Evora Cathedral

Evora Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

The ticket comes in tiers and the choice matters. The cheapest covers the church only. The next adds the cloister and the sacred art museum, with its collection of vestments and a famous ivory Virgin whose body opens into a triptych. The full ticket adds the roof terraces, reached by a stone staircase, where you walk on the leads between the two towers with the whole walled town below; that is the one to buy. Audio guides are included in some versions.

Day trips from Lisbon include the cathedral in the standard Evora circuit with the Chapel of Bones and a wine tasting, and cost several times the entry for the transport. Walking tours of Evora last two hours and include entry. There is rarely a queue. The cathedral sits at the highest point of the town, a short climb from the Roman temple. The ticket office is inside the cloister entrance to the left of the main doors, and staff will sell the terrace version only if asked.

Visiting Evora Cathedral: what to see

Building began in 1186, shortly after the reconquest, and finished in the early fourteenth century, which makes this a transitional church: a Romanesque body with pointed Gothic vaults and a fortified west front of two unmatched towers, one conical and tiled, the other square. The apostles carved on the main doorway are fourteenth century and among the best Gothic sculpture in Portugal. Inside, the nave is high, grey and severe, with a baroque chancel in coloured marble inserted in the eighteenth century by Johann Friedrich Ludwig, the architect of Mafra.

The choir stalls carry carved scenes of rural work, pig-killing and harvest among them. The cloister is early fourteenth century, heavy and round-arched with a corner staircase to the roof. Vasco da Gama's fleet had its banners blessed in this church in 1497 before sailing for India. The organ in the choir, built around 1562, is one of the oldest playable instruments in Europe and is still used for recitals.

Evora Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from morning to early evening, with the museum and terraces closing earlier and the whole complex shutting for an hour or two at midday in some seasons. The roof is exposed and closes in rain or high wind. Evora bakes in July and August, when the marble terraces are too hot to enjoy after midday; spring and autumn are ideal and the Alentejo light is famously clear.

Day trippers from Lisbon fill the town between eleven and four. Dress code is applied at the door. Photography without flash is allowed. Allow ninety minutes for everything. The Roman temple, the Chapel of Bones and the town walls are all within ten minutes on foot, and Evora is small enough to see in a day. Evora's aqueduct runs into the town from the north and can be followed on foot from the cathedral in about twenty minutes.