Day Trips by Coach from Lisbon

Lisbon's Sete Rios bus station, opened in 2004.

24 June 2010

Compiled by John Laidlar

Day Trips by Coach from Lisbon

This page will be developed further to include suggestions for coach day-trips from Lisbon. The following destinations can be reached from Lisbon's modern Sete Rios coach station in north-west Lisbon, adjacent to the railway station of the same name and the Metro station of Jardim Zoológico. Coach travellers will find the Rede Expressos website of great use for times, fares and tickets.

At Sete Rios coach terminal tickets can be bought on the day or in advance. As you enter from the metro station walkway, to the right there is a rack of pocket-sized coach service timetables which can be useful for planning journeys. The tickets issued include a seat number so make sure you occupy the correct seat on departure.

Click on photos to enlarge them.

Beja

Right: Beja bus station
An historic agricultural town lying 183km from Lisbon in the Alentejo, south-east of Lisbon, this was a Roman town known as Pax Iulia.

Caldas da Rainha

Left: Praça da República, Caldas da Rainha 2003

Caldas is a small town, well known for its spa and ceramics industry, lying north of Lisbon. In 2010 there were coaches roughly hourly from Sete Rios terminal with journeys taking an hour and ten minutes. The town has a pleasant art museum.

Castelo Branco

Right: The gardens of the Episcopal Palace at Castelo Branco.

This interior town, north east of the capital, is reachable by coach in two and a half hours from Lisbon (250km). The episcopal palace gardens and museum are well worth a visit and the castle gives excellent views over the town and surrounding countryside.

Estremoz

Left: Estremoz, 2005

A pleasant historical town, whose bus "terminal" is a space outside the disused railway station. The area is famous for marble, which adorns many buildings.

Évora

Famous for its well-preserved Roman Temple to the goddess Diana, this town (150km south east of Lisbon in the Alentejo), also has surviving historic city walls. Coaches take around an hour and 45 min utes to reach the toen from Lisbon.

Leiria

138km from Lisbon, this town has a hilltop castle near the town centre. In 2010 coaches from Sete Rios ran roughly hourly and the journey took and hour and three quarters.

Santarém

Right: Santarém, 2005

Just 78km from Lisbon and easily reached by coach or train, the town affords fine views over the Tagus and has plenty of historical buildings including an attractively tiled market. From the railway station it is a good uphill trek to the town centre, though there is a fairly regular bus service from there to avoid the walk. The coach station, however, is fairly central. This sizeable town has a large agricultural fair every June which is well worth a visit. Above the town the Portas do Sol gardens afford an excellent view over the Tagus valley.

Setúbal

Left: Setúbal, Praça do Bocage, 2005

Only 50km south of Lisbon, the important city of Setúbal has a pleasant centre and a busy water-front on the Rio Sado from where ferries run across to the resort of Tróia. The trip is worth it just for the views and costs only a couple of euros return. The city also has some important Manueline architecture. It can easily be reached by coach or by train (Fertagus).

The faster coaches take around 45 minutes from Lisbon.

Torres Vedras

Famous for the "Lines of Torres Vedras", defensive works created by Wellington's army and the local population in the Peninsular War, Torres Vedras has a ruined castle reached by a fairly comfortable uphill walk, which gives decent views of the surrounding countryside. On the walk to the castle, the Kenia cafe makes an excellent stop, offering excellent cakes and other light refreshments. Buses are fairly frequent and take about 45 minutes from Lisbon, many of them carrying on to the coastal town of Peniche which is a further 50 minutes away.

Compiled by John Laidlar