Come Alone · English
You just moved to Lisbon. This page walks you through the first month: paperwork in order with official links, and this week's events you can go to on your own and meet people.
The NIF is the first number you need in Portugal: to rent a flat, open a bank account and sign a contract. Request it on the Portal das Finanças or at a tax office.
AIMA is the agency that handles residence permits. Its official site has the information about living in Portugal and the appointments.
The NISS is your Social Security number, needed to work. The official page explains what it is and how to request it.
Your ID in the National Health Service. Ask at the health centre for your area; SNS 24 has information and contacts.
The Navegante card works on metro, buses and trains in the Lisbon area. Check card types and prices on the official site and request the personal card.
Lisbon's municipal libraries run programmes open to everyone, and Agenda LX lists the city's events. Or go to one of the events below, picked because it is easy to go alone.
Rules change: always confirm on the official page before you go.
Free or low-cost places, open to everyone, where you can chat, practise a language and make friends. Check each page for upcoming dates.
Lisbon's municipal libraries run Portuguese courses, workshops and conversation groups, in person and online, for different levels. Check the page for upcoming groups and how to sign up.
Book clubs at Lisbon's libraries, in person or online, open to anyone who likes reading and talking about books. A relaxed way to practise Portuguese and make friends; see the clubs on the page.
The BLX network has libraries all over the city and thousands of activities a year: author talks, workshops, theatre and more. Check the agenda to find something near you.
Lisbon's official culture guide lists concerts, exhibitions, workshops and outdoor events, many of them free. Great for getting out, practising Portuguese and meeting new people.
A monthly poetry gathering in a bookshop near Príncipe Real, held under the waxing moon: poets, readers and artists from other fields mixing with the spoken word. This edition marks the cycle's first anniversary with a sound installation by the musician Noiserv in the garden, carrying recorded voices of poets from the past year.
The Gulbenkian Choir, conducted by Martina Batič, sings two Bach motets together with pieces by Portuguese composers, including a world premiere by Andreia Pinto Correia written for the foundation's 70th anniversary. A beautiful, calm evening out — easy to go to on your own.
A performative concert where seven women improvisers create sound and movement live, with no fixed choreography — listening, deciding and shaping the evening together with the audience. It also celebrates 20 years of Mariana Lemos's work as an artist and teacher.
A one-hour guided visit through the royal apartments of the Ajuda Palace to discover how Queen Maria Pia dressed: from her dressing room to the small red room where she kept her dressmaker's bills, and from everyday photos to gala portraits.
A guided walk through downtown Lisbon following the caricaturist and ceramicist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro: his tiles on building façades and the places he drew with humour — Chiado, Rossio, Restauradores, Terreiro do Paço and the City Hall. History told with a smile, outdoors.
A whole free Sunday at a municipal palace in Charneca: a guided visit of the rooms and gardens, workshops for adults and children — including a Cape Verdean cachupa cooking class where you cook a meal together and then eat it — and a concert at 17:30 with Paula Oliveira and Ricardo Dias. Come for an hour or for the day.
A concert about water as memory and connection: Telemann's Wassermusik played by the Divino Sospiro ensemble under Massimo Mazzeo, in dialogue with 20th and 21st century piano works by Raúl da Costa. In a beautiful municipal theatre in Chiado.
The Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis mixes classical, gypsy jazz and folk in a style all his own — a lively night in an old arms factory turned bookshop-bar and concert space.
On the last Saturday of each month the Portuguese Parliament opens São Bento Palace to the public for free: walk through some of its rooms and join guided visits (booking on the parliament's website).
Got through a piece of paperwork? Make a card to celebrate →
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Come Alone → Meet & Mint
Choose something this week from the list on this page — easy to join on your own.
See who's going. If the event isn't in the app yet, tap “+” to add it and gather a group.
Write in the event chat and agree where to meet before you arrive.
Walk in already knowing a name or two — a good start in a new city.
The app · Meet & Mint
Meet & Mint is our app: come-alone events and people to go with. It is not a government service. Many of the events on this page are also in the app.
Meet & Mint: Events & FriendsiPhone · Android
Who else is going?See it in the Meet & Mint app.
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