LX Factory

Ler Devagar and the market at LX Factory

You come here to wander: along the street and through the old factory buildings, going in wherever looks good, and then sitting down somewhere for lunch.

Ler Devagar, whose name means “read slowly”, is the place to begin. It’s almost 600 m² of bookshop over four floors, under a 14-metre ceiling, with more than 40,000 new titles and nearly 10,000 second-hand ones.

A visitor in January 2026 found it still built around a huge printing press, left from the printing works that was here before, with a small bar right at the top.

The LX Market has set up its open-air stalls in the car park since 2012, usually on Saturdays and Sundays. Its calendar skips the odd day, though, so check it before you go.

Visitors in 2026 also mention the murals and street art, sunset drinks at the LX Rooftop bar and the neon-lit lanes after dark, when one found the place at its most atmospheric.

LX Factory opening hours and entry

There’s no ticket to get in, and we found no opening hours for the complex as a whole. Each shop, restaurant and bar sets its own, so check the place you’re heading for.

The Lisboa Card has no part to play here, but the card, €31 for 24 hours, includes Pilar 7 nearby and the train or tram out.

It gets busy. The 2026 reviews mention a wait for tables and even for the toilets in May, and expensive shops and cafés: one visitor paid €20 for a tin of sardines.

One visitor in October 2026 found ride-hailing cars hard to get here, so keep the train or tram in mind for the way back. Give the place an hour or two, longer with a meal.

From textile mill to LX Factory

The mill’s first owner, in the 19th century, was the Companhia de Fiação Lisbonense, a Lisbon spinning company. It built a village for its workers, with a crèche and a primary school. The business paper Jornal de Negócios counts it among the first workers’ villages of its kind in Lisbon.

LX Factory itself dates from 2008, when the property company Mainside took the site on. By 2017 it held close to 200 companies, offices included, and more than a thousand people worked there.

So not all of it is shops: a visitor in April 2026 found the upper floors closed or used as offices.

Ler Devagar moved in on 23 April 2009. The bookshop had started in the Bairro Alto, the old quarter on the hill, in 1999, and had been forced to close there in 2005.

Around LX Factory: the bridge, the docks and Belém

For LX Factory, the Cascais-line train stops at Alcântara-Mar, and tram 15E and buses 714, 727, 732 and 751 run past Pilar 7 close by. The Lisboa Card covers every one of them.