Do cafés in Lisbon charge more for a table on the esplanada?

They can. Lisbon cafés may charge different prices depending on where you are served, including a terrace supplement, as long as it is on the price list shown near the entrance and inside, in Portuguese. A fee that appears only on the bill without prior notice can be contested, and you can file a complaint in the Livro de Reclamações.

When is the best weather for a café esplanada in Lisbon?

Lisbon gets more than 2,800 hours of sunshine a year. July and August are the driest months and average around 23 °C, while November and December are the wettest, with 12–15 days of rain each. Across the year the city averages 112 days with rain, so about two days in three are dry.

What are the quiosque esplanadas at Lisbon's squares and viewpoints?

Lisbon's quiosques de refresco are small Art Nouveau and Moorish-style kiosks that have served drinks in squares, gardens and viewpoints for more than a century. About a hundred existed before they declined under Salazar's restrictions on public gathering, and Catarina Portas and the architect João Regal later restored survivors.

Outdoor Cafés in Lisbon: Esplanadas, Kiosks and Terraces

An esplanada is a café's outdoor seating, set out on a sidewalk, a square or a viewpoint. Lisbon gets more than 2,800 hours of sunshine a year, about 2,875 in the 1990–2019 record, and its driest months, July and August, average around 23 °C.¹

Some esplanadas are a few chairs on a narrow pavement; others are among the oldest terraces in the city, such as the tables outside A Brasileira on Rua Garrett, where a bronze Fernando Pessoa by the sculptor Lagoa Henriques has sat since 1988.⁵

Local tip: Read the price list at the door before you sit outside. If the café charges extra on the esplanada it has to say so in advance, and you can contest a fee that appears only on the bill.

Where these cafés are: Alvalade & north (41), Avenidas Novas & Saldanha (34), Arroios & Anjos (24), Baixa & Chiado (17), Belém (15), Alfama, Graça & Mouraria (11), Cais do Sodré & Santos (11), Estrela & Campo de Ourique (9), Bairro Alto & Príncipe Real (7), Alcântara (7).

At a glance

176Cafés listed

96With opening hours

06:00Earliest opening

02:00Latest closing

Opens earliest: Braancafé, from 06:00 (Daily 06:00–22:00).

Closes latest: A Brasileira, until 02:00 (Daily 08:00–02:00).

Most listed streets: Rua Paulo Renato (2).

Most common features: wi-fi (26%), indoor seating (22%), open late (20%).

What an esplanada table costs

Lisbon cafés may charge different prices depending on where you are served, including a terrace supplement, provided they tell you beforehand. The price list has to be in Portuguese and shown near the entrance and inside, and any esplanada fee belongs on it.²

A fee that shows up only on the bill, without notice, can be treated as an improper charge. Ask for an explanation first; if you can't agree, you can file a complaint in the Livro de Reclamações, the official complaints book.²

Kiosks: the original terraces

For more than a century, Art Nouveau and Moorish-style kiosks, the quiosques de refresco (refreshment kiosks), stood in Lisbon's squares, gardens and miradouros (viewpoints), with chairs and shade around them. The city had about a hundred. From the 1930s, laws under Salazar's dictatorship discouraged public gathering and the kiosks fell into disrepair, until the former journalist Catarina Portas and the architect João Regal began restoring the survivors.³

Kiosks with tables today include Quiosque Príncipe Real (daily 07:00–21:00), Quiosque das Amoreiras on Praça das Amoreiras (until 00:00 on Fridays and Saturdays), Quiosque do Arco do Cego on Avenida Duque de Ávila (09:00–22:00) and, by the river, Quiosque Ribeira das Naus, open daily until 00:00.

The pandemic terraces

Covid added hundreds of terraces. Under the Lisboa Protege program, approved in December 2020, the city authorized 367 temporary esplanadas out of 441 requests, taking over 453 parking spaces in 20 of its 24 parishes. Arroios had the most, 74, followed by Santo António with 69 and Penha de França with 33. Terrace fees were waived until 31 March 2022, and the parking-space fee was suspended until the end of 2022.⁴

Where Lisbon's terraces are

Outdoor tables are most common outside the old center: Alvalade & north has the most, then the Avenidas Novas, Arroios & Anjos, Baixa & Chiado and Belém. On Rossio, Café Gelo has tables at 64 Praça Dom Pedro IV; on Praça do Duque da Terceira in Cais do Sodré, Sanduichita serves outside from 06:00 every day.

In Alfama, Clara Clara puts tables out on Campo de Santa Clara, Volta Coffee on Rua dos Remédios has outdoor seats from 08:30, and Antù Alfama on Beco de São Miguel serves outside until 23:30. Plan for rain in winter: Lisbon averages 112 days of rain a year, with 12–15 a month in November and December.¹

Esplanadas cafés in Lisbon

At a glance

A Brasileira

A Horta

Al-Café

AMUN Café

Antù Alfama

Baiwho Lisboa

BANDIDA DA PRAÇA

Bela Arte Na Madeira

Braancafé

Breakfast Lovers Alfama

Café Brick

Café Dias

Café do Forte

Cafetaria Navy Museum

Cafetaria Orquídea

Caffé di Marzano Vermuteira

Caricato

Casa Pereira da Conceição

Déjà Vu Park

Delta The Coffee House Experience

Flagrante

Grupeto Bike Café

Grupeto Bike Café CAIS

Landeau Chocolate

Leafar

Leitaria Baiana Pastelaria

Lisbonne Caffé

Londrina Café

Malabarista

Memórias do Café

Mhendo Cafe Anjos

Namur

Neighbourhood

Nicolau Cafe

Nortex

O Meu Café

What an esplanada table costs

Kiosks: the original terraces

The pandemic terraces

Where Lisbon's terraces are

Sources

Other ways to browse Lisbon

Specialty coffee

Pastelarias

Wi-Fi

Brunch

Open by 6am

Open late

Esplanadas in Lisbon: questions

Do cafés in Lisbon charge more for a table on the esplanada?

When is the best weather for a café esplanada in Lisbon?

What are the quiosque esplanadas at Lisbon's squares and viewpoints?

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