Stock Exchange Palace

Address: Palácio da Bolsa, R. de Ferreira Borges 11, 4050-253 Porto, Portugal

Stock Exchange Palace, or the Palácio da Bolsa, is the pride and neoclassical gem of Porto, Portugal. It is the seat of the local chamber of commerce and was built in 1842. The Palace is a prominent fixture in Porto’s trading history.

Tickets: 14 Euros

Despite the name, Stock Exchange Palace is neither a stock exchange nor a palace lol. It’s the headquarters of the Commercial Association of Porto.

To visit, you must book a tour, but you can not buy or reserve tickets online. Must be purchased in person. The tour lasts about 30 minutes and the tours start every 30 minutes in various languages. There are about 6 English tours a day. Up to 50 people can join a tour. Zayno and I got lucky, and we got the last spots in the next English tour and didn’t have to come back a few hours later.

You will begin the tour in the main hall, filled with so much natural light from the glass ceiling. The hall is decorated with the coats of arms of 20 international trading partners. Then you will climb the staircase to visit a variety of rooms. A lot of the rooms have patterned flooring, which is carefully pieced together with Brazilian and African wood.

The most spectacular room of the tour is the Arab Hall. The room is inspired by Granada’s Alhambra, and it took 18 years to be completed. The room is decorated in Moorish style with wood, plaster and gold leaf.