Things to do in Lisbon

Jerónimos Monastery

Start with Portugal’s most visited monument. Jerónimos is where Manueline, the carved late-Gothic style named after King Manuel I, reached its peak, and its two-storey cloister looks like stone lace.

Vasco da Gama, the first to sail from Europe to India, lies in the church, across from Camões, Portugal’s national poet. Entry to the church is free. The cloister is included in the Lisboa Card, though you still book a time with the card’s number.

Tram 15E from Praça da Figueira and the train from Cais do Sodré both run out to Belém on the card. Even with a booked time you queue to get in, so give the monastery an hour and a half to two hours.

Belém Tower

About 20 minutes west along the river stands the emblem of Lisbon, a fortress finished by 1519 on a rock out in the Tagus. Look for the rhinoceros carved at the foot of the west turret: the real one reached Lisbon in 1515, the first seen in Europe since the 3rd century.

Like Jerónimos, it runs on booked times, here half-hour slots, reserved with the card’s number too. Leave a few hours between the two, with lunch and a warm custard tart at Pastéis de Belém, the bakery on Rua de Belém, in the gap.

Monument to the Discoveries

Between the two, on the riverfront, a 56-metre stone prow points out to sea. Henry the Navigator, the prince behind Portugal’s sea voyages, stands at its head. Behind him, 32 more figures climb the two ramps, from Vasco da Gama to Camões and Henry’s mother, Queen Philippa.

A lift and 42 steps take you to the top, for the view down onto the compass rose and world map set in the pavement. It opens every day, so it still works on a Monday, when the other two are shut.

MAAT and Quake, also in Belém

With more time in Belém, walk onto the roof of MAAT, the architect Amanda Levete’s white riverside gallery, for a view along the Tagus to the 25 de Abril Bridge. Next door, Central Tejo, the red-brick plant that powered Lisbon from 1909, is the other half of MAAT, and the one visitors like best.

Quake, by the National Coach Museum, walks you through the 1755 earthquake that wrecked Lisbon, in ten rooms of sets and video. In one of them, the seats of a simulator shake. The Lisboa Card doesn’t cover it.

Ajuda National Palace

Up the hill from Belém, the Ajuda Palace keeps Portugal’s crown, sceptres and royal jewels in the Royal Treasure Museum, a vault three storeys high.

The palace itself was the royal family’s home from 1861 until the monarchy fell in 1910, and its rooms still look 19th-century, right up to the red and gold Throne Room. Both are on the card with nothing to book, and only the palace closes on Wednesdays.

Pilar 7 Bridge Experience

Back towards the centre, at Alcântara, you can climb inside the 25 de Abril Bridge, named after Portugal’s 1974 revolution. Pilar 7 takes you up one of its hollow pillars, past the huge blocks that anchor the cables, to a viewpoint beside the traffic, partly glass underfoot.

It’s 26 floors on foot while the lift is out of service, so take it slowly. A few minutes away, LX Factory has turned an old textile mill into a street of shops and cafés, free to walk into. Its bookshop, Ler Devagar, climbs four floors.

São Jorge Castle

On the other side of the city, the Moorish hilltop fortress that became the kings’ palace is Lisbon’s grandstand. Walk the ramparts with the roofs of the Baixa and the Tagus below you, and look for the peacocks roosting in the pines.

Tram 28 runs through Alfama towards it, bus 737 stops two minutes from the gate, and the castle opens every day, so it’s a good Monday plan.

Lisbon Cathedral and Alfama

From the castle it’s downhill all the way through Alfama, the old quarter on the slope below the walls. On the way down you pass the cathedral, which looks more like a fortress than a church. It was begun around 1147, the year Afonso Henriques, Portugal’s first king, took Lisbon from the Moors.

Inside, climb to the high choir for the view down the nave, then find the relics of St Vincent, Lisbon’s patron saint, in the Treasury.

Rua Augusta Arch and Praça do Comércio

At the bottom of the hill, the Baixa is the flat grid rebuilt after the earthquake. Its great arch opens onto Praça do Comércio and the river, and from the top you look straight up Rua Augusta.

A lift and 74 steps take you up, with no time slot to book.

Lisbon Oceanarium

Out east, on the grounds of Expo 98, Lisbon’s world’s fair, the Oceanarium surrounds one huge tank of five million litres with the coasts of four oceans. Sharks and rays swim past with the ocean sunfish, one of the biggest bony fish in the world, and penguins dive in the rebuilt Southern Ocean habitat.

The red metro line to Oriente is on the Lisboa Card, which takes 15% off at the ticket desk. Tickets cost least from 16:00.

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

A single red-line ride back from the Oceanarium, at São Sebastião, is the museum of Calouste Gulbenkian, an oil magnate who settled in Lisbon. He left his collection, from Egyptian pieces to René Lalique’s Art Nouveau jewellery, to a foundation in the city.

It reopened in July 2026, next to the Modern Art Centre and a garden that’s free to walk. Sunday afternoons from 14:00 are free for everyone, and the rest of the week the card takes 20% off.

Águas Livres Aqueduct

For something few visitors find, you can walk along the top of the 18th-century aqueduct, high over the Alcântara valley. It’s half price with the Lisboa Card, and free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month.

Time Out Market

For lunch, head down to Cais do Sodré, where the Time Out Market fills the old Mercado da Ribeira with 26 restaurants picked by Time Out’s critics. You eat at long shared tables and pay at each stall, and it opens every day from 10:00.

Lisbon Zoo and HIPPOtrip, with children

With children, head for Lisbon Zoo in Sete Rios: one ticket covers the cable car over the park and the dolphin presentations. The card takes 15% off, but only at the staffed ticket desks.

Or take them on the HIPPOtrip, the yellow bus that leaves Doca de Santo Amaro, near Pilar 7, drives through the city and rolls into the Tagus as a boat. The card takes 15% off there too.

The Tile Museum and Santa Justa Lift, both closed for now

The National Tile Museum has been closed for works since November 2025, with no reopening date, and the Santa Justa Lift has been stopped since September 2025. You can still see the lift’s ironwork from Rua do Ouro, and the Rua Augusta Arch has a view over the Baixa instead.