Café A Brasileira is Braga's best-known historic café, on a small square at the edge of the old town, a few steps from Praça da República. It opened in 1907 to sell Brazilian coffee, and during the Salazar dictatorship it became known as a meeting place for the opposition, while regime supporters drank at a rival café on the opposite corner.
A Brasileira at a glance
- Where: Largo Barão de São Martinho, on the corner with Rua de São Marcos, between Praça da República and Rua do Souto.
- Opened: 17 March 1907.
- Founded by: Adolpho de Azevedo, a Porto merchant and Brazilian vice-consul.
- What it is today: a working café with a terrace on the square, serving coffee, pastries and light meals.
- Time needed: 10 minutes to look; as long as you like for a coffee.
From coffee shop to political café
A Brasileira was part of a small family of cafés with the same name: the first opened in Porto in 1903 and the famous one in Lisbon's Chiado in 1905, all set up to popularise coffee from Brazil, which many Portuguese homes did not yet drink. The Braga branch, opened by Adolpho de Azevedo in 1907, sold coffee beans and Douro wines, and kept the Lisbon trick of giving customers a free cup of coffee when they bought beans. Azevedo ran it for about 30 years.
In 1937 Joaquim Queirós took over and ran the café for some four decades, also absorbing the neighbouring Café Sport. Under the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933–1974) a rival, the Nova Brasileira, opened on the opposite corner, and the two cafés split along political lines: A Brasileira was seen as a centre of opposition to Salazar, the newcomer as the regime's café. After further changes of owner, an extensive renovation began in 2008, replacing the old wooden beams with a steel frame and modernising the kitchen, and the café reopened in 2009.
What to look for
- The facade covered in azulejo tiles, the most recognisable feature of the building.
- The corner position, which gives the café two fronts and a clear view up and down the busy streets.
- The terrace on Largo Barão de São Martinho, one of the best places in the centre to sit and watch Braga go by.
- The opposite corner, where the pro-regime Nova Brasileira once competed for customers.
A family of Brasileiras
Braga's café has a famous sibling. In Lisbon, A Brasileira on Rua Garrett in the Chiado became the haunt of writers such as Fernando Pessoa, whose bronze statue now sits at a table outside. The Braga café has no poet in bronze, but its long run as a political meeting place gives it a story of its own, and it has been serving coffee on the same corner for well over a century.
Tips for your visit
- Come mid-morning or mid-afternoon for a terrace seat; lunchtime and early evening are the busiest times.
- Stand on the far side of the square to photograph the tiled facade and the terrace together.
- If you sit down, order at least a coffee: the terrace is for customers.
- Combine it with a stroll down Rua do Souto to the cathedral, or across Praça da República to the Arcada.
Nearby
- Praça da República and the Arcada: Braga's main square with its fountain and the arcaded front of the Lapa church.
- Torre de Menagem: the surviving keep of Braga's medieval castle, just off the main square.
- Braga Cathedral: one of the oldest cathedrals in Portugal, at the far end of Rua do Souto.
- Jardim de Santa Bárbara: a small, carefully kept flower garden beside the medieval wing of the old Archbishop's Palace.
See Braga with World City Trail
Our Braga scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone, and Café A Brasileira is one of the stops. The route links 10 stops and takes around two hours, with about 23 minutes of walking, and also includes the fountain on Praça da República. You can play in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
If you prefer a different format, Braga also has a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game.
Play the Braga scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Braga →
Play the outdoor escape game in Braga →
Facts checked in October 2026.