11 Best Sights in Baixa, Lisbon

This family-friendly museum uses multimedia exhibits to bring Lisbon's history to life. Over the course of an hour, the story is broken down into chapters, with a focus on the country's golden age of maritime adventures. A multilingual audio guide takes visitors through a series of exhibits. Midway through, a small cinema shows a short but dramatic reenactment of the 1755 earthquake and the fiery aftermath.

More than 2,500 years of history are on display beneath a bank on one of Lisbon's busiest streets. A subterranean network of tunnels occupies almost a whole block in Lisbon's historic center and was unearthed in the 1990s during excavation works carried out by the bank Millennium BCP, which revealed homes and artifacts from the Roman, Visigoth, Islamic, medieval, and Pombaline periods. Much of the space was used as a major-scale Roman fish-salting factory. It was later used as a Christian burial ground, and there's even a well-preserved skeleton to be seen. Free 50-minute guided tours (book in advance) in English or Portuguese lead through the underground walkways.  

Known to locals as the Terreiro do Paço after the royal palace that once stood on this spot, Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) is lined with 18th-century colonnaded buildings fronted by expansive esplanades. Today, trendy restaurants and cafés fill the arcades, while down by the river, the renovated waterfront promenade attracts joggers, cyclists, and sunbathers who catch rays on the steps during summer.

The equestrian statue in the center is of Dom José I, king at the time of the earthquake and subsequent rebuilding. In the northwestern corner of the square, a wall plaque recalls the day in 1908 when King Carlos and his eldest son, Luís Filipe, were assassinated as the family passed through in their carriage. (Two years later his second son, Manuel, fled the country after a republic was declared from the balcony of Lisbon's city hall, just round the corner on Largo do Município.) Throughout the year, the square hosts major events from New Year's Eve celebrations to food festivals, while kiosks—including one with an expansive terrace overlooking the river—serve potent caipirinhas and other drinks. The tourist information center and the Lisbon Story Centre museum occupy prime spots under the arcades.

The formal name for this grand public square is Praça Dom Pedro IV, but locals still call it Rossio. A gathering place since at least Roman times (it was the site of a hippodrome), it was formally laid out in the 13th century as Lisbon's main public space. Crowds socialize beside baroque fountains beneath a statue of Dom Pedro atop a towering column and amid dramatic wave-pattern cobblestones, famously reconstructed on the beach promenades of Rio de Janeiro.

On nearby Largo de São Domingos, there's a memorial to Jewish victims of a massacre in 1506, when Dominican friars egged on the mob; just three decades later centuries of more organized persecution began with the creation of the Portuguese Inquisition, which had its headquarters where the Teatro Nacional Doña Maria II now stands, on the north side of Rossio. The atmosphere today is more peaceable: locals come here to relax with a newspaper, have their boots polished by the shoe shiners, or sip a drink at one of the ginjinha bars—the one on the southern side of the square is probably Lisbon's oldest.

Capping the post-earthquake restoration of Lisbon's downtown, the Arco Triunfal, as it's also known, was planned almost 50 years before the Parisian Arc de Triomphe. Its rooftop offers a splendid viewpoint from which to admire the handsome buildings around Praça do Comércio. Access to the terrace is via an elevator and then up two narrow winding flights of stairs. Once at the top, children delight in ringing a giant bell, while grown-ups can stand at the foot of the giant sculptures of Glory crowning Genius and Valour and revel in views of the Tagus River in one direction and the shopping, drinking, and dining strip of Rua Augusta in the other. The red-roofed houses and grand religious buildings that climb up the surrounding hillsides complete the dramatic scene. Back down in the square, you can identify other statues on the main facade by António Víctor de Figueiredo Bastos: from the left, a reclining figure representing the Tagus, followed by Viriato, native scourge of the Romans, and Vasco da Gama; and on the right, the Marquês de Pombal, medieval national hero Nuno Álvares Pereira, and the Douro River.

The Santa Justa Elevator is one of Lisbon's more extraordinary structures. Designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, who studied under French engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Gothic-style tower was built in 1902. Queues are often frustratingly long in high season, but it's an enjoyable ride up to the top. The return ticket sold on board includes access to a high walkway and an even higher miradouro (though this viewing platform is currently closed), but it's a poor value—a 24-hour public transportation pass costs around €7 loaded onto a €0.50 Viagem card and is valid on the elevator as well as all of the city's buses, trams, and metro lines. To skip the queues and the fare, you can access the upper walkway from Largo do Carmo.

The Money Museum is much more than a collection of coins and banknotes from Portugal and around the world, beautifully presented; its fascinating interactive displays cover topics ranging from pre-monetary conventions and the origins of money, through the manufacture of coins and notes, to the tasks of central banks today. You'll also get the chance to try to lift a gold bar. Housed in a deconsecrated church long used as the garage of the neighboring Bank of Portugal, it's a beautifully adapted space. Don't miss the basement, with the only known remnant of Lisbon's 13th-century city wall.

If Willy Wonka turned his attention to canned fish, it would probably look something like this flamboyant shop on Rossio square, part of a fast-growing chain that even recently opened a branch in Times Square. A riot of color, complete with a miniature sardine-themed Ferris wheel, the Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines is a gift shop and sightseeing experience all in one, dreamed up by long-established fish processor Comur. The decorative personalized (by birth year) tins make for uniquely Portuguese keepsakes.

On the west side of Praça do Comércio is an impressive showroom for hundreds of wines, representing Portugal's many demarcated regions. Tastings (three or four wines, from €15 per person, for a minimum of two people) can be adapted to suit personal preferences. Note that the wines that you taste may not necessarily all be on sale, but there are plenty of alternatives; or head round the corner to Rua da Conceição for branches of two major wine merchants, Garrafeira Nacional and Napoleão.

One of the original buildings on Praça do Comércio houses the Café Martinho da Arcada, a literary haunt since 1782, favored by modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. The main rooms contain an expensive restaurant; adjacent to it is a more modest café-bar.