4.5.14 Museu do Ar (Museum of the Air)

Granja do Marquês, Base Aérea 1, Sintra

Location HERE.

Open 1000 to 1700 hours, closed Mondays.

It’s near Sintra!

Get there by train to Portela de Sintra - from Rossio, Oriente, Entrecampos or Sete Rios. Then take a Carris Metropolitana bus. So make sure your Zapping card has enough credit loaded.


Signposted from the bus stop on the N9 at Cruz Museu do Ar, where a plinthed aircraft gives another clue, it’s a short walk to the airbase, the entrance to the museum being just past that to the base.

Aviation, aviation, aviation. Portugal had its own pioneers in the field - one reason there are so many streets named after Gago Coutinho and/or Sacadura Cabral - and this collection takes you from those early days to the present.

This is where you get off the bus

The museum was founded by the Portuguese Air Force in 1968, and has expanded considerably since, to include civilian aircraft - lots of historical detail on national carrier TAP Air Portugal - and content on navigation, even the development of in-flight catering.

It’s a day out primarily for the nerdy, but no worse for that. Even at full price, admission costs just €3 per person, with half price for concessions. Get there reasonably early, so as to avoid the group tours of eager children, who love this kind of exhibition.


You end a visit even more in awe of those pioneer aviators who were prepared to take to the sky in machinery for which the slang term “crate” is often a little too flattering.

The bus service stopping nearby is regular, seems reliable, but is not so frequent. For that reason, and because there is no cover on the road to the airbase, this museum is recommended for dry days only (there is, though, a shelter at the bus stop heading back to Sintra).


Also, there are more buses on weekdays. Allow 15 minutes for the walk back to the bus stop.

Buses 1240 (timetable HERE) and 2626 (timetable HERE) from the stands at the north side of Portela de Sintra station.

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