Parque das Nações is the flat, modern stretch of riverfront built for Expo 98, and it's one of the easiest parts of town to spend a whole day with kids. Wide paths suit scooters and strollers, the river is never far off, and there are indoor plans for when the weather turns. These are the attractions, parks and events we've found there.
A hands-on exhibition that brings the Portuguese forest indoors, built by Finland's Heureka Science Center with Pavilhão do Conhecimento. Kids work through 24 interactive stations to find out what a forest gives us, how it shapes daily life, and what it needs to keep growing.
It suits curious kids who like to touch, test and ask why.
A board game festival for families, now in its sixth edition. The idea is simple: families of all generations play together.
It suits kids who already enjoy a game night at home, and families looking for an indoor weekend plan in Parque das Nações.
Portugal's largest video game fair fills the FIL halls with playable demos of upcoming games and consoles, gaming competitions, special guests and plenty of cosplay. Kids move from booth to booth trying new titles, watch tournaments on the big stage and spot favorite characters in costume.
Best for school-age gamers and teens. The halls get loud and crowded, which is hard going for toddlers.
Pavilhão do Conhecimento, Lisbon's hands-on science center, swaps test tubes for pots and pans in this family workshop. Each session has its own theme, mixing biology, food and cooking: kids and parents watch ingredients change, prepare a recipe and learn the science behind it.
It suits curious kids who like to touch, smell and taste, and parents happy to cook alongside them.
Hospital dos Pequeninos sets out to ease the worry many kids feel around doctors, clinics and hospitals, what the Portuguese call "medo da bata branca" (white-coat fear).
It suits kids who get nervous at the doctor's.
PAW Patrol's stage show, produced by Nickelodeon and VStar Entertainment, makes the audience honorary members of the rescue team. Mayor Humdinger has cloned Robo Dog, and Ryder and the pups travel the world to round up the clones and get back to Adventure Bay.
Expect songs, dancing and visual effects in an arena. It suits preschoolers who know the pups; kids past their PAW Patrol phase may find it young.
A birthday party space run by Science4you, the Portuguese science-toy brand, in a shop unit behind Rua das Musas near the marina. Each party is built around a pack of three hands-on experiments: colored foam and chemical rockets, slime and putty, volcano eruptions and dinosaur digs, or plasticine and balloon races for younger kids. Families can also pick any three from the full list.
Piscina Municipal do Oriente is a city pool run by the Parque das Nações parish council, with a six-lane main pool and a three-lane learning pool with a ramp into the water.
Kids can join weekly swim lessons, water-adaptation classes or baby classes, and families can swim together in open sessions when enough lanes are free.
A gondola line built for Expo '98, running 1,230 meters over the edge of the Tagus about 30 meters up. The 40 enclosed cabins seat eight, with automatic doors. Kids get a view of the Oceanarium, the Vasco da Gama Bridge and the river, and the ride lasts 8 to 12 minutes.
The south station is beside the Oceanarium, the north one beside the Vasco da Gama Tower.
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.
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.
Parque Tejo is a long stretch of lawns and paths along the Tagus estuary at the northern tip of Parque das Nações, running under the Vasco da Gama Bridge. Kids can ride the pump track, watch or join the skaters at the graffiti-covered skate park, and cycle the riverside path. There is space for soccer, plus padel courts, and the estuary edge is good for birdwatching.
This is the flat riverside promenade built for Expo '98, running along the Tagus from the Oceanarium up to the Vasco da Gama Bridge. Along the way sit the Jardins d'Água, with ponds and a small waterfall, the lawns of Jardim das Ondas, and the Garcia de Orta gardens, planted with tropical species from Brazil, São Tomé and Timor. The Telecabine cable car glides overhead beside the water.
Parque das Nações is the flat, modern stretch of riverfront built for Expo 98, and it's one of the easiest parts of town to spend a whole day with kids. Wide paths suit scooters and strollers, the river is never far off, and there are indoor plans for when the weather turns. These are the attractions, parks and events we've found there.
A hands-on exhibition that brings the Portuguese forest indoors, built by Finland's Heureka Science Center with Pavilhão do Conhecimento. Kids work through 24 interactive stations to find out what a forest gives us, how it shapes daily life, and what it needs to keep growing.
It suits curious kids who like to touch, test and ask why.
A board game festival for families, now in its sixth edition. The idea is simple: families of all generations play together.
It suits kids who already enjoy a game night at home, and families looking for an indoor weekend plan in Parque das Nações.
Portugal's largest video game fair fills the FIL halls with playable demos of upcoming games and consoles, gaming competitions, special guests and plenty of cosplay. Kids move from booth to booth trying new titles, watch tournaments on the big stage and spot favorite characters in costume.
Best for school-age gamers and teens. The halls get loud and crowded, which is hard going for toddlers.
Pavilhão do Conhecimento, Lisbon's hands-on science center, swaps test tubes for pots and pans in this family workshop. Each session has its own theme, mixing biology, food and cooking: kids and parents watch ingredients change, prepare a recipe and learn the science behind it.
It suits curious kids who like to touch, smell and taste, and parents happy to cook alongside them.
Hospital dos Pequeninos sets out to ease the worry many kids feel around doctors, clinics and hospitals, what the Portuguese call "medo da bata branca" (white-coat fear).
It suits kids who get nervous at the doctor's.
PAW Patrol's stage show, produced by Nickelodeon and VStar Entertainment, makes the audience honorary members of the rescue team. Mayor Humdinger has cloned Robo Dog, and Ryder and the pups travel the world to round up the clones and get back to Adventure Bay.
Expect songs, dancing and visual effects in an arena. It suits preschoolers who know the pups; kids past their PAW Patrol phase may find it young.
A birthday party space run by Science4you, the Portuguese science-toy brand, in a shop unit behind Rua das Musas near the marina. Each party is built around a pack of three hands-on experiments: colored foam and chemical rockets, slime and putty, volcano eruptions and dinosaur digs, or plasticine and balloon races for younger kids. Families can also pick any three from the full list.
Piscina Municipal do Oriente is a city pool run by the Parque das Nações parish council, with a six-lane main pool and a three-lane learning pool with a ramp into the water.
Kids can join weekly swim lessons, water-adaptation classes or baby classes, and families can swim together in open sessions when enough lanes are free.
A gondola line built for Expo '98, running 1,230 meters over the edge of the Tagus about 30 meters up. The 40 enclosed cabins seat eight, with automatic doors. Kids get a view of the Oceanarium, the Vasco da Gama Bridge and the river, and the ride lasts 8 to 12 minutes.
The south station is beside the Oceanarium, the north one beside the Vasco da Gama Tower.
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.
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.
Parque Tejo is a long stretch of lawns and paths along the Tagus estuary at the northern tip of Parque das Nações, running under the Vasco da Gama Bridge. Kids can ride the pump track, watch or join the skaters at the graffiti-covered skate park, and cycle the riverside path. There is space for soccer, plus padel courts, and the estuary edge is good for birdwatching.
This is the flat riverside promenade built for Expo '98, running along the Tagus from the Oceanarium up to the Vasco da Gama Bridge. Along the way sit the Jardins d'Água, with ponds and a small waterfall, the lawns of Jardim das Ondas, and the Garcia de Orta gardens, planted with tropical species from Brazil, São Tomé and Timor. The Telecabine cable car glides overhead beside the water.
