The Best Time to Get Married in Portugal, Month by Month and Region by Region

For a wedding near Lisbon, choose late May, June or September: average highs of 23 to 27 °C (73 to 81 °F), two to six rain days a month and sunset between about 19:15 and 21:00. Early October works too with an indoor plan B, because rain days more than double from September's four to nearly nine. Away from Lisbon, Douro ceremonies belong in the evening in July and August, the Algarve is the driest region here, and Comporta is far quieter outside July and August.

I live in Cascais and photograph weddings and elopements from the palaces of Sintra to the cliffs of Praia del Rey, and I've been behind the camera for over 15 years.

Which month is best for a wedding in Portugal?

Late May, June or September on the Lisbon coast, if you want to be outside. By what matters most to you:

• Driest of the recommended months: June, with two rain days on average; July and August are drier but hot.
• Softest sun: September, when golden hour falls in the cocktail hour instead of during dinner.
• Green gardens: May, with a covered plan B.
• A vineyard: the Douro in late May and June, or at the end of September around the harvest.
• A quieter beach: Comporta or the Algarve in June or September.
• Value and quiet: November to March, with an indoor venue you love.

What is the weather like in Portugal each month?

In Lisbon itself, average highs run from 15 °C in winter to 29 °C in August, and the dry months are June to September:

• January: 15 °C · 10 rain days · sunset around 17:45
• February: 16 °C · 8 rain days · sunset around 18:15
• March: 19 °C · 8 rain days · sunset around 18:45
• April: 20 °C · 8 rain days · sunset around 20:15
• May: 23 °C · 6 rain days · sunset around 20:45
• June: 26 °C · 2 rain days · sunset around 21:00
• July: 28 °C · 1 rain day · sunset around 21:00
• August: 29 °C · 1 rain day · sunset around 20:30
• September: 27 °C · 4 rain days · sunset around 19:45
• October: 23 °C · 9 rain days · sunset around 19:00
• November: 18 °C · 10 rain days · sunset around 17:30
• December: 15 °C · 10 rain days · sunset around 17:15

Highs and rain days (at least 1 mm) are IPMA's 1991–2020 climate normals for Lisbon; sunset times are for Lisbon on the 15th of each month in 2027, from timeanddate, and change a little every day. Golden hour is roughly the last hour before sunset; last light, the end of civil twilight, comes about half an hour after it.

Spring is green and still wet, so an outdoor April ceremony needs a covered alternative you'd be just as happy with. Summer is dry and, in the city, hot, with 8 to 10 days a month at 30 °C or more in July and August. A ceremony at 18:00 is kinder to your guests than one at 16:00, and the light is softer; ask the venue where the shade falls at ceremony time, not on your site visit.

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Quinta de Sant'Ana, north of Lisbon, under a white sky: the yellow walls stay even, with no hard shadows

That courtyard is from a vineyard wedding I photographed at Sant'Ana.

How does the best month change by region?

The Atlantic coast stays mild all summer, the inland valleys get hot, the south is driest, and August is the busiest month everywhere. Each card gives highs and rain days at the nearest IPMA station and 2025 guest nights as a share of August's (INE: hotels, rural tourism and rentals with 10 or more beds).

The Lisbon coast: Lisbon, Cascais and Estoril

This is home: I've photographed a wedding at Pestana Palace in Lisbon and family and engagement sessions on Guincho beach, 10 minutes from Cascais.

• Fog and wind: in the city, fog is a winter matter, about 3 days in January and almost none from April to September (IPMA, Lisbon, 1971–2000). The open coast is the reverse. Cabo Carvoeiro, IPMA's station at Peniche, logs fog on about 5 to 7.5 days a month from July to September (1971–2000), so keep a fog plan B for Guincho or Cabo da Roca in summer. Guincho is windy most of the time, so keep hair simple and bring hair ties; Cresmina's dunes and boardwalks, just behind it, are more sheltered.
• Busy months: Lisbon held 87 to 95% of August's guest nights in the other months from May to October 2025, Cascais 75 to 81% (94% in July).
• Prices: Quinta do Torneiro in Paço de Arcos sells a package for 80 guests with catering, open bar, cake and a planner at €18,000 from April to October and €16,500 in November, December, February and March, plus VAT, without rooms.
• My pick: late May, June or September, and book your guests' rooms early in any month.

Sintra: the palaces and the coast

In Sintra I've photographed an elopement at Monserrate, a surprise proposal in the gardens of Seteais and vows under the rock arch at Praia da Adraga. The figures are from Cabo da Roca, IPMA's station on the Sintra coast:

• May: 19 °C · 5 rain days
• June: 20 °C · 2 rain days
• July: 21 °C · under 1 rain day
• August: 22 °C · 1 rain day
• September: 22 °C · 3 rain days
• October: 20 °C · 8 rain days

In July the coast's highs average 21 °C against Lisbon's 28 °C, so bring a layer for after sunset.

• Sunset: about the same as Lisbon's (timeanddate).
• Fog: in the hills, morning mist usually lifts by lunch. On the coast the fog peaks from July to September, but at Adraga I've met it mostly in spring and autumn: it can close in until you can't see 10 meters, and you won't know until you arrive.
• Park hours: the parks of Pena and Monserrate open 09:00 to 19:00, last tickets 18:00, two hours before June's sunset. Golden hour there needs an after-hours space: Pena's Stag Terrace, 30 guests from 19:00, or the National Palace of Sintra's gardens, 100 standing from 17:00, both until midnight (2026 events brochure). Fire risk or extreme weather can close the monuments.
• Booking: every event needs a written request at least 30 days ahead (regulations); prices are not published. For elopements Parques de Sintra lists Monserrate's balcony: six people, 09:00 to 18:00, not exclusive. The palace roof is under scaffolding for restoration until the end of March 2027 (notice).
• Busy months: 75 to 90% of August's guest nights in the other months from May to October 2025, not counting day visitors to the palaces.
• My pick: June or September, palaces in the afternoon and the coast at sunset. Rain is no problem at a palace, but for the foggy open coast keep a plan B indoors or at a quinta in any month. My Sintra elopement guide goes deeper on the palaces and the coast.

The Douro Valley

I photographed a wedding at Quinta da Pacheca in the Douro in 2026; the figures here come from Régua station on the river (1981–2010):

• May: 24 °C · 8 rain days
• June: 29 °C · 4 rain days
• July: 32 °C · 2 rain days
• August: 32 °C · 2 rain days
• September: 29 °C · 5 rain days
• October: 23 °C · 10 rain days

The hillsides hide the sun before the official sunset, so check the light from the terrace you'll use, at the hour of your ceremony.

• Sunset: within about ten minutes of Lisbon's (timeanddate).
• Heat: Régua station has about 20 days at 30 °C or more in July and 22 in August, 8 to 9 of them at 35 °C (95 °F). In those months I'd hold the ceremony in the last two hours before sunset.
• Busy months: September, the harvest month, is the second-busiest, at 87% of August's guest nights in 2025, against 72 to 73% in May and June and 67% in October. The state railway's 2026 harvest trains to Pinhão ran on 19 and 26 September.
• Prices: Douro Weddings, a planning company with an office in Porto, names €20,000 as its standard minimum for a wedding, with better deals from November to March.
• My pick: late May and June, or late September for the harvest, with an evening ceremony; in October, a covered plan.

The Algarve

In the Algarve I've photographed one real elopement and one styled shoot. It is the driest of the five regions here; the figures are from Faro station:

• May: 24 °C · 4 rain days
• June: 27 °C · 1 rain day
• July: 29 °C · under 1 rain day
• August: 29 °C · under 1 rain day
• September: 26 °C · 2 rain days
• October: 23 °C · 6 rain days

Faro station logs about 49 rain days a year against Lisbon's 76, and fewer in April, May and October too, which makes the Algarve the safer choice for an outdoor wedding in those months.

• Sunset: up to about ten minutes before Lisbon's (timeanddate).
• Heat and fog: Faro station has about 13 days at 30 °C or more in July and 12 in August, and fog on about 7 days a year.
• Busy months: 62 to 64% of August's guest nights in May and October 2025, 73% in June and September, 89% in July.
• Prices: Quinta dos Vales, near Lagoa, takes €10 a guest off its 2026 package of €169 per guest on any day but Saturday, VAT included and for at least 40 guests: €800 less for 80.
• My pick: May, June, September or early October.

Comporta

Comporta, about 1.5 hours south of Lisbon, is pine forest and long dunes with few, expensive places to stay, so plan an overnight. I don't have a wedding there in my portfolio yet. It has no IPMA station; the nearest on the open Atlantic is Sines, about 50 km south:

• May: 21 °C · 5 rain days
• June: 24 °C · 2 rain days
• July: 25 °C · under 1 rain day
• August: 25 °C · 1 rain day
• September: 24 °C · 3 rain days
• October: 22 °C · 8 rain days

Inland it gets hot: at Alcácer do Sal, about 25 km east of Comporta, July and August highs average 32 °C, with about 8 days a month at 35 °C or more (IPMA, 1991–2020).

• Sunset: about the same as Lisbon's (timeanddate).
• Sea fog: Sines station logs fog on about 3.5 to 4 days a month from July to September, and under one a month in winter (IPMA, 1971–2000).
• Busy months: in Alcácer do Sal, Comporta's municipality, just over a third of August's guest nights in May and October 2025, and 58 to 61% in June and September.
• My pick: June or September. For an August date, book the rooms before anything else.

What does a wedding day look like in May, June, September and October?

Work back from sunset: the ceremony two and a half to three hours before it, family photographs straight after, and couple portraits in golden hour.

These days use Lisbon's sunset on the 15th in 2027; Sintra and Cascais set at about the same time, and each card above gives its region's offset. Where a palace wall, trees or a hillside block the west, the sun disappears earlier. From Cascais the sun sets at 301°, west-northwest, in June and at 260°, almost due west, in October (timeanddate), so a terrace that catches the June sunset can lose the October one.

May: sunset around 20:45

• 14:30: getting ready, details, hair and makeup
• 17:30: guests arrive
• 18:00: ceremony
• 18:30: family photographs, while guests have drinks
• 19:45 to 20:30: couple portraits in golden hour, as the drinks wind down
• 20:30: dinner; sunset around 20:45, last light around 21:15

June: sunset around 21:00

June's sunset around 21:00 puts golden hour during dinner, so I plan a short portrait session between courses rather than asking you to give up your cocktail hour.

• 15:00: getting ready
• 17:30: guests arrive
• 18:00: ceremony
• 18:30: family photographs, then drinks
• 20:00: dinner
• 20:30 to 21:00: between courses, 20 to 30 minutes of portraits as the sun goes down
• About 21:30: last light; speeches and the first dance after it

A June day at Pestana Palace in Lisbon is similar, with garden portraits a little earlier, around 19:30, because the palms hide the low sun.

September: sunset around 19:45

September is the easiest month for photographs, with golden hour before dinner. Sunset moves from around 20:00 on 1 September to around 19:15 on the 30th, so slide this day by up to half an hour either way.

• 14:00: getting ready
• 16:30: guests arrive
• 17:00: ceremony
• 17:30: family photographs, while guests have drinks
• 18:45 to 19:45: couple portraits in golden hour
• 20:00: dinner; last light around 20:15

October: sunset around 19:00

• 13:30: getting ready
• 16:00: guests arrive
• 16:30: ceremony
• 17:00: family photographs, while guests have drinks
• 18:00 to 19:00: couple portraits in golden hour
• 19:15: dinner; last light around 19:30

October's sunset moves fast, from around 19:15 on the 1st to around 18:45 on the 30th, so shift this day about 20 minutes either side of mid-month. Then the clocks go back on the last Sunday of October (31 October in 2027), and sunset moves an hour earlier overnight (timeanddate). From that Sunday, start about an hour and a half earlier: ceremony about 15:00, portraits 16:30 to 17:30, last light about 18:00.

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Óbidos in autumn: the kiss inside the church, with the guests on their feet

The rest of that day, at Quinta do Gradil, is in the full Óbidos wedding.

Each of these days runs about six hours from getting ready to dinner; how many hours of photography you need depends on what comes after, and a first look can move the family photographs before the ceremony.

Send me your date and venue through the inquiry form, and I'll tell you when golden hour falls there and which way the sun will be.

Which dates should you check in 2027?

Check your date against these before you sign. This list covers May to October; winter's holidays are in the next section.

• National holidays: Saturday 1 May, Thursday 27 May (Corpus Christi), Thursday 10 June, Sunday 15 August and Tuesday 5 October (Labor Code). The two Thursdays make long weekends likely.
• 12 June, Lisbon: Santo António. In 2026 the Marchas parade went down Avenida da Liberdade that night (EGEAC); in 2027 the 12th is a Saturday.
• 18 to 20 June, the Algarve: the Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimão.
• 8 to 10 July: NOS Alive at Algés, between Lisbon and Cascais.
• Dated so far only for 2026: the Festival de Sintra, 11 to 21 June; the Lisbon Marathon from Carcavelos to Praça do Comércio, 10 October, with roads reopening after 14:30; IRONMAN Cascais, 17 October; and Web Summit, more than 70,000 people in Lisbon, 9 to 12 November.

Can you get married in Portugal in winter?

Yes, from November to March, if you build the day around short light and a venue whose interiors you love.

In December Lisbon's sun sets around 17:15, so hold the ceremony at 13:00 or 14:00 and do the portraits straight after. Palaces, frescoed salons and old quintas come into their own when the day moves indoors, and dramatic skies after rain often make better photographs than flat summer sun. Winter's national holidays in 2027 include Good Friday, 26 March, Monday 1 November and Wednesdays 1 and 8 December, besides Christmas and New Year's Day.

Winter is also quieter: in January 2025 Lisbon counted just over half of August's guest nights and the Algarve under a fifth. Where a venue or planner publishes seasonal prices, as on the Lisbon coast and in the Douro, winter costs less. In the Douro, valley fog is the trade-off: 7 to 9 days a month in December and January at Régua (IPMA, 1971–2000).

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Praia del Rey, about an hour north of Lisbon: sunset at a winter elopement

I photographed an elopement at Praia del Rey in winter, in changing weather, with sunset light at the end.

FAQ

What is the rainiest month in Portugal?

In Lisbon, November: about 134 mm over ten rain days on average. October is second, with about 111 mm, a little more than December or January, so an October date needs a covered plan B. Porto is wetter: its Pedras Rubras station logs 13 rain days in November and 105 a year (IPMA, 1991–2020); at Faro station the wettest month is December, about 90 mm over seven days.

When is wedding season in Portugal?

May to October: in 2025 those months held 25,815 of the 37,714 marriages registered in Portugal, about two thirds (INE figures reported by Renascença). September had the most, 4,985, just ahead of August's 4,921, so expect the most competition for its Saturdays; February had the fewest, 1,668. October's 3,761 were its most in ten years, which Renascença reads as October winning couples over. These civil-registry counts leave out symbolic ceremonies of couples married at home.

Is it too hot to get married in Portugal in August?

Not on the coast. Lisbon's August highs average 29 °C (84 °F) and Cabo da Roca's 22 °C. Lisbon's nights cool to an average low of 19 °C, and only about 7 stay at 20 °C or above (15 at Faro station). Inland, at the Régua and Alcácer do Sal stations, highs average 32 °C (90 °F), so hold the ceremony in the last two hours before sunset.

When is the best time to elope in Portugal?

The same months, on a weekday, when places are calmer than at weekends. With no dinner to plan around, golden hour can be all yours. Or flip the day: Costa da Caparica at sunrise, around 06:15 in mid-June, when the beach is yours, then Sintra in the afternoon, where Monserrate's balcony takes a ceremony for up to six people in opening hours (booking rules in the Sintra card). My elopement guide has the routes and the costs.

How far ahead should we book a September date?

Zola advises booking the venue 12 to 18+ months ahead for popular destinations and peak seasons, and I suggest the photographer 8 to 12 months ahead. Some venues fill whole years: Quinta de Sant'Ana, whose courtyard is pictured earlier in this guide, says it is fully booked for weddings in 2027. My planning timeline gives the order of the bookings.

Photographing your wedding in Portugal

My wedding collections start at €2,900 for a full day of up to 10 hours, and elopements at €1,200. Travel within Lisbon and about 1.5 hours around it is included, which covers Sintra and Cascais; farther away, as in the Douro and the Algarve, it starts at €400 and covers the standard two nights. Comporta is within that radius, so there's no travel fee there. See the wedding collections and the elopement collections.

Tell me three things through the inquiry form: the region, the month and your guest count. I'll reply with the sunset for your date and a first timeline built on it.

Details checked in October 2026