Standing in front of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, the first thing most travelers notice isn’t just the grandeur of its Manueline arches or the way the white limestone glows against a crisp blue sky—it’s the line. A snaking, never-ending ribbon of people, stretching across the facade, sunhats and cameras in hand, all waiting for their turn to step inside one of Lisbon’s most celebrated treasures. I’ve been there, staring at the queue, silently calculating how many pastel de nata I could have eaten instead of standing still for two hours.
But here’s the trick: you don’t actually have to join that line. The easiest way around it is to buy your ticket online before you even set foot in Belém. There’s a separate entrance for pre-booked tickets, and slipping past the crowd feels a little bit like finding a secret passage in a storybook. If you’re more of a spontaneous traveler, timing is everything. Get there first thing in the morning, when the doors open and the tour buses haven’t yet spilled their groups into the square, or wait until later in the afternoon, when most people have drifted off toward the Tower of Belém or the riverside cafés.
Another overlooked option is the combined pass. Instead of queuing here, you can pick up the bundle ticket at the Torre de Belém or even the Archaeology Museum next door, both of which usually have shorter lines. With that ticket in hand, you just walk right past the long crowd outside the monastery—no waiting required. And if you happen to be in Lisbon during the quieter months, from November through March, you’ll discover that the monastery feels almost like yours alone, free of the suffocating queues and full of space to breathe in the history.
So yes, the line is daunting, almost theatrical in its length, but it doesn’t have to be your story. With a little planning, you can skip the sunburn and the shuffle, and head straight into the cloisters where Vasco da Gama rests and history still whispers in stone.
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