Attractions

The Belém Tower, a former defence bastion situated in the Lisbon fluvial entrance, was built on the north bank of the Tagus River between 1514 and 1520 on a rocky point in front of the former Belém beach. It is one of the most visited and iconic monuments of the city and was classified as [...]

The Bica Funicular, opened in 1892, was the third of its kind built in Lisbon. It is one of the town’s major tourist attractions, along with the Santa Justa, Lavra and Glória elevators. The Bica Lift consists of two carriages, each with three uneven compartments and independent access, capable of carrying 23 passengers (of which nine seated). Designed [...]

The Cais das Colunas (or the Columns Pier) owes its name to the two pillars erected at the waterfront of Praça do Comércio or Terreiro do Paço, a work by the architect Eugénio dos Santos, held during Lisbon’s reconstruction after the earthquake of 1755. These columns, which end the marble staircase leading down to the Tagus River, are [...]

The Casa dos Bicos (the House of the Pointed Stones), located east of Praça do Comércio and facing the Tagus River waterfront, is one of Lisbon’s most original buildings. Therefore for its singular name, but also by a 1,125 nozzle (or diamond) shaped stones’ façade. It houses the headquarters of the José Saramago Foundation, the Portuguese Nobel prize in literature. [...]

The chalet of the Countess of Edla opened in May 2011, after four years of work to recover it from a fire that nearly destroyed it in 1999. It was built by King Fernando II for Elise Hensler, his second wife, between 1864 and 1869, in the west part of Parque da Pena. Elise Hensler was [...]

The Fábrica da Pólvora (Powder Factory) is a leisure, culture and fun complex. Located in Barcarena, within Oeiras county, began as a dependency of the Arsenal of the Army from 1791 to 1869. Since then, the space was used for various other functions, always always connected to the storage and production of gunpowder, when in 1995 the Oeiras Municipality acquired the facilities, inaugurating the new space in 1998. In addition to green spaces, Fábrica da Pólvora [...]

Elevador da Glória was inaugurated on October 24th 1885 and it is a National Monument since 2002. It was the second of its kind constructed in Lisbon, after elevador da Lavra and before elevador da Bica and elevador de Santa Justa. The Portuguese engineer of French origin Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard designed it to be moved through a combination of [...]

Jose Saramago Foundation has its origins in the will of a few men and women from different countries who wished to perpetuate the life and work of the award-winning Portuguese writer Jose Saramago. After 1993, he lived between Lisbon and the island of Lanzarote (Spain) with Pilar del Rio, whom he married in 1988. The [...]

The Lavra is the oldest funicular or elevator in Lisbon and is still used (some of the city’s early elevators were deactivated long ago). It was inaugurated on 19th April 1884 and just like the Glória and Bica funiculars and the Santa Justa elevator, the Lavra was classified as a national monument (2002). It runs between [...]

The Lisbon Casino opened in 2006, at Parque das Nações, occupying the former Pavilion of the Future, which was part of the World Expo in 1998. This is a futuristic building of steel and glass, where the night lighting gets a special emphasis. It offers a wide variety of entertainment, shows and dining. It houses more [...]