Fado

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Portugal’s etiquette mistakes are quiet ones: tipping like it’s the US (5-10% is generous, rounding up is the norm), rushing a meal that’s built for lingering, talking through a Fado set instead of going silent when the singing starts, and treating Porto’s riverside as a rushed checklist circuit instead of the azulejo-and-miradouro experience it is. ETIAS is not required to enter Portugal in 2026 — the 90/180-day Schengen visa-free rule still applies. None of this will get a visitor scolded; it just separates a rushed trip from one that actually matches the country’s pace. The Espresso I Drank Standing Up, Then Regretted The first café I walked into in Lisbon, I did what I always do at home: ordered a bica (Portugal’s espresso), drank it in about ninety seconds at the counter, and left. The owner didn’t say anything, but I noticed every other person at that counter was still there ten minutes later, cup long empty, just talking. It took me two more mornings to understand that the coffee isn’t really the point — it’s the excuse to stand still for a while. That one small shift, from rushing to lingering, ended up explaining almost every etiquette mistake I made that week. ...