Porto isn't as vital a center for fado music as Lisbon, so only a few clubs promote the art form. The most appealing is Mal Cozinhado, rua do Outeirinho 13 (tel. 22/208-13-19; Bus: 1). The name translates as "badly cooked." Five singers and musicians (three women, two men) perform folkloric guitar music and the evocative, nostalgic lyrics that go with it. They perform in 6-hour stints to an enthusiastic crowd Monday to Saturday beginning at 9:30pm. A la carte dinners, priced at around 22.50 ($20.25) per person, are served beginning at 8:30pm. After the music begins, most people opt just to drink, paying an initial 12.50 ($11.25), which includes the first two drinks. After that, beer costs 5 ($4.50) a bottle.
Many night owls simply walk through the commercial district, along streets radiating from rua de Santa Catarina, and stop at any appealing tavern or cafe. If you're looking to dance, try the Bar Industria, in the Centro Comercial de Foz, av. do Brasil 843 (tel. 22/617-68-06; Bus: 1). It has a stripped-down interior that caters to a crowd of artists, writers (and their readers), architects, and other well-behaved, cosmopolitan patrons. Open Friday and Saturday from 10:30pm to 4am.
For years, Disco Swing, in the Centro Commercial Italia, rua Julio Dinis 766, near Rotonda de Boavista (tel. 22/609-0019; Bus: 3), has been one of Porto's most popular discos, with a mixed, mainstream clientele that appreciates the broad spectrum of musical forms (rock & roll, '80s-era disco, house, garage, and in rare instances, rave music) that's presented here. The setting is a battered-looking and dusty shopping center in a residential neighborhood near the Rotonda de Boavista. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8pm to 4am. Minimum drink consumption 5 ($4.50).
If you're looking for a cocktail bar where people in their 50s won't feel hopelessly out of place, head for the Bar Hiva-oa, rua de Boavista 2514 (tel. 22/617-96-63; Bus: 19).
Set within a graceful 3-story 19th-century villa, Triplex, 911 av. de Boavista (tel. 22/606-3164; Bus: 19), contains two bars and a dining room that glitters with crystal chandeliers, lots of room for socializing with strangers, and occasional bouts of live music. Its restaurant is open daily from 12:30 to 3pm and from 6pm to 11pm, but frankly, we prefer the bars to the food-service areas. These don't become popular until after around 10pm, then they continue to rock and roll till at least 3am. Entrance is free; drinks begin at 4 ($3.60) each.
O Libirinto, rua Nossa Senhora de Fαtima 334 (no phone; Bus: 3), is an oddity in Porto. This town house art gallery and bar is as hard to classify as its clientele (mixed, straight, gay, whatever). It's set behind a yellow-tiled facade of a distinguished but battered-looking town house in the Boavista neighborhood, a 2-minute walk from the Rotunda de Boavista. After you admire the paintings from whatever exhibition is being conducted there at the time, head for the garden, a verdant refuge, or any of the several bars scattered amid its confusingly laid-out spaces. You'll be happiest here if you accept it as a kind of indoor/outdoor salon where paintings are displayed, drinks are served, and dialogues flow. Open nightly from 9pm till 2am or later, depending on the crowd.
One of our favorite bars and nightclubs in Porto, Aniki Bobo, 38 rua de Fonte Taurina (tel. 22/332-4619; Bus: 1), is set within a 17th century building a few steps from the port. A team of designers transformed it into a triplex nightclub with three distinctly different ambiences and settings. Hip and counter-culture, with an ambience you might have expected within a late-night watering hole in Lisbon, it's named after one of the three or four most famous Portuguese films ever made, a 1930s classic that's immediately recognizable to virtually everyone in Portugal. The clientele here is about 25% to 40% gay, as defined by one of the alert staff members, a percentage that helps transform this place into one of the most frequently recommended counter-culture bars in Porto. Minimum drink charge of 5 ($4.50).
A gay hot spot is Moinho de Vento, rua Sα Noronha 78 (no phone; Bus: 3, 35, or 37), set within a medieval building on a narrow street near the Infante do Sagres Hotel. Only a brass plaque and a bright light that's illuminated every night beginning around 11pm identify this place. Expect a bar area that's really busy only on weekends, a dance floor, some dungeon-inspired artifacts, and a scattering of Portuguese-speaking residents of Porto and the surrounding regions. Entrance is free, and beer begins at around 2 ($1.80).
The most beautiful and historic cafe of Porto is Cafe Majestic, rua de Santa Catarina 112 (tel. 22/200-3887; Bus: 29 or 53), set on an all-pedestrian stretch of the city's busiest shopping street. This cafι evokes the grand era of Porto's gilded age prosperity more artfully than any other establishment in town. It was built in 1921, but because of its neo-baroque detailing, an art historian might be fooled into thinking that it's at least 40 years older than that. Angels and cherubs cavort on the ceiling, leaded glass shimmers, and the Belle Epoque comes alive again within a setting that's surprisingly down-to-earth and workaday. If you don't stop by for a drink or coffee in the evening, you can come here for breakfast, priced from 8.75 ($7.90), or a full-fledged afternoon tea for at 7.50 ($6.75), complete with jam, bread, and toast. And if you're looking for a meal, platters--which include codfish "Oporto style," omelettes with port-soaked shrimp, and filet mignon with mushroom sauce--are priced from 8.25 to 15.50 ($7.45-$13.95) each.
Vila Nova de Gaia is a lot less interesting after dark than Porto, on the opposite side of the Douro River. But if you happen to be here, or if you're interested in an evening stroll across one of Porto's bridges for a panoramic view of Porto's old harbor, Contra Corrente Bar, av. Diogo Leite 282, Vila Nova de Gaia (tel. 22/375-7577; Bus: 32 or 33), is a cozy bar with a waterfront terrace offering a superb vista of Porto at night. It manages to be both hip and traditional at the same time, welcoming a clientele of locals or workers in the port trade, along with an occasional foreign visitor. Drinks and platters of food are available.
Battered and hipster-ish, with hints of the psychedelic era of the 1960s, the 31 (Treintaeum) Bar, 564 rua do Passeio Alegre in Foz do Douro (tel. 22/610-7567; Bus: 1), occupies a compact and battered town house on the cobble-covered, seafronting main avenue in the residential suburb of Foz. Immediately adjacent, and under the same ownership, is the Cerveja Viva, where the bar list contains mostly beers, as opposed to the cocktails that are available in the more cutting-edge 31. Many first-timers make it a point to duck into both establishments, just as a comparison, for a quick nip and taste of local nightlife.
Somewhat surprisingly, the industrial suburb of Matosinhos, easily reached by bus 1, is a new nightlife center for Porto. The site is about 7 miles (11.25km) northwest of the historic core of Porto.
A nightclub, La Movida, rua Brito e Cunha 584 (tel. 22/937-9165), is set behind what looks like the entrance to a car repair shop. There's no sign in front. Inside, you'll find a sprawling warehouse outfitted with artificial palm trees, accessories you might find on a beach in Cuba, and vibrant tones of lime green, lemon-yellow, and russet. Latino music prevails here as party-makers dance their nights away, usually with heavy doses of rum and tequila-based cocktails. The restaurant opens at 8pm on Thursday and Saturday to Tuesday, with disco action beginning at 11:30pm. The cover charge ranges from 7.50 ($6.75) to 17.50 ($15.75), depending on the night of the week.
Estado Novo, rua Sousa Arosa 722 (tel. 22/938-5989), in Matosinhos, is one of the most popular and crowded discos in the Porto area, with a hard-dancing, hard-drinking clientele that views it as a destination in its own right. It's set within a white-sided industrial building, originally built as a warehouse and canning factory. Its name was derived from a tongue-in-cheek reference to a slogan of Salazar, Portugal's once-all-powerful dictator, whose call to arms for a "new state," ("estado novo") catalyzed many changes, both good and bad, throughout Portugal. Expect lots of space to mingle and dance, and a catch-all, late-night environment that could include just about anything. Hours are Thursday to Saturday from 11pm to 4am, with a cover imposed of 10 ($9) to 15 ($13.50). This entrance cost is credited against your drink tab. On Thursday, women enter and drink for free.
