Óbidos historic village and Mafra Palace Private Tour
Description
Step back in time and see the Museum Village of Óbidos and Mafra from Lisbon. Wonder the streets of a walled town with history dating back to the 4th century, and the biggest 18th century baroque palace in Europe, the Palácio Nacional de Mafra. Being a private tour, participants will be just you (your group) and your guide.
Tour Options
Itinerary
You start by being picked-up for your private tour (just you and your guide), at a hotel or cruise port in Lisbon. From here we will drive north to Óbidos & Mafra.
Explore Óbidos, conquered by Portugal´s first king, D. Afonso Henriques, on January 11th, 1148. Since then, Óbidos continues to be part of Portugal’s history. Here you will visit the various highlights of the Fortified village of Óbidos. Walking inside the village also allows you to taste the Ginjinha and other local goods and crafts. Note: Each July (at an extra cost) Óbidos castle hosts a traditional ‘Medieval Market’. For two weeks the castle and the surrounding town recreate the spirit of medieval Europe. Flowing banners and heraldic flags set the mood together with hundreds of entertainers and stall holders dressed as merchants, jugglers, jesters, wandering minstrels, soldiers and more. Visitors can shop at the traditional handcrafts fair or watch medieval shows, horse displays and a costumed parade that winds its way through the streets. There are also displays of jousting knights and armed combat.
Discover the palace of Mafra, a magnificent building that was only possible due to the "Brazilian gold" that poured into the country, allowing King João V to carry out the building of the biggest baroque palaces from the 18th century. Its construction began on November 17, 1717 and it integrates 4 buildings in one: the palace, the convent, a basilica and a library. You will walk though the longest corridor ever built in a palace (232 m long). All made of limestone and marble from this region (Pêro Pinheiro and Sintra), the building covers an area of almost four hectares (37.790 sqm2), including 1.200 rooms and more than 4.700 doors and windows. The library itself is one of the most important in Europe, having an enormous variety of books (more than 30.000 volumes) from the XVth to the XVIIIth century. Flanked by two towers, the basilica is the “center piece” of the facade having been designed by the German architect Johann Friedrich Ludwig and commissioned by D. João V.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Your meeting point is flexible, and to be agreed with your Guide. The meeting point will be at your hotel or accommodation, or your Guide will meet you at a convenient location close to your hotel or accommodation.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- At time of booking, hotel clients must provide the following information at time of booking: hotel name and address
- At time of booking, cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Refunds will not be issued if tour/activity is missed due to late or non-arrival of cruise ship
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
Reviews(34)
Excellent guide. Obidos is beautiful as is Mafra palace, but I think It would be helpful if Viators had said that the chapel and the library are both under restoration and could not be seen - a disappointment
Ricardo was engaging, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable about Óbidos and the Mafra Palace. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with him and learned so much.
Rodrigo (Rod)was an amazing guide with so much knowledge of Óbidos and Mafra. The conversation on the drive from Lisbon to Obidos and back to Lisbon from Mafra kept us entertained from start to finish with more historic facts about all the places we visited. The walled medieval Obidos is a must see village on anyone’s visit to Portugal. We highly recommend this tour especially if you are able to do it with Rod. He is great!
The city of Obidos was beautiful, and Mafra was great (very cool library room). But I'm writing the review to shout out our awesome tour guide Rod. He was so friendly informative and he had the best food recommendations both during the tour and after when we were back in Lisbon. This was one of the best days of the trip. Thanks again Rod.
We not only enjoyed the itinerary, but it was our guide Ricardo who made it more than a photo opportunity….he was a delight with his gentle manners, knowledge and subtle sense of humour while walking in Mafra and Obidos, pointing out so many interesting little facts about the history of each place! A true gentleman of Lisbon!!
Obidos is a beautifull place with very friendly and humble people. I prefer to be more time on Obidos instead of Mafra. The guide is very friendly with us but on time have a road rage with others.
Our guide, Ricardo was amazing! We cannot say enough, good things about him. He was so knowledgeable, easy to understand his English, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. We would very highly recommend him. Beth and Marc Zweig
Óbidos was a quaint little town, just beautiful Mafia Palace was amazing, lots of history Rodrigo was an excellent guide with lots of knowledge. He made it a fun day b
Very knowledgeable, pleasant, with excellent English. Very flexible with our requests and gave us plenty of time for exploration. We felt very fortunate to have him for two days.
Both locations we toured were so historical and without the knowledge of our tour guide we would have been lost
