Museu Serralves
Museu Serralves
4
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
About
The Serralves Foundation is a cultural institution with a contemporary vision of Art and Landscape, being considered one of the cultural institutions of reference in Portugal and the most relevant in the north of the country. The Foundation’s landscape and architectural heritage consists of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Serralves Villa (a unique example of Art Deco architecture), the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira (Cinema House) and the 18-hectare Serralves Park which is complemented by the pioneering Treetop Walk: an elevated walkway close to the treetops.
Duration: 2-3 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingTours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Museu Serralves and nearby attractions
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
2,864 within 5 kms
Attractions
595 within 10 kms
See what travellers are saying
- stewart mAndover, Massachusetts11 contributionsA Must for Art Enthusiasts and an Park and Oasis in the CityMy wife and I planned to spend an extra day in Porto before our official group tour started, and are so glad we spent time going to the Museu Serralves which is a short taxi/Uber ride out of the center of town. We spent a good 4 hours exploring the museum and the beautiful park that's part of the property. The museum presents contemporary art mostly through hosting temporary exhibitions; and there is a newer wing that features the architecture and projects of Alvaro Siza. Unless you are a die-hard architecture person, the modern art portions is where you should spend most of your time. Tickets are 24 euros, and have an over 65 discount. Don't miss though, spending an hour to 1-1/2 hours in the Park. Not only are there fantastic art pieces by Oldenberg and Calder, but has harmoniously interconnected spaces: formal gardens (roughly 200 species and a variety of autochthonous and ornamental exotic plants), ponds, birds, woodlands, and a traditional farm.Visited April 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 30 April 2024
- abctravel101London, United Kingdom66 contributionsWorld class art gallery- highly recommendedWe found this to be an exceptional modern art gallery with world class exhibits. We didn’t understand why there were so few visitors (mid week in May) - although of course enjoyed the experience of having the art to ourselves. At the moment, and until Sep 2024, have an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama, including a brilliant immersive work ‘Dot’s obsession - Aspiring to heaven’s love’. Having visited similar immersive works at the Tate modern in London with hoards of others, being able to experience and walk around the work with only a couple of others significantly increased the impact of the work. And on top of this, the grounds host some large sculptural works and a scenic tree top walk. And there’s a lovely art deco building. And the modern art gallery is a beautiful design by world renound architect Alvaro Siza. We wanted much longer than the 2 hours we’d allocated. It should be top of the list of any art lover visiting Porto. Or anyone for that matter. Don’t miss out for the sake of a short taxi ride from the old town centre.Visited May 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 24 May 2024
- Italy Lover Kent25 contributionsFirst Class Contemporary GalleryOne of the best galleries I have ever visited. Gallery after gallery of fabulous contemporary art. The gardens are also spectacular, especially on a nice day. Spent a whole day here, wandering around admiring all the great art. Are sure you plan you visit well. We arranged a taxi to and from our hotel as too far to walk, and glad we did as walked quite a lot around the garden and galleries.Visited June 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 8 June 2024
- Tammy O14 contributionsA Different MuseumThere are lovely grounds and great exhibits! I wish I had more time to spend there. That day, there was a festival, so on-street parking was a bit more challenging. It was my first time seeing contemporary art, and I wasn't expecting that I'd like it. To my surprise, I found the exhibits striking.Visited June 2024Travelled with familyWritten 12 June 2024
- Julian T1 contributionDistinctly underwhelmedThe museum is vast with exhibitions that can be either fantastic or fantastically dull. The park is immense and seems like the area is too much for the team to keep on top of. The villa was extremely disappointing. There was no obvious entrance signposted (others ahead of us missed it altogether), no information inside about the history of the villa, the architect, the designers, the occupants - just lots of walls and surfaces in the same bland paint finish. Any vestige of art deco decoration has been covered in emulsion. Don’t waste your time, stick to the grounds and hope for a good exhibition in the museum.Visited June 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 16 June 2024
- Katrina BBoblingen, Germany348 contributionsVery enjoyable!My friend and I visited for a few hours on our way to the airport to catch a flight home from Porto. The Kusama exhibit was wonderful and very comprehensive. I think the highlight for us was the lovely and huge sculpture garden. We really enjoyed the macro/micro film in the garden- a fun surprise. The treetop walk and numerous sculptures were interactive and thought provoking. Great cafe inside and free bag check. My only complaint was the price of admission. It was steep compared to other museums I’ve visited.Visited June 2024Travelled with friendsWritten 28 June 2024
- emmaEngland, United Kingdom7 contributionsDon’t trust mixed reviews, it is worth a visitSo worth it! After lots of mixed reviews we were not sure if to risk visiting but we are so glad we did as we had an amazing time. We didn’t book tickets in advance we simply turned up on the day and bought them at the front desk. We paid 24 euros for the ticket that included all activities. Ensure you get dropped off at the entrance near the museum. Look at this on google maps. The exhibition was yayoi kusama when we visited on July 10th. This was wonderful to see. Worth the price alone. The gardens were really pretty, nice for a walk outside on a hot day. The famous house seemed to be having maintenance on the ponds. A worker was working on these during the visit, slightly disappointed as pictures were not that great but understandable. However there were boxes and fences and wires up from an event so seeing the house and photographing was not the best. The ponds looked a bit unkept but the house itself is stunning. We got an Uber that was about 6 euros and 15 minute trip. Toilets were good. Cafe didn’t have the best selection but was okay to get a drink.Visited July 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 11 July 2024
- Chippy18 contributionsExcellent day away from the crowdsGreat day. The ticket was good value considering it included the main gallery, 'pink' house, grounds and tree top walk. Cafes were both good value, staff friendly. A special thanks to the lovely gentleman on the exit/entrance who advised us that our planned walk back to the Fluvial bus stop was through an area not very safe for tourists and suggested a safer route. Much appreciated. All in all a really enjoyable day.Visited July 2024Travelled with familyWritten 2 August 2024
- PledgetHathersage, United Kingdom4 contributionsGreat Museum but be really careful about their policy of entry only once to each “exhibit” as that includes the gardensI’m really conflicted on how to review the Museu Serralves and Parque. Beware of the “Entry only once” rule as it easy to miss and this includes the gardens, not just the art exhibitions. We went there on our first day in Porto buying full access tickets and the visit started amazingly with an unexpected and fantastic Yayoi Kusama exhibition. Back in the UK, tickets for the Kusama exhibition at the Tate Modern and Manchester were very difficult to get hold of. So we were very exited to accidentally happen across this exhibition and it made our morning. We also visited the other exhibitions in the Museum Building and then headed out to the garden. We wandered around the exhibits in the gardens but then got hungry so went back to the main museum to get some food in their restaurant, expecting to be able to see the rest of the gardens after lunch. This was a buffet type arrangement for fixed price and the food was expensive but really good. Once we’d eaten we thought we’d go back to the gardens and see the parts we hadn’t done before lunch. To our surprise we weren’t let back into the gardens as the person checking tickets said we weren’t allowed to enter twice. This was not explained to us when we bought the tickets so I went back to where we bought the tickets and the staff on the ticket desk simply said that you were only allowed entry into each “exhibit” and that there were signs explaining this (we walked past the hand written sign on the ticket desk without seeing it when we bought the tickets). At this point I also examined the tickets and indeed, I extremely small writing it also said only one entry to each exhibit. Now I get that when it’s busy they need to stop people going through the exhibits multiple times (even though it wasn’t that busy) and we had actually been through all the exhibits in the main building and the gardens. However, the gardens were extensive and although we’d seen the exhibits in the garden we hadn’t seen much of the actual gardens. We had only left the gardens because we were hungry and bought food in the Museum restaurant providing them with extra income, yet they wouldn’t let us in the gardens a second time to see the bits we missed. This inflexibility from the staff was a bitter pill to swallow and we didn’t get to see the extensive gardens or Teahouse cafe after lunch and left feeling cheated.Visited August 2024Travelled with familyWritten 8 September 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.0
2,734 reviews
Excellent
1,350
Very good
729
Average
350
Poor
180
Terrible
129
These reviews have been automatically translated from their original language.
This service may contain translations provided by Google. Google disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to translations, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from forgery.
paulac32
Manchester, UK360 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
This place is worth a visit but we were unable to gain access due to ridiculous queues. Portuguese residents can access free of charge on the first Sunday of each month. We only found this out after we had booked a timed slot for the museum which we had to get refunded. There were literally hundreds of people there when we arrived. We saw lots of people leaving who obviously didn't want to spend the day waiting.
Written 13 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Maria J R
1 contribution
July 2024 • Friends
The museum has an abusive price for what it offers: 24 euros per person. Access from Porto by car is complicated and unmarked. Of the temporary exhibitions, the only one worthwhile was Kusama's. It is not allowed to re-enter the museum once you leave the gardens. Rooms and more rooms of models of the architect of the museum without interest for the large public. Disappointing.
Automatically translated
Written 5 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SuperTeo81
Cesena, Italy63 contributions
Sept 2024 • Couples
The Serralves complex is easily reached by bus 207 (you can take it almost anywhere in the downtown area).
Surrounded by a wonderful park, the museum always has interesting exhibitions.
We were lucky enough to see the exhibition "Yayoi Kusama: 1945 – Today", unique and incredible.
You should buy a full ticket to see everything because you save something (the price is still right for such a well-made complex).
The park is huge, full of greenery and great for an al fresco siesta.
To improve the management of the entrance / exit, now in a single solution but overall worth a visit.
Surrounded by a wonderful park, the museum always has interesting exhibitions.
We were lucky enough to see the exhibition "Yayoi Kusama: 1945 – Today", unique and incredible.
You should buy a full ticket to see everything because you save something (the price is still right for such a well-made complex).
The park is huge, full of greenery and great for an al fresco siesta.
To improve the management of the entrance / exit, now in a single solution but overall worth a visit.
Automatically translated
Written 28 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nita G
2 contributions
Mar 2022 • Couples
We read the reviews and so knew it was not necessarily going to be the most amazing art exhibition. We chose the garden with the tree top walk which is now included in the price. We were very disappointed. Hardly any sculptures and although a pretty enough garden and art deco building it was not worth the 12euros. The treetops walk seemed pointless. To make things worse we were not shown the ticket price list at the ticket office so missed out on the discount for the over 66yrs. When I asked about this after buying the tickets I got a shrug of the shoulders. Basically we thought it was vastly over priced. We had a much better and free garden experience in Coimbra at the Botanical Gardens.
Written 14 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fábio Martins
Sao Bras de Alportel, Portugal25 contributions
June 2024 • Solo
The Serralves museum always hosts contemporary art exhibitions, the most recent of which is by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Also part of the foundation is the Manuel de Oliveira museum, dedicated to his filmography and the villa, with works by Miró and Calder. You can also enjoy the extensive park, which houses some sculptures and a walkway between the trees. The ideal is to go as early as possible, as in high season, there will be some delays in access, or you must buy tickets online. For a complete visit I suggest going in the morning and starting with the main museum, then heading to the villa. You can then have lunch at the bar or restaurant, with excellent service. After the meal you can watch some film clips at the Manuel de Oliveira house and end the afternoon exploring the park. It was a day well spent in Serralves, but Yayoi Kusama's exhibition was undoubtedly the highlight. She is a very unique artist who leaves no one indifferent to her work. I recommend!
Written 8 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
emma
England, UK7 contributions
July 2024 • Couples
So worth it!
After lots of mixed reviews we were not sure if to risk visiting but we are so glad we did as we had an amazing time.
We didn’t book tickets in advance we simply turned up on the day and bought them at the front desk. We paid 24 euros for the ticket that included all activities. Ensure you get dropped off at the entrance near the museum. Look at this on google maps.
The exhibition was yayoi kusama when we visited on July 10th. This was wonderful to see. Worth the price alone. The gardens were really pretty, nice for a walk outside on a hot day.
The famous house seemed to be having maintenance on the ponds. A worker was working on these during the visit, slightly disappointed as pictures were not that great but understandable. However there were boxes and fences and wires up from an event so seeing the house and photographing was not the best. The ponds looked a bit unkept but the house itself is stunning.
We got an Uber that was about 6 euros and 15 minute trip.
Toilets were good.
Cafe didn’t have the best selection but was okay to get a drink.
After lots of mixed reviews we were not sure if to risk visiting but we are so glad we did as we had an amazing time.
We didn’t book tickets in advance we simply turned up on the day and bought them at the front desk. We paid 24 euros for the ticket that included all activities. Ensure you get dropped off at the entrance near the museum. Look at this on google maps.
The exhibition was yayoi kusama when we visited on July 10th. This was wonderful to see. Worth the price alone. The gardens were really pretty, nice for a walk outside on a hot day.
The famous house seemed to be having maintenance on the ponds. A worker was working on these during the visit, slightly disappointed as pictures were not that great but understandable. However there were boxes and fences and wires up from an event so seeing the house and photographing was not the best. The ponds looked a bit unkept but the house itself is stunning.
We got an Uber that was about 6 euros and 15 minute trip.
Toilets were good.
Cafe didn’t have the best selection but was okay to get a drink.
Written 11 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jeremy B
Croscombe, UK16 contributions
Oct 2024 • Couples
Rather disappointing, particularly the laughably dreadful art displays. I think we must have been unlucky with what was on, namely a display of films of children’s games, a truly dreadful display of miserable uninteresting photographs and some other ‘art’.
Things got even worse in the house with some excruciating nonsense: a display of denim jackets with messages on them, a collection of several thousand bottles with the same message on, what looked like a graffiti riven metal portaloo and other tat. What made it worse was the entrance fee, €48 for the two of us. I’m still shaking now!
Only the gardens and the stunning architecture of the house compensated. The house could have been so much more interesting, had at least one room had some art deco furnishings to go with the property, rather than artistic displays such as a giant crashed hot air balloon, a metaphor for most of the art itself.
I couldn’t recommend a visit but if you do go, some prior research of what is on display would be advisable. It only cost €10 two years ago - watch out, they can see you coming!
Things got even worse in the house with some excruciating nonsense: a display of denim jackets with messages on them, a collection of several thousand bottles with the same message on, what looked like a graffiti riven metal portaloo and other tat. What made it worse was the entrance fee, €48 for the two of us. I’m still shaking now!
Only the gardens and the stunning architecture of the house compensated. The house could have been so much more interesting, had at least one room had some art deco furnishings to go with the property, rather than artistic displays such as a giant crashed hot air balloon, a metaphor for most of the art itself.
I couldn’t recommend a visit but if you do go, some prior research of what is on display would be advisable. It only cost €10 two years ago - watch out, they can see you coming!
Written 24 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ESVincent
Hong Kong, China1,122 contributions
May 2022
There are three things that make this place a must see visit..firstly the buildings design is exceptional, think of the Getty or Bilbao Museum - it is remarkable. Secondly the Art Deco House in the grounds is one of the best Art Deco Houses in Europe and worth a visit alone and finally the gardens - with their tree top walks, paths to the river and sculptures are a perfect place families.
The Art collection is quite good too...it really is worth the visit
The Art collection is quite good too...it really is worth the visit
Written 3 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brooklyn478
Brooklyn, NY858 contributions
Sept 2022 • Couples
I loved this museum and the surrounding grounds! We had a lovely buffet lunch with wine on the roof deck of the restaurant and then spent the rest of the day exploring the grounds and museums. The art deco villa is fascinating and we were fortunate to see an amazing Joan Miro exhibit. Everything was beautifully presented and we really enjoyed our visit. Nice gift shop too!
Written 25 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
terrigiltravel
Ann Arbor, MI54 contributions
Aug 2022
Spent a lovely afternoon at the Museu Serralves. Everything about the museum and the gardens was wonderful. There is a tree walk in the gardens that provides a nice view from the tree tops. The cinema building was a marvelous little gem! Fun to discover new directors and their creative works. The pink house - Casa Serralves, holds a large collection of Miro. The house itself is an art deco marvel. Fascinating architecture and interior details, and beautiful formal gardens out the front, melding into the larger gardens surrounding the museum complex. The museum itself housed an interesting collection of works from Portuguese artists. One of the artists created immersive rooms that were really creative. Well worth spending your afternoon here!
Written 16 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I can’t agree with Wouterv849’s review on the wonderful art deco home we saw a few days ago whilst in Porto. Sadly, it had an exhibition set up which detracted from the bones of the home but you could take a deep breath when you saw the entrance foyer, the doors, floors walls and the design depicting very high and powerful walls, huge windows obviously for viewing the central garden image and each room was beautifully designed. The grandness of the home was something difficult to describe unless you have seen the home with your own eyes. The home is not furnished but that really doesn’t matter it is beautiful with or without. Unfortunately the blinds and shutters were closed on the day we were there to avoid the sunshine fading any paintings or floors perhaps. I truly hope that Porto would will care for this gracious and beautiful home - it is a credit to the architect, the owner who has given it over to the people of Porto and the magnificent park which with a bit more tender care would be magnificent. Thank you to all residents of Porto for preserving this magnificent piece of art deco brilliance.
Pieta Thornton, OAM
Sydney,
Australia
Written 1 October 2023
Hay parking para dejar el coche? O alguno cerca?
Written 25 August 2022
Is there public transport to get here from Gaia, just by the luis Bridge?
Written 12 July 2019
We got an Uber from Porto and cost approx 11-12 euro
Written 13 July 2019
É permitido levar os nossos cães aos jardins de Serralves?
Written 8 December 2018
Ich gehe mit einer Schulklasse ins Serralves Museum und habe keine Führung organisiert. Bekommt man mit dem Eintrittsbillet auch eine Broschüre der aktuellen Austellungen ?
Written 15 September 2018
Sorry, I don't have it but sure you can find it on their website!
Written 17 September 2018
What is the food like in the museum restaurant?
Written 16 August 2018
We ate in the café in the gardens, next to the former tennis courts. The food was good value and very tasty.
We had toasted cheese and ham sandwiches; you could say it was quite "rustic," or not very sophisticated, but it was very good.
We had freshly squeezed orange juice in the museum restaurant, which was excellent. Other people seemed to be enjoying the food.
Written 20 August 2018
Showing results 1-10 of 14
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing