Jardim Calouste Gulbenkian travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

If you are a casual travaler and you are in Lisbon, tired of the hustle and bustle, I recommend you the gardens of the Calouste Gulbenkian. Covering roughly 17 acres, this beautifully landscaped garden contains a wide variety of well-established tropical as well as indigenous plants and trees that shelter subtly-appointed benches and seats.

Near by the lake there is a grassy bank and picnic tables, where you can sit on bright winter days and soak up the sun, or watch the ducks with their fleets of ducklings enjoying the water in spring. During the weekends the gardens come alive with the sound of kids playing in the sunshine.

When the summer arrives in Lisbon, it is nice to disappear into this garden down one of the maze-like paths that snake through the shrubbery and to feel as if you are the only person in the world, surrounded only by the birds scurrying around in the undergrowth or flitting in the trees. Somehow, the vast tree canopies manage to dull the sound of Lisbon traffic to the point you forget it is there and will also shelter you from the heat of the day.

It is a pretty good heaven with an open-air amphitheatre where, during the summer months, there is a programme of various different films or music events that take place in the evening. The openning hours of the theatre are: every day from sunrise to sunset, sunset except on nights when there is entertainment in the amphitheater. Whether on a hot, sultry summer evening or a bright, sunny winter day this garden is the perfect place to be and feel completely relaxed.