When the city starts to feel small, these are the trips we take for a full day out. Think hilltop palaces with towers to climb, castle walls, cliffs over the Atlantic, quiet beaches and animals to spot. Most sit within an hour by train or car, so you can leave after breakfast and be home for dinner.
Monserrate is a 19th-century palace built for the British collector Francis Cook, with carved stone arches and Moorish-style domes, set in a large botanical park on the hills outside Sintra.
The garden paths lead through a fern valley, a Japanese garden and plants gathered from around the world, past Beckford's Waterfall and Vathek's Arch. Inside, kids walk the long central gallery, then the music room, library and kitchen.
The oldest palace in Portugal, begun around the 10th or 11th century under Moorish rule. Kids spot the two giant conical chimneys from the square, then look straight up them from the royal kitchen.
Inside are the Swan Room and Magpie Room with painted ceilings, the tiled Room of the Coats of Arms, and a central patio with a water grotto.
Sesimbra is a working fishing town on a south-facing bay of the Setúbal peninsula. Its two town beaches, Praia do Ouro and Praia da Califórnia, usually have calm water and gently sloping sand, and Praia do Ouro adds a playground and a sports field.
Above town, the medieval castle has walls to walk along and wide sea views. The Fortress of Santiago on the seafront houses a maritime museum.
Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe, a bare clifftop where the land drops about 140 meters into the Atlantic. A stone cross quotes the poet Camões, and the red-and-white lighthouse, lit since 1772, is one of the oldest on the Portuguese coast.
Kids can look out from the viewpoint by the cross, walk the clifftop paths, and tour the lighthouse's interpretation center.
Ericeira is a whitewashed fishing town on cliffs above the Atlantic, and the center of a World Surfing Reserve. Praia dos Pescadores, the harbor beach below the old town, sits in a bay sheltered by the pier, one of the calmest swims on this stretch of coast. Pedra Branca, Coxos and Ribeira d'Ilhas draw surfers from around the world, while Foz do Lizandro and São Julião offer wide sand with beach bars.
Two-hour guided boat trips from Setúbal head out into Setúbal Bay, where the Sado estuary meets the sea, to find a resident community of about 30 wild bottlenose dolphins that live there year-round. Each dolphin is known by name from the shape of its dorsal fin.
On the way, the boat passes the Arrábida coast, the Tróia peninsula, the Outão fortress and small white-sand islands.
Sandy coves line the foot of the Serra da Arrábida, where steep green hills drop into clear, calm water. Figueirinha is the longest and busiest, with a Blue Flag for over a decade. Further west, Galapos, Creiro and Portinho da Arrábida are smaller and quieter. Off Creiro, the rocky islet of Pedra da Anicha is a protected marine reserve. Sheltered water makes this a good swim spot for younger kids.
Óbidos is a hilltop town of whitewashed houses and cobbled lanes, ringed by medieval walls about 1.5 km around. Kids can walk along the top of the walls, look into the castle (now a hotel), and browse bookshops, one of them inside a church.
Summer brings the Medieval Market, with tournaments, theater and costumed performers. In December the town hosts Óbidos Vila Natal, a Christmas village with games and shows.
Tapada Nacional de Mafra is a walled forest that began as the royal hunting ground of Mafra's palace. Fallow deer, red deer and wild boar live free inside, and a guided electric-car tour climbs from the main valley to one of the highest points. Kids can also walk or bike marked trails, watch a birds-of-prey flight demo and learn about the forest's bees. It sits about 40 minutes' drive from Lisbon.
A royal palace, basilica and convent built for King John V between 1717 and 1755, with about 1,200 rooms. Inside are royal apartments, a hunting room furnished with deer antlers, and a Rococo library of about 30,000 books, where a colony of bats eats the insects that would damage them.
The basilica's bell towers hold the world's largest historical collection of carillons.
Boca do Inferno ("Mouth of Hell") is a sea-carved rock formation on the cliffs just west of Cascais town center. Atlantic waves rush through an open arch into a collapsed cave below, booming and throwing up spray, most of all on stormy days.
Viewpoints look straight down into the chasm, and a coastal walkway links it to central Cascais, so it pairs easily with a stroll along the seafront.
A 10th-century fortress built during the Moorish period on one of the peaks of the Sintra Hills. Its granite walls run along the ridge between boulders and cliffs, and kids can walk the parapet between towers, with views over Sintra town, Pena Palace and the Atlantic.
Inside the walls are grain silos, a cistern, the ruins of an Islamic settlement and a medieval church.
Quinta da Regaleira is a hillside estate built in the late 1800s by the Italian architect Luigi Manini, on the edge of Sintra's old town. Kids walk down the spiral staircase of the Initiatic Well, then follow the underground tunnels out to the Eastern Grotto.
Above ground there are towers, a chapel, the palace and winding garden paths. Paths are steep and uneven, with many steps.
King Ferdinand II built this castle-like palace on a summit of the Sintra hills: red and yellow walls, towers, terraces and a stone Triton over one archway. Kids walk the terraces and a circuit of rooms inside.
The surrounding Park of Pena is Portugal's largest arboretum, with woodland paths, the Valley of Lakes, a fern valley, the Chalet of the Countess of Edla and the High Cross lookout.
Badoca is a large animal park in the Alentejo countryside, built around a 45-minute tractor-trailer safari across open savanna where giraffes, zebras, ostriches, buffalo and several kinds of antelope roam.
Between safari runs, kids watch eagles and hawks fly in a birds of prey show, see lemurs and a reptile talk, visit Primate Island, and walk forest paths past a small farm, meerkats and kangaroos.
When the city starts to feel small, these are the trips we take for a full day out. Think hilltop palaces with towers to climb, castle walls, cliffs over the Atlantic, quiet beaches and animals to spot. Most sit within an hour by train or car, so you can leave after breakfast and be home for dinner.
Monserrate is a 19th-century palace built for the British collector Francis Cook, with carved stone arches and Moorish-style domes, set in a large botanical park on the hills outside Sintra.
The garden paths lead through a fern valley, a Japanese garden and plants gathered from around the world, past Beckford's Waterfall and Vathek's Arch. Inside, kids walk the long central gallery, then the music room, library and kitchen.
The oldest palace in Portugal, begun around the 10th or 11th century under Moorish rule. Kids spot the two giant conical chimneys from the square, then look straight up them from the royal kitchen.
Inside are the Swan Room and Magpie Room with painted ceilings, the tiled Room of the Coats of Arms, and a central patio with a water grotto.
Sesimbra is a working fishing town on a south-facing bay of the Setúbal peninsula. Its two town beaches, Praia do Ouro and Praia da Califórnia, usually have calm water and gently sloping sand, and Praia do Ouro adds a playground and a sports field.
Above town, the medieval castle has walls to walk along and wide sea views. The Fortress of Santiago on the seafront houses a maritime museum.
Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe, a bare clifftop where the land drops about 140 meters into the Atlantic. A stone cross quotes the poet Camões, and the red-and-white lighthouse, lit since 1772, is one of the oldest on the Portuguese coast.
Kids can look out from the viewpoint by the cross, walk the clifftop paths, and tour the lighthouse's interpretation center.
Ericeira is a whitewashed fishing town on cliffs above the Atlantic, and the center of a World Surfing Reserve. Praia dos Pescadores, the harbor beach below the old town, sits in a bay sheltered by the pier, one of the calmest swims on this stretch of coast. Pedra Branca, Coxos and Ribeira d'Ilhas draw surfers from around the world, while Foz do Lizandro and São Julião offer wide sand with beach bars.
Two-hour guided boat trips from Setúbal head out into Setúbal Bay, where the Sado estuary meets the sea, to find a resident community of about 30 wild bottlenose dolphins that live there year-round. Each dolphin is known by name from the shape of its dorsal fin.
On the way, the boat passes the Arrábida coast, the Tróia peninsula, the Outão fortress and small white-sand islands.
Sandy coves line the foot of the Serra da Arrábida, where steep green hills drop into clear, calm water. Figueirinha is the longest and busiest, with a Blue Flag for over a decade. Further west, Galapos, Creiro and Portinho da Arrábida are smaller and quieter. Off Creiro, the rocky islet of Pedra da Anicha is a protected marine reserve. Sheltered water makes this a good swim spot for younger kids.
Óbidos is a hilltop town of whitewashed houses and cobbled lanes, ringed by medieval walls about 1.5 km around. Kids can walk along the top of the walls, look into the castle (now a hotel), and browse bookshops, one of them inside a church.
Summer brings the Medieval Market, with tournaments, theater and costumed performers. In December the town hosts Óbidos Vila Natal, a Christmas village with games and shows.
Tapada Nacional de Mafra is a walled forest that began as the royal hunting ground of Mafra's palace. Fallow deer, red deer and wild boar live free inside, and a guided electric-car tour climbs from the main valley to one of the highest points. Kids can also walk or bike marked trails, watch a birds-of-prey flight demo and learn about the forest's bees. It sits about 40 minutes' drive from Lisbon.
A royal palace, basilica and convent built for King John V between 1717 and 1755, with about 1,200 rooms. Inside are royal apartments, a hunting room furnished with deer antlers, and a Rococo library of about 30,000 books, where a colony of bats eats the insects that would damage them.
The basilica's bell towers hold the world's largest historical collection of carillons.
Boca do Inferno ("Mouth of Hell") is a sea-carved rock formation on the cliffs just west of Cascais town center. Atlantic waves rush through an open arch into a collapsed cave below, booming and throwing up spray, most of all on stormy days.
Viewpoints look straight down into the chasm, and a coastal walkway links it to central Cascais, so it pairs easily with a stroll along the seafront.
A 10th-century fortress built during the Moorish period on one of the peaks of the Sintra Hills. Its granite walls run along the ridge between boulders and cliffs, and kids can walk the parapet between towers, with views over Sintra town, Pena Palace and the Atlantic.
Inside the walls are grain silos, a cistern, the ruins of an Islamic settlement and a medieval church.
Quinta da Regaleira is a hillside estate built in the late 1800s by the Italian architect Luigi Manini, on the edge of Sintra's old town. Kids walk down the spiral staircase of the Initiatic Well, then follow the underground tunnels out to the Eastern Grotto.
Above ground there are towers, a chapel, the palace and winding garden paths. Paths are steep and uneven, with many steps.
King Ferdinand II built this castle-like palace on a summit of the Sintra hills: red and yellow walls, towers, terraces and a stone Triton over one archway. Kids walk the terraces and a circuit of rooms inside.
The surrounding Park of Pena is Portugal's largest arboretum, with woodland paths, the Valley of Lakes, a fern valley, the Chalet of the Countess of Edla and the High Cross lookout.
Badoca is a large animal park in the Alentejo countryside, built around a 45-minute tractor-trailer safari across open savanna where giraffes, zebras, ostriches, buffalo and several kinds of antelope roam.
Between safari runs, kids watch eagles and hawks fly in a birds of prey show, see lemurs and a reptile talk, visit Primate Island, and walk forest paths past a small farm, meerkats and kangaroos.
