Livraria Lello opening hours

Hours and closed days

The bookshop, the Gema Room and the exhibition spaces are open daily from 09:00 to 19:30, including Sundays and most public holidays. The five closures are 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 June, which is the São João festival of Porto, and 25 December. Same-day tickets are sold until 30 minutes before closing, when slots remain, and the last entry is therefore around 19:00.

How the timed voucher works

Every ticket is a voucher for a book: you book a date and a time slot online, show the code at the door within 60 minutes of the booked time, and the value of the voucher is deducted from any book you buy inside. There is no walk-up sale for cash; staff at the entrance can help you buy on your phone if slots are left, but on most days from spring to autumn the morning slots are gone the evening before. Children up to and including three years old enter free with proof of age. Tickets are non-refundable; a booking can be moved online once, at least 24 hours before the slot.

Priority entry without queueing is given to visitors with reduced mobility, people over 65, pregnant women and parents with infants. The official shop also sells a dearer priority ticket; the authorised resellers linked on this site sell the standard voucher with a timed slot, sometimes bundled with a Foundation visit, which is what most visitors buy.

• Voucher valid for 60 minutes after the booked time
• Value deducted from a book purchase; no cash refund of the voucher
• Children up to 3 free with ID
• One free rescheduling online, at least 24 hours ahead
• No refunds after the visit date

The quiet hours, and the queue

The shop admits a fixed number of visitors per slot, so the inside is never empty, but the morning slots are the calmest and the only ones where the staircase can be photographed without a crowd on it. From about 11:00 to 17:00 the queue on Rua das Carmelitas stretches past the Clérigos church and the slots inside are full; after 17:30 it thins, and the last hour before closing is the second-best time. Allow 45 to 60 minutes inside; there is no maximum stay within opening hours, and the upper gallery is where most people spend the longest.

Seasons

Porto's high season runs from Easter to October and the bookshop is at its fullest in July, August and on the long weekends of May. Winter weekdays are the only time a same-day ticket is realistic; even then the first slot sells out the day before. Rain does not change the pattern, because the visit is indoors, but it lengthens the queue outside. What the ticket gives access to, room by room, is on the what to see page; the reason most of the queue is there is on the Harry Potter page.

Frequently asked questions

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