October has arrived, which means Lisbon is doing that thing where it becomes almost impossible to decide what to do with yourself and whether or not to bring a rain jacket along. There’s experimental music across the river, French cinema, documentary marathons, fashion week, comic-book heroes, contemporary art, steampunk oddities, and enough kid-friendly culture to keep the small people entertained, too.
Here’s what’s on our October radar — and it’s a lot, so, good luck!
Oct 1 – 4 | MUSIC FEST | OUT.FEST | Various Locations (Barreiro) | 12 – 65€
Cross the river to Barreiro for four days of adventurous music that defies even the most eclectic genre box. OUT.FEST brings around 30 artists into a collection of venues around Barreiro with everything from experimental electronics to free jazz and metal, sound installations, listening rooms, and sound walks. Get tickets and see the lineups here.
Oct 1 – 11 | FILM FEST | French Film Festival | Various Locations | From 3€
French cinema comes to Lisbon for 11 days, with premieres, classics, retrospectives, competitions, and plenty of opportunities to practice your French without having to actually speak it. The 27th edition takes over Cinema São Jorge, Cinemateca, and UCI El Corte Inglés, with a tribute to Brigitte Bardot and a couple of Portuguese premiers: La Bataille de Gaulle: L’âge de fer, by Antonin Baudry, and Full Phil, by director Quentin Dupieux, and plenty more. Tickets start at €3. Check the full program here.
Oct 2 – 3 | KID-FRIENDLY MUSIC FEST | BIG BANG Festival | FREE+
CCB turns into a giant playground for young music lovers as BIG BANG returns for its 15th edition. Expect everything from Miles Davis and Kate Bush-inspired shows to Portuguese folk traditions, interactive sound installations, circus-y street performances, workshops, and enough percussion to make your neighbours nervous. Plenty is free, with activities for kids from around four years old and upwards. See what’s on here.
Oct 3 – 4 | STEAMPUNK FEST | Festival Vapor | Museu Nacional Ferroviário (Entroncamento) | 10- 15€
Dust off your desert goggles and head to this gloriously odd celebration of all things steampunk: concerts, performances, a crafts and book fair, duels, street food, and the Lisbon Steampunk League presiding over the whole eccentric affair. Kids under 11 get in free. It’s not every weekend you get to dress like you’ve just stepped out of a Jules Verne novel. Read more and get tickets here.
Oct 3 to 9 | FREE CONCERTS | Music at the Lisbon Museum | 3 Locations | FREE
October gets very musical at the Lisbon Museum, with four free programmes spread across Palácio Pimenta, the Fábrica de Moagem, and the Teatro Romano. There’s slam poetry and emerging Lusophone talent, a huge celebration of 30 years of Sons da Lusofonia at Lisboa Mistura, a sound-art exhibition, and a suitably introspective evening with singer-songwriter Tiago Jesus. Free, varied, and worth a peek. Get more information here.
Oct 7 – 10 | INTERNATIONAL CULTURE FESTIVAL | Festival MIL Lisboa | Various Locations | FREE – 54€
Music people, this one’s for you. MIL combines concerts with debates, masterclasses, and professional meetings, bringing Portuguese and international artists into venues across Lisbon. Under this year’s exhibition title: No Fakes, the focus is on emerging and alternative music, making it a good excuse to discover someone before everyone else starts pretending they knew about them first. The convention is free with prior registration online, day tickets to the festival are going for just over 12€, and pro tickets for access to the whole shebang are going for 54€. Book any or all of those here and click here to check out the lineup.
Oct 7 – 11 | LISBON FASHION WEEK | ModaLisboa | Various times | FREE
Lisbon’s fashion crowd emerges from wherever fashionable people hibernate and takes over the city for another edition of ModaLisboa. Check out new Portuguese collections and runway shows from both established and sangue novo, scour pop-up shops, join a fast talk or the fashion conference, and revel at the chance to see what local designers think we should be wearing. Free entry. More details here.
Oct 15 – 25 | INTERNATIONAL COMIC FEST | Amadora BD | FREE
Comic-book nerds, rejoice: Amadora becomes the capital of banda desenhada for 11 days, with 14 exhibitions, international and Portuguese artists, and enough graphic storytelling to justify the hike. This year’s celebrations include 80 years of Lucky Luke and Blake & Mortimer, 65 years of the Fantastic Four, 40 years of Dylan Dog, and 25 years of João Mascarenhas’ Menino Triste. Read more here— you know you’re curious.
Oct 15 – 25 | DOCUMENTARY FILM FEST | DocLisboa | Various Locations | 5€+
Gear up for this year’s 10-day edition of DocLisboa: 198 films, 51 countries, and approximately a million opportunities to emerge from the cinema feeling like you need to discuss capitalism over a bottle of something. Check out world premieres, Portuguese competition films, experimental cinema, retrospectives, and films that investigate the world rather than simply providing an escape from it. Screenings take place at Culturgest, Cinema São Jorge, Cinemateca, and Cinema Ideal. Here’s the full lineup where you can also get tickets. Psst! Want to see them all? Festival passes are going for 75€.
Oct 22 – 25 | ART FAIR | Drawing Room Lisboa | Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes | 6 – 9,72€
Forget everything you were taught about drawing being something you doodled in the margins of your math notebook. Drawing Room brings 23 Portuguese and international galleries and more than 65 artists to the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, where contemporary drawing, works on paper, the FLAD Drawing Award, and a programme of talks await. Get more information and tickets here.
Oct 23–25 | ARTISTIC BIRTHDAY BASH | MAC/CCB 3rd Anniversary | FREE
Three days, several exhibitions, plenty of art-world brain food, and absolutely no admission fee. MAC/CCB celebrates its third anniversary with artist and curator chats, performances, music, and the opening of Ângela Ferreira’s “Here I Stand” and “Zip Zap Circus,” the latter of which will be unveiled by students from Chapitô’s Circus School. Pop in for the art, stay for the DJ set. Read more here.