November is the wettest month of the Lisbon year at about 115 mm – and still averages 18°C, which is warmer than a London June. It is low season, quiet and cheap, with one enormous exception: Web Summit fills every hotel in the city for a week.
The weather, precisely
The rain returns properly. November is the peak of the wet season, and it arrives in Atlantic fronts – a day or two of real rain, then bright clear spells. It is not the grey constant of northern Europe, and the light between fronts is superb.
Temperature is the compensation: 18°C by day is mild by any standard. After the clocks went back at the end of October, sunset falls to about 17:20 at the start of the month and 17:15 by the end – short days, but not the northern European gloom.
Web Summit
This is the single most important practical fact about November in Lisbon. Web Summit, one of the largest technology conferences in the world, is normally held in the city in November and draws roughly seventy thousand attendees.
- Hotel rates multiply and availability disappears across the whole city, not just near the venue at Parque das Nações.
- Restaurants in the centre book out and the metro is heaving at peak hours.
- Check the dates before booking any November trip, whether or not you are attending. Moving a trip by a week can halve the cost.
- Dates are announced annually.
1 November: All Saints, and the earthquake
Dia de Todos os Santos is a national public holiday, falling on a Monday in 2027. Banks and offices close and families visit cemeteries.
It is also the anniversary of the event that made modern Lisbon. On the morning of 1 November 1755, while the churches were full for All Saints, a massive earthquake struck, followed by a tsunami up the Tagus and a fire that burned for days. Much of the city was destroyed.
What replaced it is the reason central Lisbon looks the way it does: the Baixa Pombalina, rebuilt on a strict grid by the Marquis of Pombal, using the gaiola pombalina – a flexible timber cage inside the masonry, one of the first systematic attempts at earthquake-resistant construction anywhere. You can see the surviving ruin of the Carmo Convent, roofless since that morning, above Chiado. Visiting it on 1 November is a genuinely different experience.
São Martinho, 11 November
St Martin’s Day brings the magusto – roast chestnuts eaten with the year’s new wine, água-pé or jeropiga. Chestnut braziers appear on street corners across Lisbon from now until winter, and the smell of them is what November in the city smells like. There is a Portuguese saying that summer briefly returns for it – the Verão de São Martinho, a warm spell around the 11th, which turns up more often than you would expect.
What November is for
- Museums and interiors – the Gulbenkian, the Tile Museum, the Ancient Art museum, the Carmo ruin, the fado houses of Alfama.
- Belém and Sintra without queues. The summer crush is gone entirely. Monuments still close on Mondays.
- Food. Chestnuts, the new wine, and the start of winter cooking – plus the year’s best bacalhau season.
- Prices, which fall to near-winter levels outside Web Summit week.
Prices and crowds
Low season, cheap and quiet – apart from Web Summit, which is the sharpest single-week price spike in the Lisbon calendar. See what a trip to Portugal costs.
What to pack
A waterproof and shoes with real grip – wet calçada on a Lisbon hill is the practical hazard of the month. Layers, and something warm for interiors, which are often unheated. An umbrella is usable here; Lisbon is far less windy than northern Europe.
The November 2027 calendar
- Monday 1 November – All Saints’ Day, a national public holiday; also the anniversary of the 1755 earthquake.
- Thursday 11 November – São Martinho; magusto chestnuts and new wine, and often a warm spell.
- Usually November – Web Summit; hotel rates multiply citywide. Check dates before booking anything.
- Through November – the wettest month, about 115 mm, in Atlantic fronts rather than constant drizzle.
- Through November – sunset around 17:20; Belém and Sintra queue-free.
Read alongside
- Lisbon in October – drier, warmer, and still in season.
- Lisbon in December – Christmas lights and the year’s end.
- Lisbon in January – colder, cheaper, just as quiet.
- Best time to visit Lisbon – all twelve months compared.
- Lisbon itinerary – how to structure the days.
- Lisbon travel guide – the neighbourhoods and how they differ.
- Trip to Portugal cost – low-season numbers.
Frequently asked
Is November the wettest month in Lisbon?
Yes, at about 115 mm. It comes in Atlantic fronts – a day or two of real rain followed by bright clear spells – rather than constant grey drizzle.
How warm is Lisbon in November?
About 18°C by day and 12°C at night, which is milder than London manages in June. The problem is rain and short days, not cold.
When is Web Summit in Lisbon?
Normally in November, with dates announced annually. It draws around seventy thousand people and multiplies hotel rates across the entire city – check the dates before booking any November trip.
What happened on 1 November in Lisbon?
The 1755 earthquake, followed by a tsunami and fire, destroyed much of the city while the churches were full for All Saints. The Baixa was rebuilt on a grid with the gaiola pombalina timber frame, an early earthquake-resistant design; the roofless Carmo Convent survives as a ruin.
What is São Martinho?
St Martin’s Day on 11 November, marked with magusto – roast chestnuts and the year’s new wine. Chestnut braziers appear on street corners across the city from then on.
Is November a good time to visit Lisbon?
Yes, if you accept the rain and avoid Web Summit week. It is mild, cheap and quiet, with Belém and Sintra free of queues.
What time does it get dark in Lisbon in November?
Sunset is around 17:20, after the clocks went back at the end of October. Short days, but with far better light than northern Europe gets.
Can you swim in Lisbon in November?
The Atlantic is about 17°C – only two degrees below its August peak, but the air is not warm enough to make it appealing. Surfers continue year round in wetsuits.
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Written by
John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.
