São Bento Station azulejos

Estação de São Bento

A working station whose hall is wall-to-wall blue tile painting

Hours

Open whenever the station is (roughly early morning to around midnight)

Tickets

Free

Address

Praça de Almeida Garrett in the centre, 3 minutes' walk from Praça da Liberdade

It is still a working station, but everyone stops and looks up the moment they enter the hall. Every wall is covered in blue-on-white azulejo tiles painted by Jorge Colaço with battles, royal arrivals and grape harvests from Portuguese history, with a coloured frieze on the history of transport running around the top. It costs nothing, so a ten-minute detour is enough, and trains to Braga, Guimarães and the Douro leave from the same platforms.