Lisbon is an excellent base for day trips into the surrounding region. The Sintra hills, just 40 minutes by train from Rossio, have romantic 19th-century palaces in forested hillsides — the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle being the most visited. Cascais, also on the same Estoril train line, is a seaside town with good beaches and a pleasant town centre.
Évora, the walled Roman city in the Alentejo, is 1.5 hours by bus or train — a full day trip through cork oak plains to a UNESCO-listed city with a Roman temple, a cathedral, and a chapel built with human bones. Setúbal and the Arrábida Natural Park, south of Lisbon, offer some of the finest coastal scenery in Portugal: limestone cliffs, clear water, and beaches that rival the Algarve.
