Parque Desportivo de Ramalde

The Parque Desportivo de Ramalde, also called Ramalde/INATEL, is a sports park on Rua do Dr. Aarão de Lacerda in the Ramalde area of Porto. The land belongs to the INATEL foundation, which handed its running to the city; today Ágora, the Porto council’s culture and sports company, manages it.

For families, two things happen here that are hard to find elsewhere. The council gives free skateboard lessons at the park’s skatepark four times a week, and the Clube de Tiro com Arco do Porto, the city’s archery club, trains here and opens its doors every October for people to try archery.

Ágora runs free skate lessons (aulas de skate gratuitas) at the skatepark as one of Porto’s municipal sport programmes. According to the programme page, lessons run:

• Mondays and Thursdays, 17:30 to 19:30
• Saturdays and Sundays, 10:00 to 12:00

They’re recommended for anyone from 6 to 60, so parents can learn alongside their children. Each session has 10 places, and each person can go to at most two lessons a week. To sign up, email desporto@agoraporto.pt.

The programme page doesn’t carry a date, so confirm the current timetable and whether you need to bring a board and pads when you register. Protective gear is compulsory at the skatepark whatever you’re doing (see below).

The Skate Park de Ramalde opened in November 2019 on a patch of the sports park that had been left abandoned. It was an instant hit, so the council enlarged it. When the Porto mayor visited the finished extension in January 2022, the original 950 square metres had grown by another 600 to about 1,550, with new benches, bins and brighter lighting. Both phases were designed by the architect and skater Francisco Lopez, known as “França”, who has drawn several other parks in Portugal, and local skaters had a say in the final shape of the new section.

That new section is a flow bowl, a deep curved basin built for ramp riding, which Ágora says can host regional and national competitions at every level from beginner to professional. The rest of the park is street-style obstacles. According to Ágora, about 200 riders use it on an average day, and several national youth champions learned here, including a 10-year-old under-12 champion who told Ágora he trains every day. For a beginner that means company and older skaters to watch, and also that after-school hours are busy.

The skatepark is open from 10:00 to 21:00. Ágora describes it as suitable for beginners and experienced riders, used for informal skating and competitions. Its phone number is 930 609 318.

The park’s regulations, published in 2023, set out who can use it and how:

• Only skateboards, BMX freestyle bikes and inline skates are allowed. Scooters and other kinds of bike or equipment aren’t permitted in the skatepark.
• BMX riders with metal pegs can’t use the granite obstacle.
• Protective gear is compulsory: helmet, knee pads, shin pads, elbow pads, gloves and wrist guards.
• The skatepark is a sports ground, not a playground. It isn’t recommended for children under 6, who must be supervised by an adult.
• It holds between 50 and 75 people at once, and staff can lower that limit for safety.
• No alcohol, smoking, glass bottles or cans, and no loudspeakers or other loud music players.
• There are toilets as part of the support facilities, which Ágora keeps clean.

Opening hours are fixed at the start of each sports season, which runs from 1 September to 31 August, and are posted at the park and on Ágora’s website. The park can close for maintenance or special events with notice.

The Clube de Tiro com Arco do Porto (CTAP) was founded on 22 September 2010 and trains at the Parque Desportivo de Ramalde. It has about 50 members and says more than 300 people have come through the club in its first 15 years, with dozens of its archers winning national titles in different age groups.

The club shoots three kinds of bow:

• Recurve, the Olympic bow, with curved tips that store energy
• Barebow, a bow with no sights or accessories, just the bow and string
• Compound, which uses pulleys and cables

Young archers compete for the club. In the 2025/2026 national indoor ranking final, two CTAP archers placed fourth and fifth in the Robins category, one of the youth age groups.

October taster sessions

Every October the club runs experience sessions (sessões de experiência) at Ramalde, open to anyone curious about archery. Participants get to know the equipment, learn the basic principles and shoot with the club’s coaches. You don’t need any experience or your own kit. Places are limited, so you register in advance through a form linked from the club’s website.

The club doesn’t give an age limit or price for the sessions on its site, so ask when you register (geral@ctap.pt). The club lists the benefits it sees in archery as focus, posture and coordination, team spirit and a calm, rewarding way to reduce stress.

The skate lessons are for children of 6 and up, and the skatepark itself isn’t recommended for younger children. Scooter riders can’t use the park. Places in the free lessons are limited to ten a session, so don’t just turn up; email first.

Archery suits a different child from skating: one who likes to concentrate, repeat and improve. The October tasters are the obvious way in, since the club doesn’t publish a regular children’s class.

The Serralves park and the Parque da Cidade, Porto’s big city park by the sea, are both on the west side of the city. Children who like the idea of sword skills as well as bows can look at GEMAC historical fencing in Porto.

Are the skate lessons in Porto really free?

Yes. They’re a municipal programme run by Ágora for the Porto council. Sign up by emailing desporto@agoraporto.pt.

What age can children do the free skate lessons?

They’re recommended from age 6 to 60. The skatepark rules also say it isn’t recommended for children under 6.

Can my child use a scooter at the Ramalde skatepark?

No. Only skateboards, BMX freestyle bikes and inline skates are allowed.

Does my child need a helmet?

Yes. A helmet and pads (knees, shins, elbows, wrists) and gloves are compulsory at the skatepark.

When can we try archery in Porto?

The Clube de Tiro com Arco do Porto runs taster sessions at Ramalde in October. Register in advance through the form on its website; no experience or equipment is needed.