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The burial place of the great and good of Portugal, the gleaming white National Pantheon has its roots in the 17th century but was only finally completed in 1966. Constructed to a design by Lisbon’s Baroque master-craftsman João Antunes, it is a mini-me of St Peters in Rome, with a highly intricate, colonnaded exterior topped with a central dome. Climb six flights of steps up to the top for matchless views over the city to the River Tagus.

Inside the church is a riot of highly patterned mosaic flooring, gleaming white marble adorned with gilt, and memorial cenotaphs to Vasco da Gama and Henry the Navigator. The vast, 18th-century Baroque organ was moved here from Sé Cathedral in the 1940s, and famous names interred in the nave include a string of Portuguese statesmen and the revered fado singer Amalia Rodrigues.

The Ajuda National Palace is a neoclassical monument, collection of decorative arts, and an unfinished palace in the Belem district of Lisbon. The interior is richly furnished with tapestries, statues, chandeliers, artwork and extravagant furniture. Historically, the palace served as the official residence of the Portuguese royal family from the reign of King Louis I in the early 19th century until 1910, when Portugal became a republic.

Today visitors can tour the impressive estate, complete with ornate ballroom, dining room, throne room, and winter garden. Open to the public as a museum since 1968, the rooms and hallways maintain their historic feel despite undergoing renovations. There are dozens of luxurious formal rooms to wander through, with the splendor of the 18th- and 19th-century decor apparent throughout. Visitors can get a sense of how Portuguese royalty lived at that time. In fact, the Portuguese government holds official functions in the palace to this day.

Standing high above central Lisbon on the hill of Santo André, the viewpoint at Graça is an elegant terrace located next to an ancient church in one of the city’s oldest and most intriguing districts. It has far-reaching vistas across to St George’s Castle (Castello de São Jorge) and down to the River Tagus, with panorama spreading out below encompassing the rooftops of Alfama and Mouraria as well as the rust-red spans of the 25th of April Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril).

The mirador is officially known as the Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen in honor of a local poet who spent her days admiring the views and writing here. There is no better time to visit than at dusk, when the open-air Café Do Monte at the viewpoint becomes the gathering point of locals and visitors alike to watch the sun slipping down as lights begin to twinkle all over the city.

With views across to hilltop St George’s Castle (Castello de São Jorge) to Baixa and the gleaming waters of the River Tagus, the viewpoint at São Pedro de Alcantara is an exotic two-tier balustraded garden in Lisbon’s Bairro Alto. Created in the 19th century, the upper gardens are focused around a large fountain and scattered with benches from which to admire the panorama; a map created from azulejo tiles shows all the city landmarks. The lower gardens are classical in style, packed with statues of Roman deities and famous historic Portuguese figures.

Quite the most scenic way to get to São Pedro de Alcantara is by the Elevador da Glória, a funicular that first opened in 1885 and connects the Bairro Alto with Restauradores Square in the city center. Across the street from the mirador is the almost-sacred Port Wine Institute (Solar do Vinho do Porto), where rare vintages can be sampled along with a choice selection of Portuguese cheeses.

The Church of São Vicente de Fora is a monastery and church in Lisbon containing the royal pantheon of the Braganza monarchs of Portugal, serving as the final resting spot for all the Portuguese kings from 1640 to 1910. Originally built as a convent in the 12th century, the monastery was constructed in honor of Saint Vincent outside the city walls (“de fora”). It was restored after sustaining damage in the earthquake of 1755.

A highlight for many visitors today is the collection of 18th-century traditional blue and white ceramic tiles that depict life at court as well as the fables of La Fontaine. The site’s interior and cloisters are both intricately tiled, and in the church, visitors can see the ornate Baroque altarpiece designed by Joaquim Machado de Castro, one of Portugal’s most famous sculptors. The symmetrical facade has two elegant bell towers built in an Italian Renaissance style, and great views of the city and Tagus River can be seen from the rooftop.

Home of Portugal’s mournful fado singing, Lisbon’s 500-hundred-year-old Bairro Alto (this translates as ‘upper district’) sits at the working-class heart of the city, a district of steep, narrow lanes lined with cramped townhouses and jumping with a quirky mix of stores, barbers’ shops, bars, restaurants and late-night clubs.

By day Bairro Alto’s attractions include the Port Wine Institute – the best place to taste and buy port in Lisbon – and it is accessible from the circular route taken by Lisbon’s famous touristy Tram 28. Don’t dismiss a visit to the Jesuit church of São Roque on Largo Trindade Coelho; built at the height of Jesuit power in Portugal in the 16th century, its bland, whitewashed exterior conceals an interior of breath-taking Baroque indulgence. The riot of ceiling paintings, gilded ornamentation and John the Baptist’s chapel, which is studded with mosaics of ivory, gold and silver, has earned it a reputation as the world’s most expensive church.

Squeezed between downtown Baixa and the nightlife party-central of the Bairro Alto, glossy Chiado is within shouting distance of the romantic ruins of Carmo Church (Igreja do Carmo) and the hidden treasures in the Church of St Rocco (Igreja de São Roque). It is also home to glorious Art Nouveau shops, old-world Lisboa cafés with window displays brimming with delicious pastries, and timeless antiquarian bookshops. Amid the fine 19th-century townhouses fronted with wrought-iron balconies and the piazzas with madly patterned mosaic sidewalks stand top-end fashion designers, jewelers, theaters, concert halls and posh boutique hotels. An eclectic mix of restaurants – from Michelin stars at Belcanto to basic snacks at neighborhood tapas bars – adds to the cultural soup of this sleek hillside enclave.

Named for the English King Edward VII, who visited Lisbon to celebrate the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance in 1903, the largest urban oasis in Lisbon is laid out in a former quarry and adorned with formal box hedges, statuary and ornamental ponds. Parque Eduardo VII stretches 26 hectares uphill between the ornate splendor of Praca do Marquês de Pombal (Marquês de Pombal Square) and a rather brutal monument celebrating the 25th April Revolution in 1974 and designed by João Cutileiro.

Adjacent to the monument is a viewpoint with fine views back across the city, the River Tagus and the hills beyond. An ornately tiled, Baroque-style pavilion smothered in blue-and-white azulejo tiles sits on the western side of the park; opposite are hothouses stuffed with tropical palms, ferns, cacti and rare orchids.

Jardim Zoológico, in attractive gardens, has more than 2,000 animals of 300 species. Their theme is nature, animals, and ecology. There are the usual feeding sessions and a children's farm. The gardens also provide shaded picnic areas. There's also a dolphin show and row boats.

Just outside the zoo itself is the Animax, an amusement park with restaurants and bars and shops.

Restauradores Square in Lisbon commemorates Portugal's liberation from Spanish rule. The Spaniards controlled Portugal for 60 years until Portuguese nobility started a revolt on Dec. 1, 1640, which began the 28-year Restoration War. In the center of the square is an obelisk that stands more than 98 feet tall and has two bronze figures on the pedestal representing Victory and Freedom. The monument was designed by artist and architect António Tomás da Fonseca and built in 1886. The bronze statues were created by sculptors Simões de Almeida and Alberto Nunes.

Several important buildings are located on Restauradores Square. The most prominent one is Foz Palace which was once the residence of the Marquis of Foz and now houses the national tourism office. The former Eden Theater, one of Lisbon's most beautiful art deco buildings, is also located here. The theater closed down in 1989 and became a hotel in 2001.

To see evidence of the damage inflicted upon Lisbon by the destructive earthquake of 1755, the restored medieval Carmo Convent stands next to the ruins of its great barn of a Gothic church. It was founded in 1389 for the Carmelite order by the great military leader Álvares Pereira, who played a large part in securing Portugal’s independence from Spain before joining the convent himself in 1423.

Thanks to its obliteration in the earthquake, the convent’s library of thousands of rare books and manuscripts was lost; while that was rebuilt and became the HQ of Lisbon’s Municipal Guard (Guarda Republicana), the church has never been fully rebuilt. It was used as a wood storage facility before being turned into a small archaeological museum (the Museu Arqueologico do Carmo) in 1864.

Avenida da Liberdade (Liberty Avenue) is a wide, central boulevard in the heart of Lisbon. Stretching for more than a half-mile (1,100 meters), its tree-lined, cobblestoned lanes connect Praça dos Restauradores with Praça do Marquês de Pomba. It is 295 feet (90 meters) wide and is said to be modeled after Paris’s Champs Elysees. Trees provide shade for pedestrian walkways, with small fountains, mosaics and statues placed throughout, while shops, restaurants, theaters and even universities make it one of the most important avenues in the city. Grand hotels, houses of fashion, banks and other high-end retailers also call the avenue home.

Estrela Basilica is a basilica and convent in Lisbon, Portugal that was built in the late 1700s to fulfill a vow by Queen Maria I after she gave birth to a son. The basilica has a huge white rococo dome and twin bell towers decorated with statues of saints and allegorical figures. It sits on top of a hill, so the basilica can be seen from quite a distance. One of the most impressive features inside the basilica is the Christmas manger created by sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro, which is made of cork and terra cotta and contains more than 500 figures.

The elaborate Empire-style tomb of Queen Maria I is also located inside the basilica. The interior of the basilica is decorated with pink and black marble. Another important feature is the altarpiece, which was created in 1870 by the Italian painter Pompeo Batoni. Visitors can go up to the top of the dome for views of the city.

The modern beating heart of Lisbon now lies in the Parque das Nacoes, the brainchild of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that was constructed for the 100th World Expo in 1998. Calatrava’s reshaping of the city’s formerly dilapidated waterfront into something resembling a mini-Dubai was one of the biggest redevelopment projects ever undertaken in Europe. Today the Parque das Nacoes serves as both smart residential area and playground for tourists, who come in hordes to wander around the marina and landscaped water-gardens.

Chief visitor attraction at the complex is the eco-friendly, waterfront Oceanário de Lisboa (Oceanarium Aquarium) designed by Peter Chermeyeff, which pulls in more than one million punters each year. It is dedicated to educating visitors as well as conserving our marine life and the aquarium offers four ocean-themed aquariums stuffed full of scary stingrays, menacing sharks and darting tropical fish in a medley of colors.