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Portugal's oldest botanical garden—laid out in 1768 by the Italian botanist Domenico Vandelli (1735–1816)—is a relaxing place to spend an hour or so. Baroque fountains and stairways, Renaissance-style terraced slopes, and meandering peacocks create a sense of splendor, and the Scented Garden adds aromatic appeal.
Lisbon's main botanical garden was first laid out in 1873 to teach students about botany, and it is still part of the University of Lisbon. Hidden behind the small Museu de História Natural, about 2 km (1 mile) north of Bairro Alto, the garden has 10 acres of paths through myriad species of subtropical plants. It's a pleasant place for a shaded stroll.
Steps from Belém’s Manueline monastery, this tropical botanical garden offers shady respite from the heat and the crowds outside. Towering palm trees provide a grand entrance to a flower-filled space that was created in 1906 as the Colonial Garden, housing some 600 species from Portugal’s tropical and subtropical former colonies. There are some grand colonial-style buildings, although most are closed to the public, and resident peacocks stroll amid the flowers and plants. Entrance is free on Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm.
Also known as Miradouro do Torel, this garden-viewpoint is accessed through a gate at the top of a hill above Avenida da Liberdade. Unlike the other famous viewpoints in the city, it gets very few visitors, except for young couples and older folks from the neighborhood, who sit in the shade admiring the view, walk their dogs, or stop for coffee. The café is found down a few steps that lead to an 18th-century fountain and a terrace. That fountain often becomes a pool used by local children in the summer, when the terrace becomes a small “urban beach.”
Your eyes do not deceive you—there really is an ornate gilded Thai pavilion beneath the jacaranda trees in Belém's Jardim Vasco da Gama. Built to celebrate 500 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Portugal, the structure was opened by Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
