With the long-awaited arrival of Christmas, the race for the last gifts and ingredients for Christmas dinner is as traditional as the king cake for dessert. But what do you do if you run out of potatoes to go with the cod? Or even the savory starters?
To save you some last-minute shopping, we’ve prepared a brief guide to the opening hours of some supermarkets and other services on December 24 and 25. On the one hand, many stores are open on Christmas Eve, although they close early. On the other hand, on public holidays, closures are a common denominator.
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Lidl
According to the officialwebsite of Lidl, one of the Portuguese’s favorite supermarket chains, the stores will close at 6pm on December 24 and will not open on Christmas Day (December 25).
Continente
Continente stores will remain open from 8am to 6pm on Christmas Day. On December 25, the supermarket chain’s stores will remain closed.
Mercadona
Since entering Portugal, the Spanish brand has quickly won over the Portuguese. If you’re one of Mercadona ‘s ‘fans’, you should know that on December 24th it will close early – at 7pm; and the following day the stores will be closed.
Pingo Doce
Pingo Doce stores are the most flexible, at least in the Lisbon area. According to their officialwebsite, on December 24 the stores close at 6pm, except in the following cases:
- Campo Pequeno – until 7pm
- Santarém Shopping – until 7pm
- Olivais Shopping – until 7pm
- Alvalade – until 7pm
- Viseu Fórum – until 5pm
Aldi
Like the other supermarket chains, Aldi stores have special opening hours during the festive season. As such, on December 24th they are open from 8am to 6pm and closed on December 25th.
Amoreiras Shopping Center
Amoreiras Shopping Center is one of Lisbon’s most popular shopping malls, so if you’ve left some presents to buy, you should know that it’ s only open until 7pm on December 24. The following day, the doors open from 12 noon.
CTT
Need to send a postcard to a friend or family member? Then pay attention, as CTT offices will only be open until 1pm on December 24, with the exception of those that operate in Citizen’s Bureaux, as they respect their own opening hours. On the Christmas holiday, CTT is closed to the public.
Editor’s note: ‘surprises’ can always happen, so before going to any of these establishments, we recommend that you check the local opening times and official media.
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