Colours of Lisbon: Parks

The ultimate urban retreats

Unlike your average neighbourhood park, Lisbon’s natural spaces are seriously impressive. Explore the largest urban forest in Europe, or take a short trip to Sintra and go hiking, admire the palace or simply get lost in the myriad walking trails and fairy tale paths.

Sintra

At just half an hour from Lisbon Sintra is a must-visit, even if you only have a short time to explore. Beautiful castles, picture-perfect villages and an impressive palace are set among fairy tale forest, meandering walking trails and rolling hills (which incidentally also provide spectacular views). Get wonderfully lost among the greenery, do some sightseeing at the castle or palace and if you make it to Praia da Ursa you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful sandy beach and a rugged coastline.

Parque Florestal De Monsanto

With roughly 2250 acres of diverse forest areas, Parque Florestal de Monsanto is the largest urban forest in Europe. Overlooking the city and the Ponte 25 de Abril, it’s mostly filled with pine trees offering several leisure and sports areas, including children’s playgrounds, soccer fields, basketball courts, a skate park and several picnic areas. It’s connected to the top side of Parque Eduardo VII through Monsanto’s Green Lane, a 2.5km ‘green corridor’ that can be used to reach the city center by foot or by bicycle.

If you’re staying at Corinthia Lisbon, take advantage of the running club provided by THE SPA by Corinthia Lisbon and combine the freshness of Monsanto’s air with a jog lead by one of our personal trainers.

Parque Eduardo VII

The largest park in the centre of the city ascends one of Lisbon’s hills. From the top you can see Marquês de Pombal, Avenida da Liberdade, São Jorge Castle and the River Tagus. Inside the park, attractions of note include a greenhouse built in the 1930s, with several plants brought from tropical climates. It is one of Lisbon’s most important green areas, also considered a living museum and featuring small ponds, waterfalls, some statues, hundreds of different species of plants and a warm greenhouse. The park’s name is a tribute to the English monarch Edward VII, who visited Lisbon in 1903, five centuries after the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance.

At the top of the park is a lookout with a huge 20-metre-long Portuguese flag, and a monument to 1974’s April 25th Carnations Revolution, inaugurated in 1997.