A Shift from Decanters to Pages
Porto has spent centuries synonymous with the fortified wine bearing its name. The drink aged in riverside lodges along the Douro, became a fixture in British dining rooms, and helped cement a trade relationship dating back to the 14th century. Now, though, the northern Portuguese city is cultivating a parallel reputation around books.
The catalyst sits at the heart of the old town: Livraria Lello, a neo-Gothic bookshop that opened in 1906. Its red-carpeted staircase and stained-glass ceiling have drawn streams of tourists for years, many lured by the claim that J.K. Rowling, who once lived in Porto, drew inspiration from the shop for Hogwarts. When the Pedro Pinto family bought the building in 2015, they introduced an entry fee that could be deducted from any book purchase. The gamble paid off. Where only 10 per cent of visitors once bought books, that figure has climbed to 80 per cent. In August this year, the shop sold 120,000 volumes in a single month.
Aurora Pedro Pinto, who chairs the bookshop's board, framed the building's origins as an act of faith. Opening a lavish temple to literature in 1906, when much of Portugal could not read, was a bet on the future. That bet is now maturing across the city.
Festivals and Thousands in the Squares
In late June, Porto hosted the BABELL literary festival, organised by the Livraria Lello Foundation. Over six days, crowds numbering in the tens of thousands gathered in public squares to hear Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood, Olga Tokarczuk, Dulce Maria Cardoso, and Salman Rushdie. Tickets came bundled with books sold through 49 participating bookshops, a model that spread sales beyond the flagship store.
The scale surprised even organisers. Audiences fell silent during readings, laughed at anecdotes, and queued for hours. The festival's structure, tying attendance to book purchases, pushed literature into everyday commerce across the city. Plans for a 2027 return are already circulating.
Hotels and Tours Written Around Words
Accommodation in Porto has begun weaving literature into its offer. Torel Palace Porto, which opened in 2020 as a literary-themed hotel, runs book clubs, poetry readings, and tours of second-hand and antiquarian bookshops. Its Michelin-starred restaurant, Blind, takes its name and concept from a novel by José Saramago, Portugal's Nobel laureate in literature. Rooms are named after Portuguese poets and writers, including Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and Almeida Garrett, both with Porto ties.
Hotel Forte de Gaia, Autograph Collection now offers literary walking tours. Guests visit streets named for Portuguese authors, browse specialist shops such as Timtim Por Timtim, devoted to vintage comics, and stop at cafés once frequented by writers.
The Wine & Books hotel group, with properties in Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, has introduced pairing boxes that match wines with books. Joana Saraiva, an administrator at the parent company, described the concept as an attempt to draw connections between reading and tasting.
Wine Meets the Written Word
Joana Pais, who works for Sogrape, Portugal's largest wine company and a Porto fixture, hosts what she calls book tastings. These events pair wine with literature and take place in the Manifesto Library, a permanent collection opened in June by musician Dua Lipa in partnership with her Service95 Book Club. The library occupies a new cultural auditorium inside Livraria Lello, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, a Porto native.
The library focuses on books that challenge censorship and authority. One of its four floors is dedicated to contemporary culture, currently hosting an exhibition by Ai Weiwei composed of more than 200,000 sheets of A4 paper made from recycled textiles in Portugal. A book of poetry by Ai's father, previously censored in China, is due for publication there.
Reading as the New Industry
Porto's traditional identity, captured in an old saying that contrasts it with other Portuguese cities, held that "In Porto they work." The emerging literary infrastructure suggests the city is now working on a different product. The bookshop entry fee model, the festival's ticket-book bundle, and the hotel tours all hinge on making literature a commercial as well as cultural force.
The transformation is not about replacing port wine. The cellars still operate, the tours still run, and decanters still circulate at tables. But the conversation around Porto now includes more than what is poured. It also includes what is read, discussed in squares, and paired with a glass on a warm evening by the river.
