Africa Lisbon Tour: Where to See the History

Lisbon's African history is easy to walk past, because the places that matter sit in different districts. This guide gives you the dates, the places, a food route and three guided walks to compare.

Prices, ratings and meeting points below come from GetYourGuide pages read on 21 October 2026. The history comes from the sources linked in each step.

Step 1: Learn four dates before you walk

Four dates make the walk easier to follow. They come from the MANIFEST research project, an EU co-funded project, in an article by Aurora Almada e Santos of NOVA University Lisbon.

In 1486 King João II set up the Casa dos Escravos (Slave House) in Lisbon. It handled the assessment, taxation and sale of captives. In 1515 King Manuel I ordered the Poço dos Negros (Pit of the Blacks). Bodies of enslaved people who had died were thrown there, because people who were not baptised were kept out of normal burial.

By 1551 a contemporary estimate put Africans at about 10% of the city, 9,950 out of 100,000 people. The article says that figure probably undercounts, since not every enslaved person was baptised. In 1593 the Bairro do Mocambo was created. Its name comes from an Angolan word, and the article says it shows that free Africans lived in the city too.

Key Takeaway Only 2 of the 8 African heritage listings on GetYourGuide have more than 100 reviews, so check the review count before you pay.

Step 2: Find the places on the ground

Start at the river. Praça do Comércio is where, in the words of a 2017 article by Yesenia Barragan, enslaved Africans were marched to the Casa dos Escravos. Turismo de Lisboa describes the square as one of the largest in Europe, named Terreiro do Paço after the royal palace lost in the 1755 earthquake.

Then look for the street named after the pit. Barragan writes that a mass burial pit of enslaved Africans lies beneath Rua do Poço dos Negros, in the former Mocambo neighbourhood. She adds that at the time of writing there was no public memory of it on the spot. That was 2017, and we could not confirm what has changed since.

The Black History walk's page also lists Campo das Cebolas, Praça da Figueira, the church of St Dominic, São Roque church, Bairro Alto, Miradouro de Santa Catarina and Cais do Sodré. Autêntica's page for its own walk calls Campo das Cebolas part of the old port where the first enslaved Africans arrived in Europe. We use these as tour descriptions, not as history, because the operators are not the primary source.

A slavery memorial has been planned for the river area, but we could not confirm that it is built. The city's own news page about it blocked our access. So we rely on two other sources. The ReMapping Memories Lisboa-Hamburg site describes the Memorial de Homenagem às Pessoas Escravizadas as planned for Largo José Saramago, at Campo das Cebolas. It says the Djass association started the project and the city council supported it. Observador reported on 27 June 2024 that the council was assessing a site at Ribeira das Naus and gave no construction date. We found no newer statement from the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, so ask the council before you go looking for it.

A city's history is easier to see when someone tells you where to look.

Museums that cover African history

Two museums say so on their own pages. The Museu de Lisboa at Palácio Pimenta reopened in full in 2024, according to its operator EGEAC. The museum's page on its long-term exhibition says the chronological route is crossed by highlights, among them Lisbon's influence on the global phenomenon of slavery and the presence of the African population in the city's daily life. EGEAC lists Palácio Pimenta at Campo Grande 245, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with the last entry 30 minutes before closing. Mondays, 1 January, 1 May, and 24, 25 and 31 December are closing days.

The Museu Nacional de Etnologia holds more than 40,000 objects from over 380 cultures, and Turismo de Lisboa names African cultures among its highlights. It stands on Avenida Ilha da Madeira. It opens on Tuesday from 14:00 to 18:00 and from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with the last entry at 17:30. It shuts on Mondays, 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 13 June and 25 December, and a Lisboa Card gets you in free. We left out the Monument to the Discoveries, because its schedule page lists hours and says nothing about colonial history.

Step 3: Add the African food route

Turismo de Lisboa has a separate African Lisbon route, and it is about food. It names Mozambican places (Zambeze, Espelho d'Água and Ibo), Cape Verdean ones (Associação Caboverdeana and Casa da Morna & Semba) and an Angolan one (Casa de Angola, a restaurant and cultural venue).

The dishes it mentions include samosas and shrimp curry, cachupa, muamba, funge and calulu. The route runs through Mouraria and Alfama, Poço dos Negros and Cais do Sodré, and Alcântara and Belém. The page gives no addresses or opening hours, so look each one up before you plan around it.

Pro Tip Ask your guide to end near one of the venues on Turismo de Lisboa's African route, so the walk and the meal share a part of town.

Step 4: Pick an Africa Lisbon tour that fits you

Few operators run this walk. Things to Do in Lisbon's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 8 tours on African history or heritage in Lisbon. They cost from €30 to €300 per person, with a middle price of €65, and only 2 have more than 100 reviews.

Most of the rest have almost no reviews yet. Five of the eight have fewer than 10, and two of those have none. So we picked the three with the best evidence, and left out the ones that are too new to judge.

Prices are per person, as GetYourGuide showed them on 21 October 2026.

The Black History walking tour costs from €39. Vibrant City Tours runs it in English for three hours, and it starts at Praça do Comércio. The route on its page runs from the riverside squares through Campo das Cebolas and Praça da Figueira to Rua do Poço dos Negros and Cais do Sodré. The page says it is not suitable for wheelchair users.

The historical slave trade walking tour costs from €30. My Lisbon Tours runs it in English for three hours as a small group, and it starts at Largo do Chafariz de Dentro in Alfama. The guide is African, with a background in history, political science and economics. A coffee break is planned.

The African history and heritage walking tour costs from €150. Autêntica runs it as a private tour of 3.5 hours, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. It starts at Praça dos Restauradores and covers Alfama and Baixa, with Moorish as well as African history. Its page says it is not suitable for people with mobility impairments.

All three can be cancelled for free up to 24 hours before. If you want a longer look at other routes, see our guided tours in Lisbon.

When a tour is the wrong choice

A tour is the wrong choice if you only want the food. Turismo de Lisboa's route works on your own. It is also the wrong choice if you want a short visit, since all three run three hours or more. The €150 walk has the fewest reviews, 29, so it is the riskiest of the three for the price.

If you are looking for Naky Gaglo's African Lisbon Tour, which the 2017 article describes as a four-hour walk, we found no listing for it on GetYourGuide. We could not confirm that it still runs, so check the guide's own channels.

Step 5: Plan the day

Keep the day light. Alfama is steep, and Turismo de Lisboa warns of steep, gruelling inclines. The Black History walk's page lists comfortable shoes, weather-appropriate clothing and a reusable water bottle, and calls the walk moderate in difficulty.

The three starting points are in different districts, so check the page of the walk you book. Leave time for a meal afterwards.

Getting to the sites by public transport

Metro de Lisboa and Carris give no pages for Campo das Cebolas or Rua do Poço dos Negros themselves, so check both operators for those two. The Museu Nacional de Etnologia's page gives only its street address.