Shopping
In common with many other South European countries, Portugal's shops tend to close for a long lunch 'hour', often between 12.30pm to 2.30pm or even 3pm. They open around 9.30am but, this being Portugal, is an 'advisory' time to be taken only as a suggestion that the owner intends to be there. To compensate, shops are usually still busy until 7pm or 8pm in the evening.
Sundays are definite closed days, except for eateries. However, in the major cities and the few retail parks around larger towns, retailers have adopted a more contemporary approach and may be open all day, 7 days a week.
A particularly enjoyable feature of Portuguese shopping is the absence of major chains of identikit stores. Most remain as independent outlets, with each High Street being distinct from the next. Prices for most merchandise is around 60 to 70% of the UK’s, particularly for shoes, leather goods, wines and spirits.