Indoor Things to Do in Lisbon: 8 Rainy-Day Picks

Rain is part of Lisbon's year, and the sights below keep you dry for a morning, an afternoon or an evening. This list picks eight that have official hours, prices and stations, so you can decide in the time it takes to look at the forecast.

Hours, prices and routes come from each venue's own pages, read on 21 October 2026. Confirm them for your date, because they change.

How often it rains in Lisbon

The weather institute's 1991 to 2020 averages for Lisbon's Instituto Geofísico station count 75.5 days a year with at least 1 mm of rain. November is the wettest month, with 133.9 mm over 9.9 such days. October has 110.6 mm, December 108.5 mm and January 103.8 mm. July has only 2.6 mm.

The institute's site, IPMA, carries the 10-day forecast and the weather warnings. Check it the evening before, and again at breakfast.

A good rainy day has a plan for the morning and a second one for the afternoon.

1. Oceanário: the aquarium for a whole morning

The Oceanário is open every day from 10:00 to 20:00, with the last entry at 19:00. Its ticket page gives an average visit of 1 hour 30 to 2 hours. Adult tickets cost €29.90 from 10:00 to 11:30, €27.70 from 12:00 to 15:30 and €25.50 from 16:00 to 18:30. Under-3s enter free, and the page sells tickets online.

Take the Metro to Oriente station. The Oceanário lists the Red Line and buses 705, 725, 728, 744, 708, 750, 759, 782 and 794. The aquarium stands in Parque das Nações. For children, the page lists free entry up to age 2 and €15.50 to €17.70 for ages 3 to 12, depending on the time slot.

2. Pavilhão do Conhecimento: a science museum next door

The Pavilhão do Conhecimento is a science museum in Parque das Nações. The museum's home page lists Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, and weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 19:00. It closes on Mondays. Its general information page gives the average visit as 1 hour 30 minutes and lists free entry on 16 May, 25 July and 24 November.

An adult ticket is €15 on the ticket-office page. Youths aged 3 to 17 pay €10, seniors €11, and a family ticket is €35. Children up to 2 are free. Metro and train both stop at Gare do Oriente, and the nearest Carris stop is Oceanário Lisboa, served by buses 26B and 728. The museum shares the district with the Oceanário, so one trip covers both. It suits children: the page lists €10 for ages 3 to 17, a €35 family ticket for up to two adults and children under 17, and "interactive scientific modules". Under-14s must come with an adult.

3. Gulbenkian Museum: a calm morning in the art collection

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum is open from 10:00 to 18:00, and until 21:00 on Saturdays. The museum closes on Tuesdays and on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 December and 25 December. The foundation's hours page says the last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

The ticket page lists €16 for the museum and €18 for the museum, the Modern Art Center and the temporary exhibitions together. A Lisboa Card gives 20% off. The garden is free and open every day from sunrise to sunset, but it is outdoors.

You can reach it by Metro at São Sebastião (Blue and Red lines) or Praça de Espanha (Blue line). The foundation's directions also list Carris buses 716, 726, 756, 746, 713 and 742. How long a visit takes is not published, so leave a morning. For families, the foundation's menu lists visits and activities for children, but the pages I read give no age prices.

4. Belém indoors: the Jerónimos Monastery and MAAT

Belém has two indoor stops that work in the rain. The Jerónimos Monastery is open from 9:30 to 17:30, with the last entry at 17:00, and closed on Mondays and Easter Sunday. The MAAT museum is open Wednesday to Monday from 10:00 to 19:00, and standard admission is €16 for visitors who live outside Portugal.

The full order, the station and the tickets are in our guide to things to do in Belém. Do both on your own. MAAT admits children up to 12 free.

5. Museu do Fado and a fado show

The Fado Museum in Alfama opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with the last entry at 17:30. A normal ticket is €5.00 on the museum's visit page. Our guide to things to do in Alfama covers the climb and the neighbourhood.

For the evening, the fado show with a glass of wine takes 50 minutes and costs from €15. It includes live fado by male and female singers, a glass of Port wine or Moscatel, and a description of each song's meaning. Trova Colossal, LDA runs it, and the meeting point depends on the option: one of two venues, the Sé (stone walls) or the Baixa (step-free, wheelchair accessible). Its page lists no group size. The page shows 4.8 from 7,345 reviews.

Fado is a music you sit still for, which makes it a good plan for a wet night.

6. Two tiled palaces: Fronteira and São Roque

Tiles are the thing to see indoors in Lisbon, and the National Tile Museum cannot show them right now. Its official page says it is closed to the public for construction works, funded by the national recovery plan. The page gives no reopening date. These two places are open.

The Fronteira Palace says it holds the largest collection of seventeenth-century azulejos preserved in place. Its visit page lists the palace and gardens at €17, with the palace visited only on guided tours. English tours start at 10:00, 11:30, 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00, Monday to Saturday and on public holidays. Gardens alone cost €8 and gardens with an audio guide €10. It closes on Christmas, New Year and Easter. The closest Metro station is Jardim Zoológico (Blue Line), and Carris bus 60B stops at the palace every 30 minutes.

São Roque is a Jesuit church and museum in the centre. Its operator says the church houses azulejos beside gilded woodcarvings, paintings and sculptures. The museum's information page lists Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, a general ticket at €8 and a guided tour at €12. Masses at 12:30 can limit visits to the church. Entry is free up to age 12, and a family ticket is listed. Go to Baixa-Chiado (Blue and Green lines), or take bus 758 or trams 24 and 28 to Largo Camões.

7. Time Out Market: lunch under one roof

Time Out Market Lisboa is a food hall inside the Mercado da Ribeira building on Avenida 24 de Julho. The market's FAQ gives opening from 10:00 to midnight Sunday to Wednesday, and from 10:00 to 02:00 Thursday to Saturday. It has 26 restaurants and eight bars, takes no reservations and offers communal tables.

Turismo de Lisboa calls Cais do Sodré a central hub where you can catch a metro, a train or a boat. You pay only for what you eat and drink. The market also runs cooking courses, which its site lists.

8. A cooking class when you want company and a roof

Things to Do in Lisbon's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 13 indoor classes. Prices run from €50 to €102 per person, and the middle price is €65. Most are pastel de nata or Portuguese cooking classes, and one is an azulejo tile-painting workshop.

The pastel de nata baking class takes 2 hours and costs from €55. It includes all ingredients, utensils and drinks, and you eat your own tarts. Reviewers give it 4.9 across 3,290 reviews. The traditional Portuguese cooking class takes 3 hours and costs from €85. It is limited to 10 people and includes a four-course meal and drinks. The rating is 4.9 from 824 reviews.

Both pages give the same address, Rua Aliança Operária 54, and say the class is likely to sell out. Homecooking Lisbon runs both. Book a day ahead, and use the cancellation window if the forecast changes.

Which sights to save for a dry day

Some of Lisbon's best sights are outdoors, and rain spoils them. Save the viewpoints of Alfama for a clear day, as our guide to things to do in Alfama suggests. Save the ride on tram 28, the river and the tower in Belém, and the gardens and palaces of Sintra, which our guide to Lisbon to Sintra train tickets covers.

The weather institute's counts tell you when to expect the swap. Rain of at least 1 mm falls on 10.0 days in December and January, 9.9 in November and 8.7 in October. It falls on 3.8 days in September and 2.0 in June. July has 0.6. In the wet months, plan an indoor day for every outdoor one. In summer, flip that ratio.

Families with older children will find more in our guide to things to do in Lisbon with teens.

How to choose indoor things to do in Lisbon

Pick by the time of day and by who is with you, and take the tile palaces when tiles are the point. Put the big museums in the morning and the classes or fado in the evening.

Key Takeaway Lisbon has 75.5 days a year with at least 1 mm of rain, so keep the Oceanário and the Pavilhão do Conhecimento, which share Parque das Nações and Oriente station, as your default wet-day plan.

Pro Tip Book the Oceanário's 16:00 slot and pay €25.50 instead of €29.90. The average visit of 1.5 to 2 hours fits before the 20:00 closing.

When a tour is the wrong choice

A tour is the wrong choice for the museums. Each has its own ticket page, its own hours and a simple route, so a guide adds cost and not much else. Treat the cooking classes and the fado show as experiences you pick for themselves.

The Lisboa Card costs from €31. Its page says it is non-refundable. The Lisboa Card shop page also lists five national museums as temporarily closed for restoration: the National Tile Museum, the National Museum of Ancient Art, the National Costume Museum, the National Theatre and Dance Museum and the National Archaeology Museum. So the card pays off only if you plan several of the sights that are open, and the Gulbenkian Museum gives it a 20% discount, not free entry. See all Lisbon attraction tickets before you buy.