Évora Day Trip From Lisbon: Stones, a Roman Temple and Bones

The listing calls the day a journey through the history of humanity. In a single Évora day trip from Lisbon you move from a Stone Age circle in the countryside to a city centre classified by UNESCO.

Évora is described on the listing as the historic capital of the Alentejo, and the tour gives it the rest of the day after the stones: the Temple of Diana, the medieval cathedral with a climb to its roof, and the Church of St. Francis with its Chapel of Bones. Along the way you learn how cork is taken from cork oak trees in the countryside.

Reviewers of this tour write about their guide as often as about the sites.

The day opens with its oldest stop. The Almendres Cromlech is a circle of standing stones that the listing dates before Stonehenge, and it calls the site the largest megalithic complex on the Iberian Peninsula. The stones are described as mysteriously aligned with the sun and stars, which is where the guide starts on what these early communities knew about astronomy.

The stones stand in the countryside, and on this tour the drive there is part of the package. Jeremy from the United States: «Evora was stunning and the megalithic sites were awesome - so unique, so ancient and mesmerizing.» Melissa, also from the United States, picks the same high points: «I really enjoyed the neolithic site, the town of Evora, and the bone church.»

After the stones the tour moves into the UNESCO-classified centre of Évora, starting with the Roman Temple of Diana. Next is the medieval Évora Cathedral. The listing includes a climb to the roof, from where you look out over the plains around the city. One honest caveat from the reviews: Nerida from Australia wrote «Very good, except the cathedral was closed for a service».

The last stop is the Renaissance Church of St. Francis and its Capela dos Ossos, the Chapel of Bones, with walls covered in human skulls and bones. Reviewers remember it: Vahan from the United States names «the megaliths and chapel of bones» as his day. If you travel with young children, decide in advance whether that room suits them.

This Évora day trip from Lisbon holds a 4.7 rating from 578 reviews. The recent ones keep returning to three things: the hotel pickup, the pace and the size of the group.

On the pickup, Melissa from the United States: «…picked us up from our hotel, which was very convenient.» On the pace, Tekoa from the United States: «The day had a perfect balance of insightful guided tour segments and dedicated individual time to explore and do our own thing.» On the group, Tekoa again: «Our tour was very small, and … making the entire experience feel like a personalized, private tour.» On the drive, Nikolay from Bulgaria: «Driving was safe and comfortable.»

Three tours here cost $90: this one, the Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos day, and the Sintra to Cascais e-bike ride. Of the three, only the Évora and Fátima days include hotel pickup in Lisbon. The difference is the subject: churches and the coast on the Fátima day; prehistory, Rome and the Alentejo on the Lisbon to Évora day trip.

The day trips on this site start at $56 per person, for Fátima, Nazaré, Óbidos and Batalha in 10 hours. The city extras that do not leave Lisbon, the hop-on hop-off bus, the e-bike ride over the hills and the Tagus cruises, cost $25 to $34.

Our top pick across the site is the Porto, Óbidos and Nazaré day at $127, rated 4.5. It is a long day of 13 hours, much of it on the road. For more hours on the ground, the Évora day trip from Lisbon is the shorter choice.

Book it if history is why you came to Portugal. For $90 per person, this Évora day trip from Lisbon gives you 8 hours, hotel pickup in Lisbon, a stone circle older than Stonehenge, a Roman temple and the Chapel of Bones, with a 4.7 rating from 578 reviews. That works out at $11.25 an hour. Bring money for lunch.