Coimbra Portugal – Day Trip From Porto Or Lisbon
On our way to Porto from Alentejo we stopped at Coimbra for a few hours . My husband wanted visit a few sites .
You can also get to Coimbra from Porto / Lisbon by bus & train . We drove .
Top Things To Do In Cominbra:
1. Coimbra University– This is one of Coimbra’s top attractions. Oldest university in Portugal and one of the oldest in Europe. Definitely worth a visit .
- The outside is free . You can take photos of the courtyard .
- The university is famous for its library- to go inside you need to buy tickets .
- The tickets also include access to other buildings and Chapel Of St Michael
2. Explore Coimbra Old Town By Foot – just getting to the university from our parking spot we passed through some stunning and charming places . Definitely worth walking around the old town .
3. Take photos at Machado de Castro National Museum. We didn’t go inside but the outside of the museum is perfect for photos .
4. Visit Coimbra’s old cathedral ( Se Velha ) – we only saw the outside of this cathedral but the photos of the inside look pretty impressive.
5. Visit Parks / Gardens – Mondego’s Verde Park . We visited this park since we had a car . It gave us a sense of local life in the city . We also walked on Pedro e Inês bridge– gave a great view of the city .
6. Monasteries – Coimbra has multiple monasteries. We didn’t have enough time but definitely worth checking out based on photos and the history of these places .
Overall a great place for a day trip or even one or two days to get a feel for Portugal.