Warm aisle of wooden shelves packed with books at Livraria Calçada

Your new forever bookshop

Livraria Calçada

An independent bookstore on Rua Ferreira Borges — literature, poetry, arts, and children’s shelves, kept close to the reader since 1976.

Bookshop window glowing onto a cobbled Coimbra street at dusk

Independent · Coimbra

A generalist shop with a careful hand

We are an independent bookstore founded in 1976 in the heart of Coimbra. Our shelves are generalist by design — a diversified, quality-led range with a clear focus on literature, poetry, the arts, and children’s books — spanning major houses and the smaller independent presses we love to champion.

Alongside reading, we keep our own stationery lines, a gallery that hosts exhibitions across artistic fields, and a calendar of workshops that treat knowledge as something you can practice with your hands.

Meet Beatriz & Nuno

Highlights from the shop

Surprises by post, gift cards for the undecided, and a monthly club around one chosen title.

Blind Book Parcel

A surprise in every delivery. From €15, we choose books for you and send a wrapped parcel home — a joint initiative with Portugal’s network of independent bookshops.

Order by email

Gift Card

Indecision, solved. Beautiful gift cards in €10, €20, €30, and €50 values, later exchanged for books chosen by the person who receives them.

Ask for a card

Reading Club

An informal, participatory club that meets monthly. Entry is free, seats limited. Club titles carry a 10% discount for participants.

See the next session

Hello from the owners

Two readers who grew up among books — and chose to keep this shop alive on the calçada.

Hello, I’m Beatriz.

Literature & psychology

Trained in psychology, I never stopped reading for pleasure. The book as object — cultural, literary, aesthetic — has always mattered to me. At Calçada I look after fiction, poetry, and the children’s corner.

Welcome, I’m Nuno.

Design & the shop floor

I studied design and still think in paper, type, and sequence. Giving Livraria Calçada a new chapter meant building a neighbourhood culture shop in the city we call home. We look forward to your visit.

The bookshop in images

Shelves, stationery, the gallery wall, and the table where the reading club gathers.

Close view of wooden shelves filled with books
Fountain pens, notebooks, and ink on a wooden stationery table
Framed artworks hanging beside art books in the shop gallery
Wooden reading-club table with stacked novels and open books
Children’s picture books on low wooden shelves

Visit us

Rua Ferreira Borges, Coimbra

Come for a title you already know — or leave with one chosen for you. Orders by email can be collected in shop or delivered.

Stack of poetry volumes beside ink and bookmarks