August is Portugal's busiest month, with 14.1% of 2025's tourist nights, and January the quietest, with 4.4%. July and August together carried 26.0% of the year, making Portugal the 26th most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. June was quieter than September, at 9.8% against 10.4%.
Portugal, month by month
- Two busiest months
- Other months
When is Portugal busiest, and when is it quietest?
August was the busiest month in 2025, with 14.1% of the year's tourist nights. January was the quietest, with 4.4%. That makes August 3.2 times as busy as January.1
Five months each carried less than an average month's share of 8.3%: January, February, March, November and December.
Who stays in Portugal: residents or guests from abroad?
In 2025, guests living abroad spent 67.1% of Portugal's tourist nights. Residents of Portugal spent the rest.1
- Highest share from abroad
- Other months
The share from abroad was highest in October, at 73.6% of that month's nights, and lowest in August, at 58.6%.1
Guests from abroad spent more than half of the nights in every month of the year.
Eurostat counts guests by the country they live in, not by nationality.2
How seasonal is Portugal compared with the rest of Europe?
July and August together carried 26.0% of Portugal's nights. Ranked by that share, Portugal is the 26th most seasonal of the 35 European countries we measured, where 1 is the country most concentrated into its two busiest months.1
For comparison, the most seasonal country on this measure was Croatia at 54.5%, and the least seasonal was Malta at 21.8%. See all 35 countries ranked.
Which regions of Portugal are least seasonal?
Across 9 regions, the share of 2025 tourist nights falling in each region's two busiest months ran from 20.5% in Região Autónoma da Madeira to 32.2% in Alentejo.3
In every region the busiest month was August, the same as for Portugal as a whole.3
| Region | Nights in busiest two months | Busiest | Quietest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alentejo | 32.2% | August | January |
| Península de Setúbal | 30.1% | August | January |
| Algarve | 30.0% | August | January |
| Centro (PT) | 29.5% | August | January |
| Oeste e Vale do Tejo | 29.3% | August | January |
| Região Autónoma dos Açores | 28.8% | August | December |
| Norte | 25.0% | August | January |
| Grande Lisboa | 20.6% | August | January |
| Região Autónoma da Madeira | 20.5% | August | December |
Regional figures come from Eurostat's regional dataset, last updated on 2 July 2026, and can differ slightly from the national monthly figures above, which Eurostat updated in September. For Portugal they match those figures. See all 123 regions ranked.
How full are Portugal's hotels each month?
Hotel rooms were fullest in August, when 79.1% were in use, and emptiest in January, at 40.3%.4
- Fullest month
- Other months
This is Eurostat's net occupancy rate of bedrooms: bedrooms in use divided by bedrooms available. It covers hotels and similar places only, not campsites or holiday lets, so it can peak in a different month from the nights figures above.2
Where do Portugal's visitors from abroad come from?
Among guests living abroad, the largest group came from the United Kingdom, with 17.3% of their 2025 nights, followed by Germany (11.8%) and Spain (9.4%).5
| Country of residence | Share of nights by guests from abroad |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 17.3% |
| Germany | 11.8% |
| Spain | 9.4% |
| United States | 9.1% |
| France | 8.0% |
Guests are counted by the country they live in. Eurostat publishes only some countries separately and groups the rest into regions, so smaller countries cannot appear in this list. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are published as one.
How long do guests stay in Portugal?
Guests stayed an average of 2.7 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Portugal in 2025: 89,427,522 nights across 33,074,885 arrivals.6 Across the 33 countries on this site with complete figures, the average ran from 1.5 nights in Iceland to 4.7 in Cyprus.6
This is our division of Eurostat's two counts. Eurostat counts an arrival each time a guest checks in at a place to stay, so a traveller who moves between places is counted more than once, and a whole trip is longer than the figure suggests.2
Did accommodation in Portugal get more expensive in 2025?
On Eurostat's harmonised index of consumer prices, prices of accommodation services in Portugal were 0.2% lower on average in 2025 than in 2024. Across the EU the rise was 4.1%.7
This measures how prices changed, not what a stay costs, so check the current price when you book. Accommodation services cover hotels, motels and inns; holiday centres, campsites and youth hostels; and other places to stay.
What are Portugal's public holidays in 2026 and 2027?
In Portugal, public holidays fall on 13 days in both 2026 and 2027.8 In 2026, 4 of those days are a Saturday or Sunday.8 Good Friday may be observed on another day with local significance in the Easter period.
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day 1 de janeiro | Thu 1 January | Fri 1 January |
| Good Friday Sexta-Feira Santa | Fri 3 April | Fri 26 March |
| Easter Sunday Domingo de Páscoa | Sun 5 April | Sun 28 March |
| 25 April 25 de abril | Sat 25 April | Sun 25 April |
| 1 May 1 de maio | Fri 1 May | Sat 1 May |
| Corpus Christi Corpo de Deus | Thu 4 June | Thu 27 May |
| 10 June 10 de junho | Wed 10 June | Thu 10 June |
| 15 August 15 de agosto | Sat 15 August | Sun 15 August |
| 5 October 5 de outubro | Mon 5 October | Tue 5 October |
| 1 November 1 de novembro | Sun 1 November | Mon 1 November |
| 1 December 1 de dezembro | Tue 1 December | Wed 1 December |
| 8 December 8 de dezembro | Tue 8 December | Wed 8 December |
| 25 December 25 de dezembro | Fri 25 December | Sat 25 December |
We took these from the law or the government's own list, not from a holiday website, and worked out the dates that move each year, such as Easter, from the rules in the law. The dates match the European Commission's list of public holidays for 2026.9 Regional and local holidays are not included.
June or September? May or October?
June was quieter than September, at 9.8% against 10.4%.
May and October were almost identical, at 9.3% and 9.1%.
These compare months at similar distances from the summer peak. They do not account for weather, which we have not measured.
What these figures cannot tell you
These figures are good at one thing: showing when a country's registered tourist accommodation fills up. Four things they cannot do.
They miss some small places. The counts cover hotels, holiday and short-stay accommodation and campsites, but countries may exclude establishments with fewer than ten bed places, so small guesthouses can be missing.2
Nights are not queues. A national monthly total cannot see how busy one old town, beach or museum is on a given day.
They say nothing about weather or prices. A quiet month may be quiet for reasons that matter to your trip. We have not published weather data for this country. The price section shows how accommodation prices changed, not what a stay costs.
They are one year. These are 2025 figures. Patterns shift from year to year, and Eurostat revises its data as countries update their returns.
The full year
| Month | Share of year | Nights | From abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.4% | 3,930,241 | 65.5% |
| February | 5.0% | 4,451,805 | 66.9% |
| March | 6.6% | 5,884,536 | 69.6% |
| April | 8.5% | 7,560,422 | 71.1% |
| May | 9.3% | 8,309,138 | 73.4% |
| June | 9.8% | 8,765,191 | 68.2% |
| July (one of the two busiest months) | 11.9% | 10,609,003 | 65.0% |
| August (one of the two busiest months) | 14.1% | 12,616,076 | 58.6% |
| September | 10.4% | 9,277,395 | 68.4% |
| October | 9.1% | 8,165,254 | 73.6% |
| November | 6.0% | 5,322,850 | 66.4% |
| December | 5.1% | 4,535,611 | 60.8% |
Total for 2025: 89,427,522 nights, 67.1% of them by guests living abroad. The two busiest months are marked. "From abroad" is the share of that month's nights spent by guests living outside Portugal.
Key takeaways
- January was Portugal's quietest month in 2025, with 4.4% of the year's tourist nights.
- July and August were the busiest, carrying 26.0% of the year between them.
- Portugal ranks 26 of 35 European countries for seasonal concentration, where 1 is the most concentrated.
- Guests living abroad spent 67.1% of Portugal's 2025 tourist nights; residents spent the rest.
- Hotel rooms were fullest in August (79.1% in use) and emptiest in January (40.3%).
- Public holidays in Portugal fall on 13 days in both 2026 and 2027.
- June was quieter than September, at 9.8% against 10.4%.
- What we would skip: assuming every shoulder month is equally quiet. In Portugal, September carried 10.4% of the year's nights against June's 9.8%.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which receives it from each country's national statistical authority. We downloaded the monthly counts directly and calculated the shares, rankings and comparisons ourselves. See how we research.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
- Eurostat, Tourist accommodation reference metadata, on collection by national authorities under Regulation (EU) 692/2011, the definition of a night spent, country of residence, and the ten-bed-place threshold. Read it. Checked 17 September 2026.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments by month and NUTS 2 region, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIN2M, accessed 22 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 2 July 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests, 2025, by month. Region names are Eurostat's.
- Source: Eurostat, Net occupancy rate of bed-places and bedrooms in hotels and similar accommodation – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_MNOR, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: bedrooms, percentage, January–December 2025.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments by country of origin of the tourist, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NINRAW, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, 2025.
- Source: Eurostat, Arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_ARM, with the nights data (tour_occ_nim), accessed 25 September 2026. Extract: number of arrivals and nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests, January–December 2025. Average stay is our calculation: nights divided by arrivals.
- Source: Eurostat, HICP – annual data (average index and rate of change), doi:10.2908/PRC_HICP_AIND, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: accommodation services (COICOP CP112), annual average rate of change, 2025.
- Public holidays: Código do Trabalho, art. 234.º (consolidated text, Diário da República). Read it. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- European Commission, Public holidays 2026, Official Journal of the European Union C/2025/6771, ELI. Used only as a cross-check. Accessed 23 September 2026.
Modified data. The monthly shares, residence shares, rankings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place, so they may not add exactly. Eurostat bears no responsibility for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here.