85 min
50 min
8 min
Vermelha
1.2 / km²
6
3
336
+12% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Parque das Nações
Parque das Nações is the Expo '98 site, kept and built on after the world's fair closed. It is the cleanest and most orderly part of Lisbon: wide riverside promenades, the Oceanário, a cable car, a casino, the Vasco da Gama shopping centre and Calatrava's Oriente station.
It is also the reason people come home disappointed. Nothing here is older than 1998. No old town, no tram, no tiled street, no fado. Reaching the historic centre means the red line to Alameda, a change onto the green line and about half an hour door to door - each way, twice a day, for the whole trip.
There are two honest reasons to book it: a conference at the FIL, or a very early flight, since Oriente is eight minutes from the airport. With small children and the Oceanário as the point of the trip it is defensible for one night. Otherwise this is the classic Lisbon booking mistake: cheap, modern, well reviewed, and in the wrong city.
What works
- Oriente station puts the airport eight minutes and Porto three hours away
- The Oceanário is one of the largest aquariums in Europe and is right there
- Wide flat riverside promenade, which matters with a pushchair
What does not
- Red line to Alameda, change to green, then walk: about 30 minutes each way
- Every building is younger than 1998, so none of the reason you came is here
- The evening is a shopping-centre food court and a casino
- It is exposed and windy on the river front in a way photographs never show
The "Park of the Nations" was built from scratch for Expo '98 (1998 Lisbon World Exposition) in the northeastern end of Lisbon.From the historic centre take the green line north and change at Alameda.