Christmas on the Lisbon Coast

Travelsphere’s escorted tour takes you to the coastal town of Ericeira, a place where beaches and a small, walkable centre set the tone for the week. From there, the itinerary moves inland to Lisbon, where Belém’s riverside monuments sit alongside the neoclassical streets of Baixa, offering a neat overview of the capital’s layers.

The tour slows for Christmas, with a day in Óbidos, whose walled old town consists of whitewashed buildings and narrow cobbled lanes lined with shops selling cherry liqueur and crafts. Boxing Day brings a visit to the Baroque National Palace in Mafra, where the library’s marble columns and shelves of old volumes seem to capture centuries of quiet effort. Finally, a day takes in Sintra’s palatial tiles and painted ceilings, a breezy stop in Cascais, and the cliff-top lighthouse at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost spot on continental Europe.

The pacing allows time to settle in and a Christmas Day spent largely at leisure in Ericeira. It finishes back there before heading home, after a brief spell among Portugal’s mix of coastlines, towns and inventions of the sea and forest.