The ultimate travel guide to Aveiro

The city of Aveiro is a must-see destination located in the center north of Portugal.

This beautiful coastal city that Nuno and I call home has a lot to offer: Art Nouveau, soft sand beaches, ovos moles, free bicycle rides, and one of the brightest blue skies you probably ever seen.

We wrote 3 posts about Aveiro. In full, they compile the outright best information for an excellent time in the city. To curate all this info we dug deep, knocked on doors, and asked friends for advice to create a travel guide made of worth-seeing classics, trendy spots, and tips only locals know about.

Keep reading part one or jump to:

→ Aveiro Travel Guide: the best food, bars, and accommodation
→ Discover Barra and Costa Nova: the beach getaways by Aveiro.

How many days do you need to visit Aveiro

You’ll need at least 2 days to visit Aveiro. It’s the perfect weekend destination.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll find:

The Weather and When to Visit

The best time to visit Aveiro is between March and September. But considering that Portugal has on average 300 days of sunshine, don’t worry too much about it.
However, during the winter months (December to March) temperatures hover around 9ºC. We recommend packing a windbreaker — the city is VERY windy and gets cold at night.

How to get to Aveiro

What to do and see in Aveiro

To help you navigate the city, here’s a map of Aveiro. All the spots mentioned in this post were marked with dark blue pins.

 All the pins are also marked on Maps.me.

Ria de Aveiro

The saltwater canals permeating through the city center are an extension of the Ria, a coastal lagoon that gives Aveiro a unique appeal. Walking along the canals and crossing the footbridges guarantees you won’t miss the most picturesque parts of the city. 

Bairro da Beira-Mar

This is the most typical neighborhood of Aveiro established by the hardworking fishermen, salt workers, and their families.

It’s an esteemed city quarter, assembled by narrow streets and simple houses, embellished by a mishmash of colors and patterns of Portuguese tiles.
Here’s also where São Gonçalinho celebrations happen every year.

São Gonçalinho (January)

Hands down the most random and entertaining celebration in town.
Every year, in January, people go to the top of the São Gonçalinho chapel— patron saint of Aveiro—to throw sugary hard cakes as a way to fulfill their vows.
The crowd below tries to catch the rock-hard cakes called ‘cavacas’, not necessarily to eat them, but because they’re said to bring good luck.

We made a video about it:

Praça do Peixe e o Mercado José Estevão

It’s a small Eiffel-style iron and glass building in the Beira-Mar neighborhood, and one of Aveiro fish markets, opened Tuesdays to Saturdays from 7 AM to 2 PM. 
There’s a restaurant on the first floor.

At night, the vicinity comes alive with bars, cafes, and terraces: starting at 10 PM to approximately 3 AM-ish.

Fábrica Campos and the Fonte Nova Quay

Now a repurposed building Fábrica Campos was a manufacturing plant of paramount importance for Aveiro during the XIX and XX centuries.

In front of it is the Fonte Nova Quay, a beautiful urban space widely used by locals and perfect for a late afternoon stroll or lawn rest.

There are cafes, a supermarket, restaurants, and a sushi place called Subenshi to grab dinner after the sunsets.

Marinha da Noeirinha

Marinha da Noeirinha is an old saltern that was recently restored and is being explored in different ways. Here you can go on a guided tour and learn about the salt-making process, take a dip in its rustic salt-water pool, or even enjoy an afternoon on its “salt Spa”. Allegedly the high concentration of salt in the water and slurry yields them therapeutic properties that aid with skin conditions, allergies, and respiratory problems.

If you’re interested in spending the night, there are water bungalows with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchenette, and a terrace.

Guided tour to the saltern: €5 adults and €2,5 children
Salt Spa: €2 per hour (or included in the ticket for the beach area)
Beach Area: €3.5 for half a day or €5 for a full day. Kids pay €2 and €3 respectively.

Check it out at noeirinha.pt

Park Infante D.Pedro

In the mood for a picnic? Visit the city park that locals call “Parque da Macaca” (Monkey Park) due to a very bad-mannered monkey that lived there during the ’90s. Nowadays the monkey is no more but the park is greener than ever. As for animals, there are fish, turtles, and ducks on the lake.

Aveiro old Train Station

Is a beautiful XIXth century building covered with several Portuguese tile panels that illustrate the region of Aveiro and its people.
The building was abandoned for many years after the new train station was built, but is now restored and serves as a showcase for endogenous products like ovos moles, salt, and wine.

© NH53

Fórum Aveiro

A shopping mall that doesn’t look or feel like one.
Instead of an obnoxious eyesore planted in the city center, it’s unique architecture merges beautifully with the city and invites you in for a walk.

Here you’ll find the convenience of a food court, pharmacy, a rooftop garden with great views, and everything else a shopping mall has.

Festival dos Canais (July)

A one-week festival packed with a vast range of performances, workshops, and music of Portuguese and international artists. Events take place at different points of the city, every day, starting in the afternoon and extending to the late evening.

The festival is free, open to the public, and family-friendly.
Check the full program and highlights on the site www.festivaldoscanais.pt

Museums (all closed on Mondays)

Ecomuseum Marinha da Troncalhada

As a big salt producer back in the day, Aveiro managed to have 275 working salterns during the ’80s. Today there are less than 10, and Marinha da Troncalhada is one of the few that still works.

You can visit the eco-museum independently, for free, at any time of day—but we recommend doing it late in the afternoon, due to the epic sunsets.

If you’re with a group of 6+ people and want to learn about the whole salt picking process, request for a guide at the City Museum (€1 per person). There isn’t any written information on the site, however, if you speak Portuguese, have a chat with the salt workers!

This is also a great place for bird watching (aquatic birds, perching birds, and birds of prey).

© César Sotelo

Art Nouveau Museum

Aveiro is an acclaimed city-museum of Art Nouveau in Portugal. Around the city center, you’ll find several of these beautiful historic buildings, and one of them is “Casa Major” which was adapted into a multi-level museum and tea-house.

Entrance fee: €2
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 12.30 PM and 1.30 PM to 6 PM.

Tea House opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 09:30 AM to 02:00 AM
Weekends 09:00 AM to 03:00 AM

Aveiro Museum a.k.a Santa Joana Museum

A former female religious convent transformed into Aveiro’s main museum, now houses permanent exhibits of sacred art from the Portuguese baroque period, jewelry, and artifacts of historical importance to the city. Such as the tomb of the Order’s most famous nun, Princess Santa Joana.

Entrance fee: €4
Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 6 PM.

Museums discount tickets

For €5 you can get a general ticket that grants you access to all the museums in the city center:

• Ecomuseum Marinha da Troncalhada
• Art Nouveau Museum
• Aveiro Museum
• City Museum

The general ticket can be bought at the counters of the museums mentioned above (keep in mind that they’re all closed on Mondays).

Tours and Workshops

Moliceiro boat ride

You can sail along the scenic route on a moliceiro, just keep in mind that these boat rides are tailored to tourists. All moliceiros tend to have a guide on board spitting out information for 45 minutes straight, disregarding if it’s true or if you’re interested or not.

Having said that, on Rossio along the central canal are plenty of boat operators. As of July 2022, ride fees start at €6 for children, €10 for students and seniors and €13 for adults.

Near Fábrica Campos/ Fonte Nova Quay, the boat operator Eco Ria offers tours with optional upgrades. Prices also start at €13.
As there are fewer tourists around this area, you might be lucky enough to get an entire boat for yourself. Check the tours info on their website (it’s translated into several languages): www.ecoria.pt

Motorboat ride from Aveiro to the beach (Barra, Costa Nova, São Jacinto)

One of the motorboats that connected Aveiro to Costa Nova in 1945, was transformed into a boat museum offering tours from the city center (Rossio) to the beaches of Barra, Costa Nova, São Jacinto, and Torreira. Tour fees start at €15 for 45 minutes rides up to 2-hour rides (round trips).

During July, they have tours to the Big Moliceiro Sailing Regatta in Torreira, it’s a must-see. For information on the specific days (as the dates of the regatta change yearly), contact the Lancha da Costa Nova: www.praiadacostanova.pt

Tip: These motorboat tours, by removing you from the city center to places you cannot see otherwise, are a great way to glimpse the natural side of the Aveiro estuary. Besides, you’ll be paying a similar price to the moliceiro boat rides that can’t seem to do anything but going through the same ol’ tourist route.

Ovos Moles Workshop

Ovos moles are the most renowned sweet of Aveiro and can be tasted at any bakery around town. But if having a bite is not enough, you can learn its history and make your own at an ovos moles workshop at Oficina do Doce. The bonus is: you can eat them in the end.

Fee: €2 per person
Duration: 45 min.

Call them, email them or go to the shop and ask if they can squeeze you in with a bigger group (workshops only happen with 10+ people).

Moving around in Aveiro

BUGA (Aveiro’s free bicycles)

Renting a bicycle on a BUGA stand is easy. All you need is a document with your identification as collateral (like a driver’s license or passport) and the bike is yours for 2 hours to use within town limits, and free of charge!

BUGA stands opening hours:
Monday to Friday 9 AM to 6 PM
Weekends 10 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 6 PM

Tuk-tuk

You don’t really need a tuk-tuk to visit Aveiro. But if you feel like it, the vehicles from Aveiro Tuk-Tours are electric, and prices change according to the duration of the tour.

• 30 minutes ride: €7,50
• 45 minutes ride: €10
• 1-hour ride: €12,50
• 30-minute ride + moliceiro trip + a visit to the salterns: €15

Bus

Around here, everything is a 15-minute walk from everywhere else. Buses are only necessary to get to the beach.
However, prices and timetables for city buses are here: www.aveirobus.pt
Tickets can be bought on the bus for €2.10

Getting to the beach

Barra and Costa Nova beaches are a 20 minutes bus ride from the city center. There are 2 bus stops at different ends of the city: one right by the railway station and the other near Rossio.

Find all the information you’ll need on the post Discover Barra and Costa Nova: the beach getaways by Aveiro.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave us a comment or contact us. 
Podes escrever-nos em português se preferires.