Portuguese state schools break up in mid-December, and by then the Baixa is already lit and a giant tree stands by the river. Presents come on Christmas Eve, after the consoada dinner, from Pai Natal or the Menino Jesus. Here's what we checked to fill the break, from the Christmas circus at the Coliseu to the village inside Óbidos's castle walls.
Every winter Lisbon hangs lights over its downtown streets and puts up a giant Christmas tree in Praça do Comércio, the big square on the river at the end of Rua Augusta. Families come after dark to stand under the tree, then walk the lit streets of Baixa and Chiado.
It suits any age. The Baixa grid is flat and easy with a stroller; Chiado is uphill.
Every Christmas, Lisbon's Rossio square fills with wooden chalets selling crafts, Portuguese sweets and seasonal food, under big lights and a tall tree.
For kids, the pull is Santa's house, where they can meet him for a photo, and the Christmas exhibition from the Hospital de Bonecas, the city's historic doll hospital. Carols, folk groups and brass bands play through the evenings.
Lisbon's biggest Christmas market takes over Parque Eduardo VII with lights, craft and food stalls and a giant Christmas tree. Kids can skate on the ice rink, ride the Ferris wheel and the Christmas trains, and hand Santa a letter at his house. Grown-ups get roasted chestnuts and hot chocolate.
Over a million people visit each season, so weekday afternoons are easier with a stroller.
Lisbon's oldest Christmas tradition: a full circus show under the domed roof of the Coliseu dos Recreios, the city-center theater that has hosted it for generations.
Acrobats, jugglers, balancing acts, aerial numbers and clowns come from around the world, with a new program each year and no animals. It suits kids who can sit through a full show, and it is one of those outings grandparents like to join.
Imperial Heritage Ballet dances The Nutcracker as a full classical ballet, set to Tchaikovsky's score with the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers.
Clara's Christmas Eve dream brings toys to life, with imaginary battles, dancing snowflakes and enchanted kingdoms. Colorful sets and big costumes carry the story without words, so it suits kids ready to sit through a two-act show.
Every winter, Parque Marechal Carmona in central Cascais turns into a Christmas village. Kids meet Santa, elves, reindeer and the Three Kings, try the rides, skate on an ice rink and browse a small Christmas market. Costumed performers, Roman soldiers included, wander the lawns.
It suits toddlers through about age 10. Older kids may find it young.
Every Christmas, the walled medieval town of Óbidos turns the grounds inside its castle walls into a Christmas village. Kids get shows, hands-on activities and themed experiences that change from year to year, set among lights and decorations under the castle towers.
It suits younger kids who enjoy Christmas make-believe. Teenagers may find it young.
A Christmas play by Truta&Meia Produções, a company that makes original shows for children through theater, music and movement.
Santa's cricket runs a library hidden in snowy mountains, past forests of presents and cliffs of bolo rei. Its books keep every child's good and bad deeds, and the cricket uses them to lead kids to the values that matter most at Christmas.
A family workshop at the Museu de Lisboa in Palácio Pimenta. It opens with a visit through the museum, looking for the animals that lived in Lisbon in earlier centuries and the stories behind them.
Then each family turns one of those animals into a Christmas tree ornament, with wings, feathers, whiskers or a tail, made from recycled materials and bits of nature.
Natal ao Vivo is a Christmas stage show set in Santa's Village. A letter arrives with no name or address, asking for a present that doesn't fit in a box, and Santa and his elves need the kids in the audience to help solve it.
Friends of Santa from kids' TV drop in to help, between songs, dances and games. It suits kids who already know the characters.
At the Christmas Workshop everything is ready except one present: Alice's letter to Santa has vanished. Elves Nica and Azevinho have 24 hours to find the right gift without her noticing.
Posing as "Christmas investigators," they step into Alice's world of games, dinosaurs and worlds built from boxes and cubes. A Portuguese-language musical about imagination, friendship and being exactly who you are.
Built around one central tank holding five million liters of saltwater, where sharks and rays glide past, with four marine habitats around it that read as part of the same aquarium.
The route runs on two levels, so kids see each habitat from the surface and then from underwater. Around 8,000 marine creatures live here, from coral reef fish to sea otters.
Pavilion of Knowledge is the Ciência Viva science center on the old Expo 98 site, and every exhibit is made to be touched. TCHARAN! is a science circus with a mirror maze, a musical floor and the Unfinished House, where kids in hard hats work cranes and pulleys. In Fishanário, a child's drawing of a sea creature is scanned and swims into a projected ocean.
Portuguese state schools break up in mid-December, and by then the Baixa is already lit and a giant tree stands by the river. Presents come on Christmas Eve, after the consoada dinner, from Pai Natal or the Menino Jesus. Here's what we checked to fill the break, from the Christmas circus at the Coliseu to the village inside Óbidos's castle walls.
Every winter Lisbon hangs lights over its downtown streets and puts up a giant Christmas tree in Praça do Comércio, the big square on the river at the end of Rua Augusta. Families come after dark to stand under the tree, then walk the lit streets of Baixa and Chiado.
It suits any age. The Baixa grid is flat and easy with a stroller; Chiado is uphill.
Every Christmas, Lisbon's Rossio square fills with wooden chalets selling crafts, Portuguese sweets and seasonal food, under big lights and a tall tree.
For kids, the pull is Santa's house, where they can meet him for a photo, and the Christmas exhibition from the Hospital de Bonecas, the city's historic doll hospital. Carols, folk groups and brass bands play through the evenings.
Lisbon's biggest Christmas market takes over Parque Eduardo VII with lights, craft and food stalls and a giant Christmas tree. Kids can skate on the ice rink, ride the Ferris wheel and the Christmas trains, and hand Santa a letter at his house. Grown-ups get roasted chestnuts and hot chocolate.
Over a million people visit each season, so weekday afternoons are easier with a stroller.
Lisbon's oldest Christmas tradition: a full circus show under the domed roof of the Coliseu dos Recreios, the city-center theater that has hosted it for generations.
Acrobats, jugglers, balancing acts, aerial numbers and clowns come from around the world, with a new program each year and no animals. It suits kids who can sit through a full show, and it is one of those outings grandparents like to join.
Imperial Heritage Ballet dances The Nutcracker as a full classical ballet, set to Tchaikovsky's score with the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers.
Clara's Christmas Eve dream brings toys to life, with imaginary battles, dancing snowflakes and enchanted kingdoms. Colorful sets and big costumes carry the story without words, so it suits kids ready to sit through a two-act show.
Every winter, Parque Marechal Carmona in central Cascais turns into a Christmas village. Kids meet Santa, elves, reindeer and the Three Kings, try the rides, skate on an ice rink and browse a small Christmas market. Costumed performers, Roman soldiers included, wander the lawns.
It suits toddlers through about age 10. Older kids may find it young.
Every Christmas, the walled medieval town of Óbidos turns the grounds inside its castle walls into a Christmas village. Kids get shows, hands-on activities and themed experiences that change from year to year, set among lights and decorations under the castle towers.
It suits younger kids who enjoy Christmas make-believe. Teenagers may find it young.
A Christmas play by Truta&Meia Produções, a company that makes original shows for children through theater, music and movement.
Santa's cricket runs a library hidden in snowy mountains, past forests of presents and cliffs of bolo rei. Its books keep every child's good and bad deeds, and the cricket uses them to lead kids to the values that matter most at Christmas.
A family workshop at the Museu de Lisboa in Palácio Pimenta. It opens with a visit through the museum, looking for the animals that lived in Lisbon in earlier centuries and the stories behind them.
Then each family turns one of those animals into a Christmas tree ornament, with wings, feathers, whiskers or a tail, made from recycled materials and bits of nature.
Natal ao Vivo is a Christmas stage show set in Santa's Village. A letter arrives with no name or address, asking for a present that doesn't fit in a box, and Santa and his elves need the kids in the audience to help solve it.
Friends of Santa from kids' TV drop in to help, between songs, dances and games. It suits kids who already know the characters.
At the Christmas Workshop everything is ready except one present: Alice's letter to Santa has vanished. Elves Nica and Azevinho have 24 hours to find the right gift without her noticing.
Posing as "Christmas investigators," they step into Alice's world of games, dinosaurs and worlds built from boxes and cubes. A Portuguese-language musical about imagination, friendship and being exactly who you are.
Built around one central tank holding five million liters of saltwater, where sharks and rays glide past, with four marine habitats around it that read as part of the same aquarium.
The route runs on two levels, so kids see each habitat from the surface and then from underwater. Around 8,000 marine creatures live here, from coral reef fish to sea otters.
Pavilion of Knowledge is the Ciência Viva science center on the old Expo 98 site, and every exhibit is made to be touched. TCHARAN! is a science circus with a mirror maze, a musical floor and the Unfinished House, where kids in hard hats work cranes and pulleys. In Fishanário, a child's drawing of a sea creature is scanned and swims into a projected ocean.
