The five best places to watch the World Cup outside in Lisbon

This World Cup's official lawn, the first where the Portuguese side will take to the pitch as European champions. The artificial grass will cover a quarter of the Praça do Comércio square, to make everyone feel comfortable when it's time to wave their arms around in frustration at a referee's unnecessary whistle against Portugal. On one end, the goal you'll have your eyes on: a giant 90 sqm screen where you can watch Ricardo Quaresma dribbling, Gonçalo Guedes sprinting, Cristiano Ronaldo bycicle-kicking, Rui Patrício saving, Bruno Alves smiling. The arena's audience will be Lisbon's VAR. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) asked NIU to set this arena up, as they did in the last World Cup and Euro tournaments (then in Alameda and Eduardo VII Park). But there is more than football in Praça do Comércio: the square also has areas for restaurants and entertainment. Every game will be broadcast live - except for those that start at the same time. No miracles there - those are up to Portugal manager Fernando Santos.

There are plenty of kiosks around the city, but this is our selection. We went up and down the Avenida da Liberdade to check which ones have TV sets and big screens, and we found out that they all joined the game. That includes the top-ranked Banana Café (with three kiosks in the Avenida), Melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo, Hot Dog Lovers and the Ribadouro Restaurant (with two different screens that can show different games simultaneously). In Campo de Ourique, the standout is Hamburgueria da Parada, where all games will be broadcast (except those starting at the same time), for you to watch while noshing on a cottage cheese and pesto or Ilha cheese hamburger.

This is the outdoors area of Village Underground (VU), the main stage for football emotions in Alcântara. Here they don't discriminate: you can watch every World Cup game, allowing fans from anywhere in the world to support their favourite team (which is not necessarily their own country's). To energize the fans, the Buzz Lisboeta restaurant stretched its opening hours and offers a menu with snacks and evening-drinks, an adequate combination for relaxed football-watching. For the Brazil - Switzerland match, the Bué Tolo Carnival Block was invited to cheer up the audience.

Do you live in the Southern Margin of the Tagus, or are you in need of a change of scenery? This World Cup provides you with a good excuse. The Almada City Hall joined the fun, and the highlights of the tournament will be live on Comandante Júlio Ferraz Urban Park. All of Portugal's games in the group stage and (if they get there) the round of 16 games will be broadcast on a giant screen; with or without the Portuguese team, all games from the quarter-finals onward will be aired.

The Benfica local council is playing for a win. It set up a giant screen in the Quinta da Granja, making it probably the best place for families to watch the World Cup: there's a playground, inflatables (both on land and water), foosball tables (so you can pretend to be a real footballer), a food court and lots of fun.