Santa Catarina Park

The view is what people walk up for. From the seaward edge you look down on the harbour and watch cruise ships and yachts come into the bay, the city stacked up the slope behind you. Inland of that, 36,000 square metres of paths and benches: flower beds, exotic trees, a lake with ducks and swans, several aviaries, statues, and the small Santa Catarina Chapel the park grew up around. An open-air kiosk sells coffee and cold drinks, and the benches stand in tree shade. The port and the CR7 Museum are just below.

• Toilets: free public toilets 53 m from the park; the second block, 114 m away, charges.
• Water: drinking water points 55 m and 58 m from the grounds.
• Cafe: an open-air kiosk sells coffee and cold drinks, with benches in the shade of the trees.
• Dogs and children: dogs are allowed, and the park is set up for children.
• Crowds: the cruise port sits below the park, and ship days push people up here.

The park sits on the hill above the harbour, and it all lands within a couple of hundred metres of the gates: the nearest bus stop is 90 m away, the closest car parks 166 m and 215 m. Whichever you use, the last stretch is on foot, and paths with benches take over at the entrance.

Best: early, soon after the gates open, while the paths are quiet and the harbour below is still waking up.

Avoid: the middle of the day, when the cruise port empties into the city and the lawns above it fill up.

The park faces the bay, so there is no hour without a view — but the light on the water and the ships is softest at either end of the day.