Here are the main highlights to visit
An adventure with Monumental Tuk Tours
The name of the square is due to the fact that, in the past, taxes were levied on goods arriving in the city from the south.
Its name comes from the Greek word ‘Sofia’, which means Science / Wisdom
First Portuguese National Pantheon, the resting place of the remains of King Afonso Henriques and his son, King Sancho I.
Legend has it that the monastery was named after King João III, who, on visiting the monastery, sketched a cloister and garden on the sleeve of his coat, and had them built there.
The Fish Pavilion is considered an excellent example of the iron aesthetic.
The square has become the place of choice for students to meet and go out at night in the city.
The name of the garden comes from a statue of a merman opening the mouth of a dolphin, which is often mistaken for a mermaid.
It was an important space for cultural and political expression during the student revolts against the Portuguese dictatorship in the 1960s, serving as a symbol of resistance and the fight for freedom of expression.
As well as being the scene of various student demonstrations over the years, it is also common to see academic hazing taking place there.
It was rebuilt by King Sebastião and was active until the 1940s.
It is one of the world’s most renowned botanical gardens due to the variety of its flora, which comes from all four corners of the world.
The Seminary Church has a historic and rare 1500-pipe organ, built in 1762.
After centuries of exclusive use by the people of the Seminary, this beautiful viewpoint is now open to the public and allows visitors not only to take marvellous photos, but also to enjoy a moment of contemplation of the synergy between nature and the city.
From 1948 until her death, Sister Lúcia, one of the three little shepherds, considered the main seer and messenger of Our Lady of Fátima, lived in this Carmel and is in the process of being beatified by the Vatican.
Legend has it that the name comes from the fact that Pedro I went there to mourn the death of Inês. Today, the viewpoint is full of headstones with poems written by former University students.
In the 1960s and 1970s, this mythical stadium was the scene of important demonstrations against the Estado Novo regime, during matches of the Associação Académica de Coimbra, the university students’ team.
First royal residence of Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques, from 1131.
The Jesuit clerics settled in the city in 1541 and were banished from the country in 1759, because they were seen as a threat to the power of the state and the influence of the Catholic Church. Nowadays, the Serenade for Latada week (welcoming the new students to the University of Coimbra) takes place on its steps.
The Roman cryptoporticus under the museum was the most significant Roman civil work in Portugal and one of the most important in Europe.
Formally known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Coimbra, this is where the second king of Portugal, D. Sancho I, was crowned in 1185. Today, the famous Queima das Fitas serenade, the university’s main student festival, takes place on its steps.
Today, the stairs connect the Almedina Gate (the main entrance to Coimbra’s walled city centre) and the Old Cathedral Square, making it one of the city’s most vibrant and visited spots.
The building was built to look like a ship, the type of vessel on which the spices, that allegedly financed its construction, came from India. Since 1951, it has housed the student republic of Prá-Kys-Tão.
Parts of the old wall and the Belcouce Tower, an important tower protecting the city, still remain in the building today.
Today, in the centre of the garden, we can still admire a bandstand from 1904 that is part of the iron architecture characteristic of Art Nouveau.
The Mondego is the largest 100% Portuguese river and has always been an important protective barrier and part of the defence line of the Kingdom of Portugal.
The importance of this bridge dates back to the Roman period, when it connected the important Via Olisipo (Lisbon) – Bracara Augusta (Braga).
Coimbra’s Queima das Fitas is the oldest and most recognised academic week in the country.
Due to the flooding of the Mondego river, the Monastery suffered successive floods over the centuries until it was definitively abandoned and replaced by the new Monastery in the 17th century.
Representing the Portuguese world in miniature and idealised by the doctor and professor Bissaya Barreto, the park was part of a child protection plan that included medical, health, educational and social assistance following modern educational methods.
Today it houses the largest and most modern theatre in the city.
Located on the slopes of Santa Clara, on the old main access road to the city, this viewpoint provided the first glimpse of Coimbra for those coming from the south. For many, it’s the best view of the city, allowing them to admire Mata do Choupal, Lapa dos Esteios, Quinta das Lágrimas and the River Mondego, as well as the city’s upper (Alta) and lower (Baixa) towns.
The tomb with the incorrupt body of Queen St Isabel (the city’s patron saint) is in the monastery church and can be seen by visitors. On rare occasions, during the week of the Feast of the Holy Queen, the Queen’s hand is exhibited to the public.
The water channel of the Quinta’s two springs, built by Queen Santa Isabel in 1326 to supply the old Santa Clara Monastery, became known as the Fountain of Love and was the scene of the passionate encounters between Pedro and Inês. Legend has it that the other fountain, the Fountain of Tears (Lágrimas), was the site of Inês de Castro’s tragic murder.
The exploratory has a planetarium with 360-degree hemispherical projection and daily cinema sessions for different age groups, including babies.
There is a giant bear in the park. Once made of natural grass, it was forced to wear a synthetic skin after an act of vandalism.
Its peculiar and innovative shape is a representation of the love of Pedro and Inês, as the two ends of the bridge start from divergent lines, forcing them together halfway across. It has become an obligatory stop-off point for couples in love to take a romantic photo with the city as a backdrop.
The first cobbled street in the city, it has always been of great commercial importance, linking the inner city (“Almedina”) and the outer area (Suburbs), better known today as Coimbra’s “Alta” (uptown) and “Baixa” (downtown).
In ancient times, when someone attacked the city, the defenders would pour boiling olive oil over the invaders through two openings at the top of the arch, which proved to be a very effective weapon.
There is evidence that the church began to be built before 957 and was rebuilt between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century, during the reign of King Sancho I. In the 19th century, when the current Visconde da Luz Street was widened, an important part of its main chapel was cut off.
It is believed that the Great Circus of Aeminium existed here in Roman times. From the 12th century onwards, with the construction of the centres of São Bartolomeu and São Tiago, it became an important meeting point for the city’s commerce and housed the Royal Hospital between the 16th and 18th centuries.
Proven to have existed in the first half of the 10th century, the church was rebuilt in the 12th century. There are still traces of the medieval building and its necropolis in the basement of the current church.
This house may be the oldest standing residential building in the city. Its ground floor was used for commercial purposes.
