Mercado do Bolhao

Bolhao has been Porto's market since 1914, in a two-storey neoclassical building set around a sunken courtyard, so you look down on the stalls from a gallery. It closed for a long restoration and reopened in 2022, with the original traders given first claim on the stalls, which is why the fish counters, the flower sellers and the women selling smoked sausage and dried cod are the same families rather than a new set of tenants. The lower level is produce, fish and meat; the upper gallery mixes shops with counters where you can eat and drink over the trade below.

What you actually see

• The sunken courtyard - stalls below, gallery above, the whole plan visible at once.
• The bacalhau counters - salt cod stacked in boards and cut to order.
• The fish and produce rows - the working morning half of the market.
• The upper gallery - shops and eating counters looking down on the stalls.

When to go

Mornings from Monday to Saturday, because that is when the food half is actually trading; by mid afternoon much of it has packed up, and on Sunday it is closed. Saturday morning is the fullest and the most crowded. Go before eating elsewhere, since the counters upstairs make a decent lunch.

Honest expectations

The restoration left it cleaner and better organised than the old Bolhao, and regulars will tell you it lost some of its noise and grime in the process. Prices at the visitor-facing stalls are not market prices. It is not large, and half an hour covers the ground floor. Photographing traders without asking gets the reception it deserves.

Nearby

Rua de Santa Catarina's shopping street; Sao Bento station and its tiled hall are downhill.