Last Day In Lisbon

How many days do you have in Lisbon? How many total days do you have in Portugal? We visited Alcobaça from Obidos where we were staying. Our itinerary was Lisbon- Evora- Obidos- Coimbra-Guimares- Porto and then into Galicia, Spain.
Forget Nazarre, a crowded large beach town.
I suggest Obidos and Alcobaça but the Gulbenkian is an awesome museum too but not necessarily dealing with Portugal.
Gulbenkian was a wealthy refugee who left his rare historical collections to Portugal where he was welcomed. The collections cover art from Antiquity to Twentieth Century.

Painting queen,
What other places will you have visited in Portugal?
Did you visit Sintra, or Coimbra?

If you enjoy ceramic tiles, you may be interested in the Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum) which houses a great collection of beautiful antique tiles.

Enjoy your time in beautiful Portugal!

Priscilla and Suki:
thanks for the quick response. We’ll be part of a tour and we’ll visit Porto, Guimaraes, Coimbra, Fatima, Tomar, Evora, Sinatra and Lisbon. One day our tour goes to Obidos, Alcobaca and Nazare. We were thinking of skipping the tour and going independently to the Gulbenkian. It would be the only day we would have the time to go. Since we could go to world-class museums back home we wondered if instead we should take the opportunity to visit the small towns. Then again, we’ll already be visiting towns earlier in the trip. I was wondering if anyone thought it was “worth” missing the Gulbenkian to go to those towns.

Paintingqueen, without knowing much about your interests, or how you will feel at the very end of your trip, I will offer:
1. I agree that while the Gulbenkian is a fine museum, the collection is not especially Portuguese as I remember, and is likely similar to other world-class art museums you may have visited or will visit in the future ;
2. Obidos, Alcobaca and Nazare are diverse and interesting Portuguese towns, although not as outstanding as some of the others you will visit during your tour, in my opinion.
3. If you find there are last-minute things you would like to do in Lisbon, shopping, eating, strolling neighborhoods, sleeping in, re-packing, etc., then you might like to spend your last day in Lisbon, including the Gulbenkian, or not.
4. If you have not already visited it, I would also recommend the Tile (Azulejo) Museum, which is uniquely Portuguese, and which I especially enjoyed. Of course, I love Portuguese tiles.
5. There is also a unique “Fado Museum”, if you are into fado.

Bottom line: you probably can’t go wrong with any of your choices. Enjoy it all!

The Monastery of Alcobaça is impressive and worth a visit. If you do decide to go, look up the story of Pedro and Inês.

On the off-chance that it might interest you, and because it doesn't seem to get much mention, or to be very well-known, I will put in a word for the Museum of Resistance and Liberty (Resistência e Liberdade) in the Alfama area of Lisbon. (The museum is also known as the "Aljube," after an old name for the building.) It is dedicated to the resistance against the Antonio Salazar dictatorship. As museums go there isn't a lot of "stuff," apart from some interesting but elementary instruments that the movement used for clandestine communication. It's mostly large, well-illustrated wall posters, in both Portuguese and English (and very large writing), describing the dictatorship and the resistance against it. It may not be for everyone; in particular, dedicated fascists probably won't find it as inspiring as I did. I mention it only in case you have an interest in these matters.
(Note: my visit was pre-Covid; you may want to check their web-site before visiting.)

Thanks all. You’ve given me lots to think about.