Coimbra Private Day from Lisbon: University & Joanina Library

Coimbra is where Portugal began. It was the kingdom's first capital, when the country was founded around 1139 and Lisbon was still under Moorish rule, and it holds the oldest university in the country, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 1290. The day's centrepiece is the Baroque Joanina Library, one of the most beautiful in the world, where entry is by a timed slot that sells out in high season. We pre-book that slot the moment you book and build the whole day around it, so you step inside on time instead of waiting in a queue or finding it sold out. This is a private, unhurried day that brings together the university and its library, the Romanesque Old Cathedral, and the royal tombs of Portugal's first two kings at the Monastery of Santa Cruz, with the option to add Conímbriga, the best-preserved Roman city in the country.