Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra, Cascais and the Arrábida Coast

Arrive in Lisbon

Lisbon Airport to your hotel in central Lisbon

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

Check-in is from mid-afternoon, so if you land early, leave your bags and walk down the Rua Augusta to the river at Praça do Comércio, the great square rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: which mornings start early to beat the queues, how the out-of-town days work, and what the streets are like underfoot, since Lisbon's polished limestone paving, the calçada, is slippery in the wet.

Soir

You collect your earpiece, and we walk to a small restaurant nearby for a welcome dinner of Portuguese dishes. Plan to land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing comfortably; if you arrive later, your guide meets you at breakfast.

Compris

• Pick-up at Lisbon Airport (LIS)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner near the hotel

Belém at opening, Alfama by tram and on foot

Lisbon to Belém, then Tram 28 to São Jorge Castle and down through Alfama

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 45 min de route

Après-midi

A warm custard tart from the Belém bakery that has baked them since 1837 comes next, then a sit-down lunch. In the afternoon we board Tram 28, the old wooden yellow tram, at its Martim Moniz terminus; the afternoon queue there can be long, so your guide holds our place while you wait nearby, and the tram grinds up through the narrow streets of Graça to the castle hill. From the walls of São Jorge Castle you see the whole city and the Tagus, then we walk downhill through Alfama's stairs and lanes to the Sé cathedral.

Soir

The evening is yours.

Compris

• Jerónimos Monastery at opening, with the cloister and the church
• The Belém riverfront: the Monument to the Discoveries and the Belém Tower from outside
• A custard tart in Belém
• Sit-down lunch
• Tram 28 ride to the castle hill
• São Jorge Castle
• Guided walk down through Alfama to the Sé cathedral

Sintra at opening

Lisbon to Sintra: Pena Palace, Quinta da Regaleira and Monserrate, then back to Lisbon

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

Pena, built in the mid-19th century for King Ferdinand II on a rocky summit, is all yellow and red towers, with the Atlantic in view on a clear morning; the whole Sintra landscape has been on the UNESCO list since 1995. Next is Quinta da Regaleira, an early 20th-century estate of grottoes, tunnels and towers whose Initiation Well spirals down about 27 metres.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Sintra town, with a queijada or travesseiro pastry to follow. In the quieter afternoon we drive a few minutes west to Monserrate, a 19th-century palace in a garden of plants gathered from around the world, and are back in Lisbon by late afternoon.

Compris

• Pena Palace and its park at the first entry, with the shuttle up the hill
• Quinta da Regaleira and the Initiation Well
• Sit-down lunch in Sintra
• Monserrate palace and gardens

Tiles in the morning, fado at night

The National Tile Museum, then a free afternoon in Lisbon, then a fado dinner

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

Mid-morning our vehicle takes us east along the river to the National Tile Museum, the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, housed in the Madre de Deus convent founded in 1509. Your guide walks you through five centuries of Portuguese tiles, from Moorish-style geometric patterns to blue-and-white Baroque panels and 20th-century designs, and the convent church, lined with gilded wood and tiles. The highlight is a panorama of Lisbon in blue and white, more than 20 metres long, showing the waterfront as it looked before the 1755 earthquake.

Après-midi

Back in the centre by lunchtime, the rest of the day is free: the Gulbenkian Museum's collection from Egypt to Lalique, the LX Factory market, a long lunch or a nap.

Soir

In the evening we meet again for dinner at a fado house in Alfama, where the city's own song, listed by UNESCO in 2011, is sung between courses.

Compris

• National Tile Museum with your guide
• Fado dinner in Alfama

Activités en option

• The Gulbenkian Museum
• The LX Factory market
• A tile-painting class

The Arrábida coast and Setúbal by boat

Lisbon over the 25 de Abril Bridge to the Serra da Arrábida, then Setúbal and a boat on the Sado estuary

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

The ridge road runs high above the coast, past the white Arrábida Convent on the slope, and we stop at the viewpoints in the clear morning light, then go down to Portinho da Arrábida, a small cove with a fishing quay.

Après-midi

We reach Setúbal by about 11:00, while its Livramento market is still busy (most stalls wind down around midday), a a long hall lined with tile panels and full of fish, Azeitão cheese and fruit. Lunch is a sit-down meal of choco frito, the town's fried cuttlefish, with a glass of Moscatel de Setúbal. In the afternoon we board a boat on the Sado estuary to look for its resident bottlenose dolphins, out towards the Tróia sand spit, and are back on the quay by about 4:30, before the hour's drive back to Lisbon.

Compris

• The Arrábida ridge road and viewpoints
• Portinho da Arrábida
• Setúbal's Livramento market with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Setúbal with a glass of Moscatel
• Dolphin-watching boat trip on the Sado estuary, about 2.5 hours

Cascais to Guincho on foot, and Cabo da Roca

Lisbon to Cascais, the seafront path past Boca do Inferno to Guincho, then Cabo da Roca and back to Cascais

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Lisbon
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

After about 8 to 9 km and two and a half to three hours of easy walking you reach Guincho, a long Atlantic beach known for its wind and kitesurfers, and a sit-down lunch of grilled fish. Our vehicle then climbs to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, where cliffs drop about 140 metres to the sea.

Soir

The late afternoon is free in Cascais, and we drive back to Lisbon in the early evening.

Compris

• Guided walk from Cascais past Boca do Inferno to Guincho beach
• Sit-down lunch at Guincho
• Cabo da Roca
• Free time in Cascais

Lisbon to the airport, or on to Porto

Your hotel in central Lisbon to Lisbon Airport, or Santa Apolónia station

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

The morning is yours for a last walk: coffee and a pastry at a counter in the Baixa, a ride on the Santa Justa lift, or a final look over the city from the São Pedro de Alcântara viewpoint, which is lovely in the clear early light.

Après-midi

Check-out is late morning, and our vehicle takes the group to Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), about 20 minutes away, arriving around midday, in time for flights from about 2:30 pm.

Soir

Your guide checks your flight details the evening before and sees you to the terminal. If you want more of Portugal, this week works as the start of a longer trip: our Lisbon, Porto and Douro Valley route heads north, and our Alentejo and Algarve walking trip heads south, and we can drop you at Santa Apolónia station for the train or add hotel nights in between. Earlier flights need a separate transfer, which we arrange at cost.

Compris

• Drop-off at Lisbon Airport (LIS) or Santa Apolónia station