Alentejo
Evora
Reach the walled Alentejo capital from Lisbon for its Roman temple and bone chapel — then decide whether to dash in for the day or sleep inside the walls and slow down.
Best length
Day trip, or 1-2 nights
Nearest airport
Lisbon (LIS), ~135km / 90 min by train or coach
Getting in
CP train from Lisboa Oriente, or Rede Expressos/FlixBus coach
Best base
Inside the walls near Praca do Giraldo
In short
Evora at a glance
Evora is a small, entirely walkable UNESCO city in the Alentejo plains, about 90 minutes from Lisbon by train or coach. You can see the Roman temple, Chapel of Bones, cathedral and old town in a single full day, but staying one night lets you eat a proper Alentejo dinner, enjoy the empty evening streets and tack on the Almendres megaliths.
The short version
- Do it as a day trip from Lisbon if you only want the headline sights, or stay one night to get the quiet evening city and a real Alentejo meal.
- There is no Evora airport: arrive by train or coach from Lisbon (about 90 minutes each), or drive if you want the megaliths and wineries too.
- Book nothing in advance except, in high summer, a Chapel of Bones slot; the ticket queues here are short by Portuguese standards.
- Stay inside the medieval walls near Praca do Giraldo so you can walk everywhere; pick a hotel with parking only if you are driving.
- The Almendres Cromlech, a 7,000-year-old stone circle, is a 25-minute drive west and free, but needs a car or a tour — there is no bus.
Evora is a compact UNESCO town sitting on a low rise in the Alentejo plains, an hour and a half inland from Lisbon. The whole walled centre is about ten minutes across on foot, and the headline sights cluster at the top of it: the open-air Roman temple, the granite cathedral with its climbable rooftop, and the Chapel of Bones, where the walls are lined with the remains of some 5,000 monks. None of it needs much time individually, which is exactly why Evora works either as a long day trip from the capital or a single unhurried night.
The planning call is really day trip versus overnight. If you only want the marquee sights, the train or coach from Lisbon gets you there and back inside a day with time to spare. Staying a night buys you two things you can’t get on a day trip: a proper Alentejo dinner — black pork, sheep’s cheese, regional reds that punch well above their price — and the old town after the coaches leave, when the lanes around Praca do Giraldo empty out. An overnight also makes the Almendres Cromlech viable, a 7,000-year-old stone circle 25 minutes’ drive west that has no bus and rewards a car or a half-day tour.
Below, the structured planning — how to get in from Lisbon, what each sight costs, where to stay inside the walls, and a realistic budget in pounds — picks up from here. Entry rules, health cover and safety for Portugal sit on the Portugal country guide; nothing about them changes because you’ve come inland to the Alentejo.
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Evora
Chapel of Bones
The Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos) is one small, walls-and-pillars-lined-with-real-skulls room inside the Igreja de São Francisco, a few minutes' walk south of Évora's main square. The visit itself is genuinely short — 15 to 20 minutes — so the honest move is to treat it as one stop on a day in Évora rather than a destination in its own right. The €7 ticket also gets you the Sacred Art Museum, the nativity (cribs) collection and the Galileo rooftop terrace, so the price stretches further than the chapel alone suggests.
Roman Temple of Évora
The Roman Temple of Évora is free, fenced but fully visible, and open day and night — there is no ticket, no queue and nothing to book. It's the best-preserved Roman temple in Iberia, but you'll have seen it in ten minutes, so treat it as the centrepiece of a wider Évora wander rather than a destination in itself. Pair it with the Chapel of Bones (a 12-minute walk and €5 entry) and the cathedral, ideally on a day trip from Lisbon.
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Around Praca do Giraldo
££ mid-rangeThe arcaded main square and the lanes around it are the obvious first-timer base: cafes, restaurants and every major sight within a 10-minute walk. Choose this if you are arriving by train or coach and won't have a car.
Best for: First-timers, no car, short stays
Inside the walls (historic centre)
££ mid-rangeThe whole UNESCO core is small enough that anywhere inside the walls works on foot. Converted convents and former olive mills give you atmospheric rooms, but expect narrow lanes, restricted car access and no lift in some buildings.
Best for: Atmosphere, heritage hotels, walkers
Just outside the walls
£ valueA 5-10 minute walk from the old town with far easier parking and better value rooms. The sensible pick if you are driving the Alentejo and using Evora as a base rather than just sleeping in the centre.
Best for: Drivers, value, longer stays
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CP train from Lisboa Oriente | ~1h30 | about €12.50 second class, €16.65 first | Only ~5 trains a day on weekdays, fewer at weekends — check times first |
| Rede Expressos coach from Sete Rios | ~1h30 | about €12.50 | One or two an hour; best for weekends when trains are sparse |
| FlixBus from Lisboa Oriente | ~1h30 non-stop | often €6-€13 booked ahead | Around a dozen services a day; cheapest if booked early |
| Hire car from Lisbon airport | ~1h15 drive | tolls plus fuel; A6 motorway most of the way | Worth it only if you want the megaliths and wineries too |
When to go
Sweet spot: Mid-April to mid-June and mid-September to early October are the sweet spot: warm, dry days for wandering the open old town without the Alentejo summer furnace.
Inland Alentejo bakes in July and August, regularly hitting the mid-30s and sometimes over 40C, which is punishing in a town built for walking outdoors. Winter is mild but can be wet and grey; spring is greenest, with wildflowers across the plains around the city.
What it costs
There are no flights to Evora itself. UK return flights to Lisbon are often £40-£120 outside school holidays when booked ahead, then add about £13-£25 each way for the train or coach to Evora.
Daily budget per person
Evora is noticeably cheaper than Lisbon for food and rooms. A sit-down Alentejo lunch with wine runs well under what you would pay in the capital, and most of the headline sights are free or only a few euros.
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