Zoom

Zoom on Rua do Almada is Porto's longest-running and most reliably busy gay bar — the venue that functions as the anchor of the city's LGBTQ+ social life and the first address given to gay visitors arriving in Porto for the first time. The bar is unpretentious and genuinely welcoming: a comfortable space for a drink and a conversation, busy on weekend evenings, and lacking the exclusivity or themed identity that can make other gay venues feel unwelcoming to solo travellers or visitors who do not know the local scene. Zoom's longevity on Rua do Almada — in a city where gay venues have come and gone over the years — is the best evidence of its quality: it has stayed because people keep coming back. The bar attracts a mixed crowd of Porto residents and visitors and functions as a social hub for the city's gay community in the way that Bar 106 does for Lisbon's Príncipe Real.