Antigo Picadeiro Real

Belém


Lisbon's original coach museum is now home to just seven of these majestic 18th-century four-wheeled works of art, but it's worth also visiting the stuccoed, frescoed halls of the former royal riding stables built by Italian architect Giacomo Azzolini in 1726 – a far more fitting and palatial rest home than the modern monolith, Museu Nacional dos Coches, across the street.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Belém attractions

1. Museu Nacional dos Coches

0.04 MILES

Cinderella wannabes delight in Portugal's most visited museum, which dazzles with its world-class collection of 70 17th- to 19th-century coaches in an…

2. Palácio de Belém

0.13 MILES

The salmon-slabbed 16th-century Belém Palace is Portugal's official presidential residence and office (though the country's previous president, Cavaco…

3. Museu da Presidência da República

0.14 MILES

Portugal's small presidential museum is worth a look for its fascinating state gifts exhibit – note the outrageous 1957 offering from Brazil's Juscelino…

4. Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia

0.21 MILES

Lisbon's latest riverfront star is this low-rise, glazed-tiled structure that intriguingly hips and sways into ground-level exhibition halls. Visitors can…

5. Jardim Botânico Tropical

0.28 MILES

Far from the madding crowd, these botanical gardens bristle with hundreds of species, from date palms to monkey-puzzle trees. Spread across 7 hectares, it…

6. Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

0.37 MILES

Belém’s undisputed heart-stealer is this Unesco-listed monastery. The mosteiro is the stuff of pure fantasy: a fusion of Diogo de Boitaca’s creative…

7. Museu Nacional de Arqueologia

0.43 MILES

Housed in the western wing of Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the intriguing stash here contains mesolithic flint stones, Egyptian mummies inside elaborately…

8. Padrão dos Descobrimentos

0.44 MILES

The monolithic Padrão dos Descobrimentos, looking like a caravel ship frozen in midswell, was inaugurated in 1960 on the 500th anniversary of Henry the…