and of the Carmo Convent ruins (must be booked in advance to join).
There will also be guided walking tours of the neighborhood which will take participants into the most historical shops and back in time into some of the city’s most historical moments of the last century such as the regicide of 1908.
Everything is free and an excuse to discover little-known or forgotten sides of Lisbon’s favorite neighborhood.
The entire program for each day is found here: Centro Nacional de Cultura

Discover the Treasures of Pagan and Celtic Portugal
It’s a major “temporary” exhibition that’s lasted for eight years, but it’s coming to an end this month. It’s inside Lisbon’s National Archaeological Museum and shows the “Religions of Lusitânia.” Lusitania is pre-Roman and Roman Portugal, when western Iberia or present-day Portugal was a pagan and Celtic territory.
In this exhibition you’ll surely be surprised and impressed by the richness of the archaeological finds, most of them busts and statues of gods and warriors of the time. Some already cover a Romanized Portugal, but most are pieces of a still-enigmatic civilization found all over Portugal.

Join Lisbon in the Celebration of 100 Republican Years
It’s usually open for visits only once a week, but for the first five days of the month you’ll be able to go inside the official residence of the president of Portugal, Belém Palace. That’s part of the 5-day celebration of the Portuguese Republic which is 100 years old on October 5th. The end of monarchy and the beginning of a new republic is also celebrated in the Museum of the Presidency next to Belém Palace.  Other celebrations take place on those first days on the month every night in Comércio Square with a 3D film showing the history of Lisbon and Portugal. That’s from 9:30PM to 11:50PM.

See the City on a River Cruise
They only take place from April to October, so this month is your last chance to cruise the Tagus and get the best photos of the city from a different perspective until next year. The cruise takes you to the modern district of the city, Parque das Nações, to the most historical, Belém, past all of the main landmarks.
It departs at 2:30PM and ends in Parque das Nações at 6:30PM.

Go to the International Documentary Film Festival
This year’s DocLisboa, Lisbon’s international documentary film festival, will take place from the 14th to the 24th of October. Some of the screenings will be inside a couple of theaters in the city (Cinema Londres and City Classic Alvalade), but most of them will be in Culturgest, a cultural center uptown. The opening film will be one about José Saramago, Portugal’s Nobel Prize-winning author who died earlier this year. Most of the other films are from Europe, but there are also many from North and South America.