The Best of South of Portugal Scenic Rail Routes

Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrival in Lisbon

Typical tram and Cathedral. Tram is one of the best ways to explore the old city, Lisbon’s historic heritage, and typical neighbourhoods.

Day 2 – Lisbon – Évora

The Évora line opened in 1863 and connects it to Lisbon. It was originally more extensive but today this spur finishes in Évora. In 2006, the single-track railway line was completely renovated.
Évora is one of the best tourist destinations in central Portugal and a World Heritage Site.
It is a delightful city that exudes Portuguese charm and boasts a vast array of fascinating historical monuments. Évora was historically a major trading and religious center, former importance that is reflected in the sheer variety of interesting sites, all of which are conveniently contained within the city’s ancient walls. It is a city full of life and cultural interest.

Évora is one of the best tourist destinations of central Portugal

Day 3 – Lisbon – Sintra

The line between Lisbon and Sintra opened in 1887.
Today we take the suburban train to Sintra crossing the outskirts of Lisbon to the enchanting town of Sintra. Sintra is all about scenic splendor, a realm of romance where majestic fairytale-like palaces, a grandiose castle, regal estates, and charming red-tiled houses stand amidst a landscape of luxuriant, semi-tropical forests and hilltops.
Characterized by its singular mystique and peacefulness, the Sintra area offers scenery of striking beauty with its rocky mountain range, lush greenery, and sweep of pristine beaches. Named ‘Hill of the Moon’ by its Celtic settlers and ‘Mons Lunae’ by the Romans, Sintra’s sleepy mountain range is also home to an extensive natural park that stretches out to Cascais and its wave-lapped coast.
For five centuries, Portuguese royalty used their sumptuous, hilltop mansions and luxurious estates in Sintra as summer residences to enjoy the crisp air and refreshing microclimate of its mountain range far from the city heat. Once described as ‘Glorious Eden’ by 19th Century English poet Lord Byron, this dreamy, fairy tale land continues to draw the attention of world-class writers and filmmakers, who find inspiration in Sintra’s unparalleled beauty, history, and legends.

Sintra, Quinta da Regaleira

Day 4 – Lisbon – Entroncamento – Tomar

This part of the rail line came into service in 1928. Today we will travel to Tomar, a former seat of the Order of the Knights Templar. Tomar is a city of great charm, rich in artistic and cultural wealth, whose greatest expression is the Convent of Christ, one of the chief works of the Portuguese Renaissance and World Heritage Site.
Tomar is one of central Portugal’s most appealing small towns. With its pedestrian-friendly historic center, its pretty riverside park frequented by swans, herons, and flocks of ducks, and its charming natural setting adjacent to the lush Mata Nacional dos Sete Montes (Seven Hills National Forest) it wins lots of points for aesthetics.
But to understand what makes Tomar truly extraordinary, cast your gaze skyward to the crenelated walls of the Convento de Cristo, once the seat of power for the Knights Templar (and later the Order of Christ), a secretive but influential religious order of warrior knights, who had close associations to the Portuguese nobility.
Their religious center for the entire Iberian Peninsula, the Convento de Cristo is a fascinating complex that contains a large monastery, extensive fortifications, and a unique circular church.
The general shape of the church is modelled after similar round structures in Jerusalem: the Mosque of Omar and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Eight-and-a-half centuries after its founding, this venerable headquarters of the legendary Knights Templar is a rambling concoction of Gothic, Manueline, and Renaissance architecture that bears extravagant witness to its integral role in centuries of Portuguese history, from the founding of Portugal as a nation-state to the Age of Discoveries.
On our way, we visit the National Railway Museum in the Entroncamento Railway Complex, currently occupying an area of 4.5 hectares.
The permanent exhibition houses remarkable exhibits, with one of the best displays of heritage collections in Europe.

Tomar Castle Knights Templar locations in the world

Day 5 – Lisbon-Faro

Before departing for Faro, our next base in the Algarve, we’ll visit the National Coach Museum. The Coach Museum began in 1905 by initiative of the Queen D. Amélia of Orleães e Bragança. With the establishment of the Republic in 1910, the museum’s collection increases as a set of coaches and carriages of the extinct Royal House arrive, as well as vehicles coming from the church assets.
The Faro line opened in 1889 and crosses the South half of Portugal, from the large city of Lisbon, through the scarcely populated Alentejo plains to reach the cosmopolitan Algarve.
The origins of Faro date back to the Iron Age (5th-4th century BC). It is during this period that Ossonoba was born, which is thought to have been a colony or a Phoenician commercial warehouse until the beginning of the occupation of the Algarve in the third century b.C. During the Roman period, Ossonoba was one of the most important cities in the region, enjoying the right to mint money. At the time of the Christian reconquest, in 1249, the city’s main economic activities were the fishing and salt trade.
The old town of Faro, called Vila Adentro, lies inside an oval-shaped wall dating back to the Roman period some 2,000 years ago.

Faro Old Town – Historic and fortified city center

Day 6 – Faro – Vila Real Sto. António – Ayamonte (Spain)

Today we head east, to Vila Real de Santo António on a line opened in 1940.
We visit Vila Real de Santo António, reborn in 1773 after the 1755 earthquake.
The original fishing village was rebuilt on a grid pattern like downtown Lisbon. The works were completed extremely fast, in just one year.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the town was an important fishing and canning center (mainly sardines and tuna). It was also the first city to have gas lighting in 1886.
From Vila Real S. Antonio, where the river Guadiana meets the sea, we’ll take the ferry to the Spanish town of Ayamonte. For centuries Ayamonte has been producing salt and shellfish and now the salt marshes are a haven for birdlife. We will tour the bustling small town before ferrying back to Portugal.
The route from Faro to Vila Real de Santo António and back runs through two Nature Reserves: Ria Formosa and Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António.

Vila Real Historical Centre

Day 7 – Faro – Lagos

Today we travel west to Lagos along a line opened in 1922. Lagos is a charming Algarve coastal town that has retained its traditional Portuguese character whilst developing into a cosmopolitan holiday destination that welcomes thousands of visitors every year.
Lagos has a delightful historic center, which is surrounded by the ancient Moorish walls and overlooks a pretty harbor estuary.
Lying opposite the North African coast in the Bensafrim estuary, it attracted settlers and foreign invaders. It became a focal point for discovery voyages at the time of Portugal’s Golden Age of Discoveries.
Prince Henry the Navigator brought fame to the region by founding his navigation school in nearby Sagres, by residing in Lagos and building his famous caravels in the town.
Lagos soon became a hub of maritime activity as explorers such as Gil Eanes, the first to round Africa’s Cape Bojador in 1434, departed from the town in search of new land and fortune.
To the south of Lagos is the Ponta da Piedade headland, a series of highly weathered lime cliffs that are peppered with spectacular grottos, arches, sea caves and are regarded as the finest natural feature of the Algarve.

Lagos waterfront attractive town that was an important Roman settlement

Day 8 – Departure

Transfer to the Airport.