Lisbon 7-Day Itinerary: Belém, Sintra, Cascais and More

How should you spend 7 days in Lisbon?

Spend day one in Alfama and the castle, day two in Belém, day three at the Gulbenkian, day four on a full Sintra day and day five on the Cascais coast. Use day six for the Oceanário and a ferry to Cristo Rei, and keep day seven for the Ajuda Palace and a slow farewell. Start on a Wednesday.

A week lets Lisbon breathe. The Lisbon 3-day itinerary keeps all three days in the city and offers Sintra as a swap; here Sintra gets a full day, Cascais its own, and the slower days go to the Gulbenkian, Parque das Nações, the south bank and the Ajuda Palace, sights a long weekend usually skips.

Three weekly closures set the order: the Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Tower and the Coach Museum close on Mondays, the Gulbenkian and MAAT on Tuesdays, and the Ajuda Palace on Wednesdays (Jerónimos, Coach Museum, Gulbenkian, MAAT, Ajuda). A Wednesday start keeps every anchor open on its day.

Choose a base with where to stay in Lisbon and check the season with best time to visit Lisbon. The Lisbon destination guide has the wider picture.

What does the 7-day Lisbon plan look like at a glance?

The week alternates heavy and light days: the castle and Alfama, then Belém’s monuments, a museum day, a full Sintra day, an easy coast day, a riverside day with a ferry and a short final morning. The table shows transport, weekly closures and a rain swap for each day, assuming a Wednesday start.

Every opening day below comes from official pages checked on 16 October 2026. Two national museums that older guides recommend are closed for works: Visit Lisboa lists the National Tile Museum and the National Ancient Art Museum as closed for renovation (Visit Lisboa), and the tile museum’s own page confirms construction works (Museus e Monumentos de Portugal).

Carris lists the Glória funicular, between Restauradores and Bairro Alto, and the Lavra funicular as out of service (Carris), the Santa Justa lift as temporarily closed (Carris), and the Bica funicular as closed, with bus 22B as the alternative (Carris). Plan those climbs on foot or by bus.

What should you book ahead, and is a Lisboa Card worth it for a week?

Secure Jerónimos and Pena Palace entries before you travel: Jerónimos tickets often sell out and may not be available on the day, and Pena tickets bought in advance carry a fixed date. A 72-hour Lisboa Card, €62 for adults, suits a dense Belém, Sintra and Cascais run; a week as a whole needs a cheaper mix.

The Jerónimos Monastery charges €18 and the Belém Tower €15, and the monastery warns that tickets often sell out and cannot always be bought on the day (Jerónimos and Belém Tower). At Sintra, advance tickets need a date reservation, which you can reschedule online within a year (Parques de Sintra).

The Lisboa Card costs €31 for 24 hours, €51 for 48 hours and €62 for 72 hours for adults, at prices valid until 31 March 2027 (Visit Lisboa shop). It covers Carris, the metro and the Sintra and Cascais train lines (Carris) plus free entry to more than 50 museums and monuments, but Sintra’s palaces are only discounted, paid at the ticket office, and card holders cannot book those online (Visit Lisboa shop).

On the days the card does not cover, a 24-hour Carris, metro and CP ticket costs €11.40 and includes the Sintra and Cascais lines, while a single Carris or metro journey costs €1.90 on a CARRIS/METRO ticket loaded on a card (valid for 60 minutes), or €1.72 as a Zapping stored-value journey on a Navegante card (Carris). Our Lisboa Card verdict runs the break-even maths.

Day 1: how do you see Alfama, Baixa and the castle?

Be at Castelo de São Jorge when it opens at 9am, then wander down through Alfama’s lanes to the cathedral and Baixa. Ride tram 28 for the classic route through these districts, and finish at a viewpoint. Keep the evening simple: you have six more days to pace.

The castle opens daily from 9am to 9pm between March and October, with last admission at 8.30pm, and from 9am to 6pm between November and February; wall-walks and towers can close earlier for safety. Adults pay €17 and visitors aged 13 to 25 pay €8.50, and the castle’s museum is temporarily closed for works (Castelo de São Jorge, tickets). The castle also warned of possible disruption from a strike on 17 October 2026.

Visit Lisboa describes tram 28’s route between Graça and Prazeres, past historic neighbourhoods and the cathedral, across Baixa, up to Chiado and Estrela and on to Campo de Ourique (Visit Lisboa). A ticket bought on board costs €3.30 and is valid only on that tram (Carris); see is tram 28 worth it.

The UK government warns of thieves using distraction techniques on public transport and at crowded bus and tram stops (FCDO), which describes tram 28 at its busiest.

Day 2: how do you plan Belém without the queues?

Arrive at the Jerónimos Monastery for its 9.30am opening, then walk to the Belém Tower before the midday crowds. After lunch, choose between the Coach Museum, with 70 mostly royal coaches and carriages, and MAAT on the riverfront. All three monuments close on Mondays, and MAAT closes on Tuesdays, so Thursday suits this day.

The monastery and the tower open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 5.30pm, with last admission at 5pm; the ticket offices close at 4.30pm, and the monastery church has its own shorter hours. Both close on Mondays, 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 13 June and 25 December, and the tower may close when the weather makes visits unsafe (Jerónimos and Belém Tower).

The National Coach Museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, for €15, with around 70 vehicles from the 16th to the 19th centuries in a building by the Pritzker-winning architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha (Museus e Monumentos de Portugal). MAAT, on Avenida Brasília, charges €12 and opens from Wednesday to Monday (MAAT).

If you have a Lisboa Card, Visit Lisboa lists both the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower among the included sites (Visit Lisboa); check how card holders enter on busy days before you queue.

Day 3: what makes the Gulbenkian a full day?

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, its modern art centre, the CAM, and the garden between them fill a relaxed day. The museum and CAM open from 10am to 6pm, to 9pm on Saturdays, and close on Tuesdays. An all-inclusive ticket costs €18, and entry is free on Sundays from 2pm.

Last entry is 30 minutes before closing, and the museums also close on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May and 24 and 25 December; the garden opens every day from sunrise to sunset (Gulbenkian). Tickets cost €16 for the museum alone and €10 for the CAM, and visitors under 30 get free entry to all exhibitions on Saturdays from 6pm to 9pm (Gulbenkian tickets).

The pace is the point: after two heavy days on hills and stone floors, a garden lunch and two museums give your legs a break before Sintra. If day three lands on a Sunday, go in the morning and stay into the free afternoon.

For more indoor ideas on a wet day, see Lisbon in the rain.

Day 4: how do you give Sintra a full day?

Take an early CP Sintra line train from Rossio, Oriente or Entrecampos, then the Scotturb 434 bus up to Pena, because private cars cannot drive to the palace. Do Pena first, then the Moorish Castle, and finish at the National Palace of Sintra in town, which is a 10 to 15-minute walk from the station.

Pena’s park opens from 9am to 7pm, with last admission at 6pm, and the palace from 9.30am to 6.30pm. Its full tour costs €45 for adults, a shorter essential visit €20 and the park alone €12; the Moorish Castle opens from 9.30am to 6pm for €12, and the National Palace of Sintra from 9.30am to 6.30pm for €13 (Parques de Sintra). These were the timetables shown on 16 October 2026 and change by season.

Parques de Sintra lists the Sintra line’s departure stations, the 434 bus from Sintra station to Pena and the Moorish Castle, and marked walking trails up the hill, from 45 minutes to an hour and a half (Parques de Sintra). For a second opinion on the castle, see is the Moorish Castle worth it.

The UK government warns of wildfire risk in Portugal from April to October, when roads and areas can be closed at short notice (FCDO), so check conditions before hillside walks in summer.

Days 5 and 6: how do you combine the Cascais coast with Parque das Nações?

Make day five an easy coast day: take the CP Cascais line from Cais do Sodré, walk the seafront and swim in summer. On day six, ride the metro to Parque das Nações for the Oceanário, open daily from 10am to 8pm, then take the ferry from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas for Cristo Rei.

The 24-hour Carris, metro and CP ticket, €11.40, covers the Cascais line as well as Sintra’s (Carris). At the beach, the UK government advises understanding the flag system, never entering the water on a red flag and not swimming where a river meets the sea (FCDO). In midsummer, plan around the heat; July averages a 27.4°C high in Lisbon (IPMA via WMO).

The Oceanário opens every day from 10am to 8pm, with tickets from €25.50 (Oceanário). Visit Lisboa recommends Gare do Oriente for its Calatrava-designed architecture (Visit Lisboa), and it is also a Sintra-line departure station (Parques de Sintra), which helps if you swap day six with day four.

For the south bank, the 24-hour Carris, metro and Transtejo ticket, €10.35, includes the Cacilhas to Cais do Sodré ferry (Carris). Cristo Rei opens from 10am to 6pm between October and March and to 7pm from April to September (Santuário de Cristo Rei).

Day 7 and the swaps: how do you end the week and handle rain or strikes?

Spend the last morning at the Ajuda Palace, open from 10am to 6pm every day except Wednesday, before a long lunch and the airport, about 7km from the centre. In rain, swap the coast for the Gulbenkian or the Oceanário. On strike days, keep to sights you can walk to.

The Ajuda Palace, a royal residence until 1910 and a museum since 1968, keeps its 19th-century rooms as they were; tickets cost €15, and it also closes on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 13 June and 25 December (Museus e Monumentos de Portugal). Visit Lisboa puts the airport about 7km from the centre (Visit Lisboa); see Lisbon airport to the city for the options.

Lisbon’s wet season is November to February, with 14 to 15 days a month of at least 0.1mm of rain and more than 100mm in each of those months in IPMA’s 1961–1990 normals, against two such days in July and August (IPMA via WMO). The UK government warns that strikes, including at airports, can be announced at short notice (FCDO).

Note 13 June as well: the Jerónimos Monastery, the Coach Museum and the Ajuda Palace all close that day, on top of the usual national holidays (Jerónimos, Coach Museum, Ajuda).

Which tours fit a Lisbon week, and who should change the plan?

A guided Sintra day with Pena entry suits travellers who would rather not manage trains, buses and timed slots, and a fado evening or food walk suits a light day. Families can trade the Gulbenkian day for a beach afternoon. Wheelchair users should check Jerónimos access first: its church and lower cloister are accessible, but the upper cloister is not.

Before booking a Sintra tour, check whether Pena entry is included and for which visit type, since the full tour costs €45 and the park alone €12 (Parques de Sintra), plus the time at each palace and the cancellation terms. The monastery notes that the cloister’s first floor is not wheelchair accessible (Jerónimos).

For more day-trip ideas, see best day trips from Lisbon; for food, Lisbon eats. Families can find more in Lisbon with kids.