Castelo de São Jorge

Lisbon’s hilltop castle has watched the city since the Moors held it, and its ramparts still give the definitive panorama: red roofs stepping down to the Tejo, ferries crossing, the 25 de Abril bridge in the haze. Peacocks patrol the pine-shaded courtyards like they own them.

• The ramparts walk, towers you can climb and walls you can follow most of the way around.
• The miradouro terrace, the wide-angle city view, best in late-afternoon light.
• The camera obscura, a live periscope tour of the city from the Tower of Ulysses.
• The archaeological site, Iron Age, Moorish and medieval Lisbon layered in one dig.

Buy the ticket online and go either at opening or in the last two hours for sunset; midday belongs to the tour groups. The viewpoint terraces at the far end stay quieter than the entrance walls.

It is a steep walk up through Alfama’s lanes, which is half the point; tram 28 and the Graça minibuses get you most of the height if you want it. Wander back down through Alfama and finish at a fado house.