Day trips from Lisbon

One of Lisbon's strengths is what surrounds it: less than an hour away are a mountain of fairy-tale palaces on the UNESCO list, the Atlantic coast with beaches and cliffs, elegant towns and fishing villages. It is part of the Lisbon guide.

Day trips at a glance

Sintra

The finest trip. On the Sintra hills, a wooded range often wrapped in Atlantic mist, 19th-century kings and aristocrats built romantic palaces and exotic gardens, now a UNESCO cultural landscape. See the colourful Pena Palace on the mountaintop, with its park; the Moorish Castle, with walls along the ridges; Quinta da Regaleira, with its spiral initiation well and mysterious gardens; the National Palace of Sintra in the town centre, with its conical chimneys; and Monserrate Palace and its botanical gardens. Try the travesseiros and queijadas. Leave early: in high season the crowds are huge, and booking tickets is wise. See Sintra.

Cascais, Estoril and Cabo da Roca

The train from Cais do Sodré runs along the sea to Cascais, a former fishing village turned elegant resort where exiled kings and princes lived, including Italy's last king, Umberto II. The centre has pedestrian streets, town beaches, the citadel, the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum and the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego. On foot or by bike you reach Boca do Inferno, a chasm in the cliffs, and further on the ocean beaches of Guincho, a kitesurfing paradise. Nearby Estoril is famous for its casino, which inspired Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. From Cascais or Sintra a bus goes to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of continental Europe, "where the land ends and the sea begins", as Camões wrote. See Cascais.

Ericeira and Mafra

To the north, Ericeira is a white-and-blue fishing village on the cliffs, Europe's first World Surfing Reserve, with famous waves like Ribeira d'Ilhas. On the way, in Mafra, stands the immense palace-convent built by John V in the 18th century with Brazilian gold, with a basilica, two bell towers holding 98 bells and a splendid baroque library inhabited by bats that protect the books from insects. See Ericeira and Mafra.

The south bank: Caparica, Setúbal and Arrábida

Across the Tagus, the Costa da Caparica offers thirty kilometres of ocean beaches, Lisboetas' summer favourites. Further south, the Arrábida hills drop into a turquoise sea with coves like Portinho da Arrábida and Galapinhos, among Portugal's most beautiful; best reached by car. Setúbal is famous for fish, choco frito (fried cuttlefish) and moscatel; from its port boats go dolphin-watching in the Sado estuary and ferries cross to the Tróia peninsula. See Setúbal.

Further afield

• Óbidos, a medieval village enclosed by walkable walls, famous for ginja liqueur in chocolate cups and its book festival.
• Fátima, one of the world's most important Marian shrines.
• Nazaré, a fishing village with the world's biggest waves in winter.
• Évora, in the Alentejo, with its Roman temple, cathedral and chapel of bones.

Many agencies run day tours combining Óbidos, Nazaré and Fátima, or Sintra and Cascais.

Tips

• For Sintra take the first morning train and use the shuttle buses up to the palaces: the roads are narrow and steep.
• The Cascais train is perfect for a summer beach day; sit on the left on the way out to see the ocean.
• The Lisboa Card includes trains to Sintra and Cascais.
• For Arrábida and the west coast a car gives more freedom, but summer parking is limited.

See also itineraries and the Lisbon region.