Centro Histórico
First-timersThe baroque centre around the cathedral and Praça da República: everything walkable, most of the beds and the bars.
Braga city guide
Things To Do In Braga
Older than Portugal, with more churches than anywhere else in the country and a baroque stairway climbing a wooded hill above it. Also, improbably, a student party town.
5
Hostels in the city
8.5
Average, from 692 reviews
2,000+
Years old, founded by Rome
577
Steps up the Bom Jesus stairway
1
Water-powered funicular, since 1882
The religious capital that students took over
Braga was Bracara Augusta under the Romans and has been an archbishopric since the third century, which makes it older than Portugal by several hundred years. It has the country's oldest cathedral and, by reputation, more churches per head than anywhere else in it.
It is also a university city of 20,000 students, which means the baroque centre is full of cheap bars, and Braga has a nightlife that surprises everyone who arrives expecting a cathedral town.
Bom Jesus do Monte, on a wooded hill outside the centre, is the reason it is on most itineraries: a zigzag baroque stairway of 577 steps, climbed barefoot by pilgrims, with a water-counterweight funicular from 1882 running alongside for anyone sensible.
A day and a night, or use it as a base for Guimarães and the Peneda-Gerês park.
Where to stay
The centre is compact and flat, which is a relief after Porto.
Around the university
Nightlife and valueNorth-east of the centre, cheaper, and where the student bars and late nights actually are.
Bom Jesus
Quiet and greenFive kilometres out on a wooded hill, with the sanctuary, forest walks and air ten degrees cooler in August.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 5 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Braga
Bom Jesus do Monte is the one. A baroque stairway zigzags up a wooded hillside in a sequence representing the senses and the virtues, with fountains at each landing, and pilgrims still climb it on their knees. The funicular beside it has run on water counterweights since 1882 and is the oldest of its kind in the world, at about €2.
The Sé de Braga is the oldest cathedral in Portugal, begun in the eleventh century, with a treasury and the tombs of the parents of the country's first king.
The Roman baths and the Idade Média ruins sit in the middle of town, and the Biscainhos palace has gardens that almost nobody visits.
Semana Santa here is the most serious Holy Week in Portugal, with barefoot processions through the streets.
Free things
Free things to do in Braga
Climbing the Bom Jesus stairway costs nothing — only the funicular charges — and the woods at the top have walking trails and a view over the Minho.
The cathedral's exterior and most of the city's churches are free to enter, and there are a great many of them.
Praça da República and the arcaded Avenida da Liberdade are where the city sits in the evening, and the Santa Bárbara garden behind the archbishop's palace is free and rarely busy.
The university campus, ten minutes out, has a modernist library worth a look.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Braga
The Minho eats well and cheaply. Bacalhau à Braga — salt cod fried with onions and potatoes — is the city's dish, and rojões, chunks of fried pork, are the regional standby.
Frigideiras do Cantinho has been selling small meat pies on the same street since 1796, and they cost about €1.50.
A prato do dia is €7 to €10, and the student population keeps it there.
Vinho verde comes from the countryside around the city: young, slightly fizzy, low in alcohol, and about €1.50 a glass. Drinking it anywhere else is never quite the same.
Nightlife
Going out in Braga
This is the surprise. Twenty thousand students give Braga a nightlife that outsizes the city, concentrated in the streets around the historic centre and out towards the university.
It runs Wednesday to Saturday in term time, starts at eleven and goes until four, and a beer costs €1.50 to €2.50.
Enterro da Gata in May is the student festival week, when the whole city gives up on getting anything done.
Out of term, from July to September, it is a quiet cathedral town again.
Getting around
Getting around Braga
The centre is flat and walkable, which after Porto is a novelty.
Trains from Porto Campanhã take about an hour and cost €3.25, running roughly hourly, which makes Braga an easy day trip or a cheaper base.
Bus 2 runs from the centre to the foot of the Bom Jesus stairway in about fifteen minutes for a couple of euros, and the funicular takes you up from there.
Buses reach Guimarães in 45 minutes and Peneda-Gerês national park in about ninety, though park services are sparse and a car helps.
Costs
What Braga costs
Braga is among the cheapest cities in Portugal. Dorms are €14 to €22, a prato do dia is €7 to €10, and a beer is €1.50 to €2.50.
A day is €35 to €45.
Almost everything worth doing is free or nearly so — the stairway, the churches, the gardens — and the funicular and a museum or two are a couple of euros each.
Safety
Staying safe in Braga
Braga is a safe, quiet city with very little crime affecting visitors, including late at night in the student areas.
The Bom Jesus steps are steep, worn and slippery when wet, and the Minho is one of the wettest parts of Portugal between November and March.
Semana Santa and Enterro da Gata both bring large crowds into narrow streets, and ordinary caution about bags and drinks applies.
If you head into Peneda-Gerês, that is mountain country with changeable weather and limited phone signal. Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Braga
Two UNESCO towns and a national park, all within ninety minutes.
Guimarães
Where Portugal was founded in the twelfth century, with a castle, a ducal palace and a UNESCO-listed medieval centre.
Porto
The second city, and close enough that plenty of people base in Braga and commute in.
Viana do Castelo
A Minho coastal town with a basilica on the hill above it and a long Atlantic beach.
What's on
What is on while you are there
Holy Week here is the most serious in the country, and May belongs to the students.
March or April
Semana Santa
Citywide
The biggest Holy Week in Portugal: barefoot penitents, hooded processions and the whole city out for a week. Accommodation books months ahead.
May
Enterro da Gata
Citywide
The student festival week, with parades, concerts and very little studying.
23–24 June
São João de Braga
Citywide
The city's own São João, older than Porto's and with a medieval parade.
May
Braga Romana
Historic centre
The Roman city recreated for a weekend, with markets and re-enactments.
Summer
Noite Branca
Citywide
A white night of street performance and late openings.
Hostels
Where to stay in Braga
A small, cheap scene in and around the historic centre, and a good base for the Minho. Live from Hostelworld.
When to go
Term time for the city, Easter for the processions, and summer for the park. It rains a lot here.
Jan
Wet and cold. Students in, prices low
Feb
Still wet. Carnival at the end of the month
Mar
Improving. Easter sometimes falls here
Apr
Semana Santa is the biggest week of the year
May
Excellent, and Enterro da Gata takes over the city
Jun
São João, warm evenings, term ending
Jul
Hot and quiet. Good for Gerês
Aug
The quietest month in town
Sep
Warm, and the students return
Oct
Term busy again, rain returning
Nov
Wet. One of the rainiest places in Portugal
Dec
Cold, wet, and lit up for Christmas
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. The Minho is the wettest region in Portugal, and Braga gets roughly twice Lisbon's annual rainfall.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros.
Almost everything worth seeing here is free. Semana Santa is the one week when accommodation prices jump.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Braga travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Is Braga worth a night or just a day trip from Porto?
A night, if you want the nightlife or Semana Santa. A day covers Bom Jesus and the centre, and the train from Porto is an hour and €3.25 each way.
Do I have to climb the 577 steps?
No. A water-powered funicular has run alongside the stairway since 1882 and costs about €2. It is the oldest of its kind in the world, so taking it is arguably the more interesting option.
Is Braga just churches?
It has the oldest cathedral in Portugal and a great many churches, and it also has 20,000 students and a nightlife that runs to four in the morning from Wednesday. The two coexist surprisingly comfortably.
When is Semana Santa and should I plan around it?
March or April, and it is the biggest Holy Week in Portugal with barefoot processions through the old streets. Book months ahead or avoid the week entirely — there is no middle option.
Is Braga a good base for Peneda-Gerês?
The best public transport option, at about ninety minutes by bus to Gerês village. The park itself is much easier with a car, as services inside it are sparse.
Is it cheap?
One of the cheapest cities in Portugal. Dorms €14 to €22, set lunches €7 to €10, beer at €1.50, and a day around €35 to €45.
What is vinho verde?
Young, slightly sparkling, low-alcohol wine from the Minho countryside around Braga. It costs about €1.50 a glass here and never tastes quite the same anywhere else.
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