São João in Porto: hammers, sardines and fireworks

On the night of 23 June, Porto celebrates its patron saint São João with the city's biggest party. Streets fill with music, grilled sardines and people playfully tapping each other on the head with plastic hammers, until fireworks light up the Douro at midnight.

Fun facts

• Plastic squeaky hammers replaced the older tradition of tapping people with garlic leeks.
• Pots of basil called manjericos, with paper flowers and short poems, are given as gifts.
• Paper hot-air lanterns are released into the sky throughout the night.

What to see

• The midnight fireworks over the Douro from Ribeira or the Gaia riverbank.
• The street parties in the old neighbourhoods of Fontainhas and Miragaia.
• The sunrise at the beaches of Foz, where many revellers end the night.

What to taste

• Grilled sardines on broa, Portuguese corn bread.
• Caldo verde, a comforting kale and potato soup with chouriço.
• Port wine, tasted in the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia.

What to do

• Buy a plastic hammer and join the friendly head-tapping.
• Walk across the upper deck of the Dom Luís I bridge.
• Take a tasting tour in a port wine lodge.

💡 Tip: The metro (line E) links Porto airport with the centre in about 30 minutes. Public transport runs late on São João night, but expect huge crowds near the river.