Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, 30 km from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers.

The city expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there are about 100,000 inhabitants in the urban area alone. It is the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in Portugal and the third largest in Northern Portugal.

Permanent settlement in Póvoa de Varzim dates back to around four to six thousand years ago; around 900 BC, unrest in the region led to the establishment of Cividade de Terroso, a fortified city, which developed maritime trade routes with the civilizations of classical antiquity.

Modern Póvoa de Varzim emerged after the conquest by the Roman Republic of the city by 138 BC; fishing and fish processing units soon developed, which became the foundations of the local economy.

By the 11th century, the fishing industry and fertile farmlands were the economic base of a feudal lordship and Varzim was fiercely disputed between the local overlords and the early Portuguese kings, which resulted in the establishment of the present day’s municipality in 1308 and being subjugated to monastic power some years later.

Póvoa de Varzim’s importance reemerged with the Age of Discovery due to its shipbuilders and merchants proficiency and wealth, who traded around the globe in complex trade routes. By the 17th century, the fish processing industry rebounded and, sometime later, Póvoa became the dominant fishing port in northern Portugal.

Póvoa de Varzim has been a well-known beach resort for over three centuries, the most popular in Northern Portugal, which unfolded an influential literary culture and historical-artistic patronage in music and theater. 

Casino da Póvoa is one of the few and prominent gambling venues in Portugal. Leisure and health benefits provided in large sandy beaches attracts national and international visitors.

Póvoa de Varzim holds other landmarks, especially the traditional Junqueira shopping street, Garrett Theatre, the Ethnography and History Museum, Cividade de Terroso, the Medieval Rates Monastery, Baroque Matriz Church, city Hall and Portuguese vernacular architecture in Praça do Almada, and numerous Portuguese cuisine restaurants that make Póvoa de Varzim popular in all Northern Portugal, which started to attract an international following. 

Farol da Lapa, Farol de Regufe, the main breakwater of the Port of Póvoa de Varzim, Carvalhido and São Félix Hill are preferred for sightseeing. The city has significant textile and food industries. The town has retained a distinct cultural identity and ancient Norse customs such as the writing system of siglas poveiras, the masseira farming technique and festivals.

Economy

The economy of Póvoa de Varzim is driven by tourism, manufacturing, construction, fishing, and agribusiness.

Póvoa de Varzim’s real estate development ranked as the fifth most active out of seventeen municipalities of Metropolitan Porto in 2015, when considering new homes.

Reconstruction was mostly stagnant, and Póvoa de Varzim was eighth in overall activity.

Tourism Post on one of the market towers of 1904. Some renewable energy research projects were tested in Póvoa de Varzim’s coastline, including the Aguçadoura Wave Park (pictured) and the windfloat project.

Fisheries

The fact that it is a seaside city has shaped Póvoa de Varzim’s economy: the fishing industry, from the fishing vessels that put in each day to the canning industry and to the city’s fish market, beach agriculture, and seaweed-gathering for fertilizing fields are the result of its geography.

Tourism and the related industries are more relevant in Póvoa’s economy these days, as fisheries have lost importance.

Agribusiness

Production is still specialized in horticultural goods, but most of the masseiras were substituted by greenhouses and a significant share of the production is exported to other Western European markets.

Póvoa de Varzim is part of the ancient Vinho Verde winemaking region, and there is commercial wine production, however, local masseira wines are not commercially produced. The inland valley region is committed to milk production and the Agros corporation headquarters of Lactogal, the largest dairy products and milk producer company in the Iberian Peninsula, is located in Espaço Agros and has several departments such as exhibition park and laboratories.

In agriculture, the masseira farm fields were developed. This technique increases agricultural yields by using large, rectangular depressions dug into sand dunes, with the spoil piled up into banks surrounding the depression. Grapes are cultivated on the banks to the south, east and west, and trees and reeds on the northern slope act as a windbreak against the prevailing northern wind. Garden crops are grown in the central depression.

Tourism

Tourism industry is subdivided into gambling, hospitality, restaurants, beach bars and cafés. National visitors are prevalent and from diverse localities. In 1876, Ramalho Ortigão noticed that Póvoa was very popular in all social ranks in Northern Portugal.

National and foreign visitors search the town for the numerous sandy beaches, sunbathing, sunsets over the ocean, relaxation and city trips.

Walking from the beach promenades to the old town shopping street, the Junqueira, is particularly enjoyed, as is local food, most especially seafood.

Since 1970, Póvoa de Varzim became widely popular in Northern Portugal for restaurants specialized in Portuguese Piri Piri Chicken, Cabidela chicken blood rice or codfish. Due to tourism, affluent pensioners from the Western World living in Póvoa de Varzim increased, triggering fears of renewed gentrification, the city hall responded with the planned construction of apartments with controlled prices for young Povoans in Penalves area.

Manufacturing

There are some industrial areas, including Zona Industrial de Amorim and Parque Industrial de Laundos, in the city’s outskirts, next to the A28 Motorway. Póvoa de Varzim has been noted internationally for its Renewable energy industry. The world’s first commercial wave farm was located in its coast, at the Aguçadora Wave Park. The wave farm used Pelamis P-750 machines. The project failed and was replaced by the windfloat project, a new proctotype on offshore wind farms, from a distinct company, that attained successful testing. Energie, a company headquartered in Póvoa de Varzim, developed a thermodynamic solar system combining solar energy and a heat pump to generate energy.

The manufacturing industry is an important employer, mostly in the textile industry. One of its traditional and high-end products are the Tapetes Beiriz, a handmade rug produced since 1918, which currently also produces contemporary rugs. The clothing industry balanced back from European Union’s expansion to Eastern Europe and Globalization, by shifting to luxury clothing for high fashion brands or reinventing uniforms, with specific needs or complexity, as seen in the case of Damel. In construction and civil engineering, Monte Adriano is a large Portuguese company.