Things to do in Setúbal Municipality

Setúbal is a working port town, backed by the Serra da Arrábida. The Sado estuary opens out in front of it. Both shape most of what brings people here.

The town itself

• Igreja de Jesus. Begun in 1490 and considered the first Manueline building in Portugal, its columns cut from pink stone quarried in the Arrábida hills behind the town.
• The market and the docks. A fish market still runs on the waterfront, and a former sardine cannery now houses the Museu do Trabalho, built around the town's canning history.
• Tróia. A sand peninsula across the bay, reached by a short ferry rather than a bridge; it holds the beach the town itself doesn't have much of.

Arrábida and the Sado

• Serra da Arrábida. A limestone ridge that drops straight into the sea, holding beaches like Portinho da Arrábida in coves more usually associated with the Mediterranean than the Atlantic.
• Dolphins in the estuary. The Sado is one of only a few estuaries in Europe with a resident dolphin population, a group of around thirty animals that boat trips go out to find.
• Azeitão and its wine. The village north of Setúbal makes moscatel, a sweet fortified wine; the José Maria da Fonseca house has aged it there since 1834.

Practical

• Weather. Summer reaches about 29C, tempered by the estuary breeze; winter days sit near 15C.
• Getting there. The Fertagus train from Lisbon's Roma-Areeiro station takes just under an hour, on a line that crosses the Tagus by bridge rather than ferry.
• Dolphin trips. Sightings depend on where the group is feeding that day, not a fixed schedule; longer trips generally do better than short ones.
• Getting around. The Arrábida coves and Azeitão's wineries both need a car or a tour; the town centre itself is walkable.