Move Over, Paris—Porto Is Europe's Hot New Shopping Capital

For all the popularity Lisbon has amassed over the past few years as a sought-after travel destination, Porto is still overlooked. But it shouldn’t be: Portugal’s “second city” is the country’s real standard setter when it comes to design, thanks to its heritage as a manufacturing hub through most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Now it’s gaining traction as a shopping mecca, too, filled with locally made items by emerging designers who can’t be found elsewhere.

“Even the Lisbon designers normally come to the Porto area to produce their designs because all the industry is here,” says Andre Ramos, founder of Scar ID, a lifestyle boutique that specializes in Portuguese fashions, accessories, decorative items, and more. In fact, so many producers have set up shop in formerly blighted production studios that Porto’s artisans are now sprawling beyond the city limits.