Win a trip to Santorini for two, $3,000Enter free
Skip to main content

The Best Day Trips from Lisbon

Within two hours of Lisbon you can stand in a fairy-tale palace, a complete medieval walled town, a Roman temple or in front of the biggest surfable waves on Earth. These are the ten day trips that repay a full day - with the exact stations, buses and honest journey times.

See day tours from LisbonGuided trips and skip the line tickets
By Oliver9 min readPublished
Table of contents
Belem Tower in Lisbon
Photo: Lisbon Photoshoots · CC BY-SA 4.0

In Brief

What are the best day trips from Lisbon?

The best day trips from Lisbon are Sintra (~40 min by train from Rossio) for Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira, Cascais (~40 min from Cais do Sodré) for the coast, Óbidos (~1 h by bus) for the walled town, and Évora (~1 h 30 min by train or bus) for Roman ruins and the bone chapel. Sintra and Cascais are cheap urban-rail rides that need no planning beyond booking Pena Palace's timed entry ahead.

Key takeaways

  • Closest big hitter: Sintra - trains from Rossio every 20-30 minutes; buy Pena Palace timed entry online before you go.
  • Easiest coast: Cascais - the train from Cais do Sodré runs along the shore; sit on the left for the views.
  • Best long-range trip: Évora - a UNESCO-listed Alentejo town with a Roman temple and the Capela dos Ossos bone chapel.
  • October to March, Nazaré's Praia do Norte produces the giant waves - check the forecast before committing the day.

Sintra day trip from Lisbon: DIY or guided?

The train to Sintra is trivial and cheap. What decides the cost of the day is which Pena ticket you buy, and Pena's pricing changed enough that most published figures are now well under the real one. Read from cp.pt and parquesdesintra.pt on 16 August 2026.

If you arePickWhy
Doing it yourself, train onlyCP return, 5.10 EURA named Lisboa to Sintra return on CP's own 2026 fare sheet, in force since 1 January. You also need a card to load it on: 0.50 EUR for a single-use Navegante Ocasional.
Doing it yourself and going up to PenaTrain and Bus day ticket, 14.00 EURThe one that actually matters. It covers the CP Sintra line plus Scotturb buses 434 and 435, which are the shuttles up to Pena and the Moorish Castle. Sintra's hills are the reason people end up in taxis, and this is the ticket that avoids that.
Only want the gardensPark of Pena, 12 EURPark entry without the palace interior, 10 EUR for 6 to 17s and over-65s, 40 EUR for a family of four. The park runs 09:00 to 19:00 with last admission at 18:00.
Going beyond the gardensRead the tier list before you payPena is now a ladder, not one ticket: Essential 20 EUR, Complete 45. Parques de Sintra publishes the prices but does not say on that page what separates the two, so check at the point of sale rather than assuming. Palace entry is timed either way. Nearly every guide still quotes around 20 EUR for Pena, which is only the bottom rung.
Considering a guided visit75 EUR, priced by the palace itselfParques de Sintra sells its own guided palace visit at 75 EUR for adults against 20 for the Essential ticket, with a theatrical version at 95. Those are first-party prices, not a reseller's, so compare any tour you are offered against them before booking.
Day tours from LisbonSkip-the-line tickets & guided trips on Trip.comHotels in LisbonBase yourself well for early startsBuild a full itineraryFree AI day-by-day plan for Lisbon

The 10 best day trips, ranked

Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.

  1. Sintra, a day trip from Lisbon

    30 km northwest · ~40 min by train

    Sintra

    Palaces & romantic hills

    The hill town of palaces: Pena Palace's painted terraces, Quinta da Regaleira's initiation well, the ridge-top Moorish Castle walls and the twin conical chimneys of the National Palace. Pena uses timed entry that sells out in season - book online, take the earliest slot you can, and plan two sights per day, not four. Walking downhill between sights beats queueing for the 434.

    Getting there
    CP urban trains run direct from Rossio station in central Lisbon to Sintra every 20-30 minutes (~40 min). From Sintra station, the 434 bus loops up to the historic centre, the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace - or walk to the town centre in 15 minutes and save the bus for the hill.
    Find Sintra toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  2. Cascais, a day trip from Lisbon

    30 km west · ~40 min by train

    Cascais

    Coast & easy beaches

    A fishing town turned elegant resort with town beaches a few minutes from the station. Walk 20 minutes along the clifftops to the Boca do Inferno blowhole, visit the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, or rent a bike and ride the flat oceanfront path out to wild Guincho beach. Hop off at Estoril on the way back for its seafront promenade.

    Getting there
    CP trains from Cais do Sodré run along the Tagus and the coast to Cascais roughly every 20 minutes. The station is in the middle of town, a short walk from the beaches and marina.
  3. Óbidos, a day trip from Lisbon

    85 km north · ~1 h by bus

    Óbidos

    Medieval walls & small towns

    A complete medieval walled town small enough to feel like a film set: whitewashed lanes draped in bougainvillea, a castle (now a pousada) at the top, and a full wall circuit you can walk - note there are no railings, so skip it if heights bother you. Drink a ginjinha cherry liqueur served in an edible chocolate cup for about a euro.

    Getting there
    The express 'Rápida Verde' green buses from Campo Grande interchange run direct to Óbidos in about an hour, roughly hourly on weekdays with fewer departures at weekends. The train exists but is much slower - take the bus.
    Find Óbidos toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  4. Évora, a day trip from Lisbon

    130 km east · ~1 h 30 min–1 h 45 min by train or bus

    Évora

    Roman ruins & Alentejo food

    The capital of the Alentejo and a UNESCO World Heritage city: a remarkably intact 1st-century Roman temple, a Gothic cathedral whose roof you can walk, and the Capela dos Ossos - a chapel lined floor-to-ceiling with the bones of thousands of monks. Alentejo food and wine are among Portugal's best and cheaper than Lisbon's. It gets brutally hot in high summer; start early.

    Getting there
    A few direct CP trains run daily from Lisbon Oriente (~1 h 30 min) - check times before you go, as departures are spaced out. Rede Expressos buses from the Sete Rios terminal run more frequently and take a similar time. Évora's station and bus stop are both a short walk from the walled centre.
    Find Évora toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  5. Fátima, a day trip from Lisbon

    130 km north · ~1 h 30 min by bus

    Fátima

    Pilgrimage & religious history

    One of the world's major Catholic pilgrimage sites, built where three shepherd children reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917. The vast esplanade dwarfs most city squares, with the neoclassical Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at one end and the huge modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the other. The big candlelit pilgrimages fall on 12-13 May and 12-13 October - moving to witness, but book nothing else that day.

    Getting there
    No train serves the town - Rede Expressos and FlixBus coaches run frequently from Sete Rios and Oriente (~1 h 30 min). The bus station is a 10-15 minute walk from the sanctuary.
    Find Fátima toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  6. Nazaré, a day trip from Lisbon

    120 km north · ~1 h 45 min–2 h by bus

    Nazaré

    Big-wave watching & seaside

    In winter (roughly October to March), an underwater canyon funnels Atlantic swells into Praia do Norte and produces the biggest surfable waves on Earth - world-record rides of over 25 metres have been set here. Watch from the clifftop fort by the lighthouse, and check the surf forecast before you commit the day. In summer it reverts to a classic Portuguese beach town with a huge sweep of sand.

    Getting there
    Rede Expressos coaches run direct from Sete Rios several times a day (~1 h 45 min-2 h); there's no train station. In town, a funicular connects the beachfront to the Sítio clifftop where the wave-watching happens.
    Find Nazaré toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  7. Setúbal & the Arrábida coast, a day trip from Lisbon

    50 km south · ~1 h by train

    Setúbal & the Arrábida coast

    Nature, dolphins & seafood

    Setúbal is a working port with one of Portugal's best food markets (Livramento) and the local speciality of choco frito - fried cuttlefish. The Sado estuary holds a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins you can see on boat trips from the harbour, and the Arrábida Natural Park's limestone hills drop to some of the clearest water near Lisbon at Praia da Figueirinha.

    Getting there
    Fertagus trains from Roma-Areeiro, Entrecampos and Sete Rios cross the Tagus and reach Setúbal in about an hour. The Arrábida beaches beyond town are served by a summer beach bus; out of season you'll need a taxi, or take an organised Arrábida tour from Lisbon.
    Find Setúbal & the Arrábida coast toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  8. Ericeira, a day trip from Lisbon

    50 km northwest · ~1 h–1 h 20 min by bus

    Ericeira

    Surf & seafood

    Europe's first World Surfing Reserve - one of only a handful on the planet - with a string of named breaks including Ribeira d'Ilhas. Non-surfers get a whitewashed clifftop old town, cliff paths between beaches and some of the best-value seafood near Lisbon. Surf schools on the town beaches take complete beginners.

    Getting there
    Buses from Campo Grande interchange run to Ericeira roughly every 30-60 minutes. The bus station is a short walk from the old town and clifftop.
  9. Mafra, a day trip from Lisbon

    40 km northwest · ~50 min–1 h 10 min by bus

    Mafra

    Baroque palaces & libraries

    The Palácio Nacional de Mafra is an 18th-century palace, convent and basilica of absurd scale - built by a gold-rich king with tens of thousands of workers, and now UNESCO-listed. The Rococo library holds some 36,000 volumes and famously keeps a resident colony of bats that eat the book-damaging insects at night. Check opening days before you go - it closes one day a week.

    Getting there
    The same Campo Grande buses that continue to Ericeira stop at Mafra - the palace fronts the main square where the bus stops. Combining Mafra (morning) with Ericeira (afternoon, ~20 min further) makes a natural full day.
  10. Costa da Caparica, a day trip from Lisbon

    15 km south · ~40–60 min door to door

    Costa da Caparica

    Beach days & surf lessons

    Lisbon's local Atlantic beach: kilometres of straight golden sand running south, lined at the town end with surf schools and beach-shack seafood restaurants. The rule is simple - the further south you walk, the emptier it gets. Water is cold and waves are real; this is a beach-and-board day, not a Mediterranean paddle.

    Getting there
    Two ways: direct buses from central Lisbon cross the 25 de Abril bridge in ~30-40 minutes, or take the ferry from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas and connect by bus. The ferry option is slower but turns the commute into a Tagus crossing with views.

Day trips from Lisbon: FAQ

The questions travelers ask most when planning day trips from here.

Cascais - trains from Cais do Sodré run roughly every 20 minutes along the coast, take ~40 minutes, and drop you in the middle of town with nothing to book. Sintra is just as quick from Rossio, but it needs more planning: Pena Palace timed entry, the 434 bus and real crowds in season.

Yes - Pena Palace uses timed-entry tickets that regularly sell out in season, so buy online at least a few days ahead and take the earliest slot you can get. The trains themselves need no booking. Quinta da Regaleira and the Moorish Castle are easier to buy on the day, but online still saves queueing.

Almost all of them: Sintra and Cascais are cheap urban-rail rides, Setúbal has a direct Fertagus train, and Óbidos, Évora, Fátima, Nazaré, Mafra and Ericeira all have direct buses from Campo Grande, Sete Rios or Oriente. The one place a car (or tour) genuinely helps is the Arrábida coast beyond Setúbal, where the beach bus only runs in summer.

Cascais - a short train ride, town beaches minutes from the station, ice cream on the promenade and flat bike paths to Guincho. Costa da Caparica is the pure sand alternative, and the Sado dolphin-watching boats from Setúbal are a reliable hit with children. Sintra works for kids who'll walk; the castle walls beat the palace interiors for them.

Nazaré - the giant-wave season at Praia do Norte runs roughly October to March, and a big swell day is unforgettable (check the forecast first). Sintra is also better in winter: the palaces are open, the mist suits the place and the queues shrink. Évora and Mafra are largely indoors and work in any weather.

Very little by big-city standards: the Sintra and Cascais trains cost only a few euros return, and intercity buses to Óbidos, Nazaré, Fátima or Évora are typically ~€10-25 return booked online. The main add-ons are sight tickets - Pena Palace is roughly €15-20 with park, Quinta da Regaleira and Mafra Palace around €10-15 each. Organised Sintra or Óbidos-Nazaré-Fátima tours typically run €60-90 per person.

Every trip on this page starts in Lisbon

Each of these is a day out and back, so the thing that decides the whole trip is where you sleep between them and how far that is from the station. These go into the detail:

Check Lisbon hotel pricesLive rates for your dates
  • Free cancellation on most rooms
  • No booking fee
  • Prices on Trip.com

Continue Planning Your Trip

Photo credits (10)

Photos via Wikimedia Commons, used under their respective licences.