Once you move into your short-term rental in Lisbon and you settle all the visas and administration, you will inevitably want to figure out where to go buy your groceries. This could easily lead to confusion because there are so many options. Ultimately, you will need to be the judge of which shop has all the things you want, but here are just a few supermarkets as well as fresh food markets in Lisbon.
Supermarkets
The haggling over which chain of supermarkets is the biggest is a near-endless source of content for many sites. Still, the tie seems to be between Continente and Pingo Doce. Both of these have hundreds of branches all over Portugal with both traditional food and more exotic choices. Most branches have fresh bakeries and butcher counters, stocking many options of each item and offering regular sales.
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Pingo Doce focuses a bit more on healthy foods than Continente does. Still, the difference is only posed to be less pronounced as supermarkets in Europe tend more and more towards healthier groceries.
You will also find more Europe-wide chains like Spar, Intermarché, or Lidl, which have an excellent all-around reputation. Their prices are also scaled to Portugal’s median income. Spar is a bit more on the pricy side and Lidl on the affordable side. The cheapest option in Lisbon is the Auchan’s Jumbo hypermarket.
Due to the large volume of items (going well above just groceries to furniture and more), they can sell more and offer more significant and longer-lasting discounts. This makes these hypermarkets very lucrative for extensive weekly shopping. However, hypermarkets are not very common, so you will need a car to get to them, which is an added cost in and of itself.
Farmers Markets in Lisbon
While super- and hypermarkets can be a convenient way to buy groceries, they pale compared to fresh food markets at ecology and price. Smaller towns tend to have farmers markets that are open only on some days, but Lisbon has many opened daily markets.
Mercado de Arroios is one such market, situated at the heart of a multicultural centre of Lisbon, Mouraria. This makes the market unique as there are restaurants and foods from all over the world.
The market is opened every day apart from Sunday. But if you’re searching for seafood, there’s no better place in Lisbon than Mercado 31 de Janeiro. This market is recognized as one of the best places for fresh seafood, so much so that even local restaurants send their suppliers here each morning for ingredients.
The sellers are beneficial, their prices are reasonable, and the whole atmosphere of the market could not be more distant from the fluorescent white tiles of supermarkets.
In case you are planning a trip to Prague, also check out out our list of cheap supermarkets and markets in Prague.
