São Bento station is one of the most beautiful railway stations in Europe, and it is entirely functional — trains to the Douro Valley and the Portuguese coast leave from here every day. The Beaux-Arts granite building, designed by José Marques da Silva in a French style, opens onto a concourse lined with 20,000 azulejo tiles covering 551 square metres of wall.
The tiles, painted by Jorge Colaço over more than a decade, depict scenes from Portuguese history — medieval battles, royal processions, conquest scenes from North Africa — alongside pastoral images of rural life and modes of transport. The effect is overwhelming at first and deeply absorbing on longer inspection. Even if you are not catching a train, the station is worth entering simply to stand in the tile hall and look.