3 Amazing Annual Passes in Lisbon for Families with Children

Amazing Annual Passes for Lisbon

I moved from the United States to Lisbon, Portugal in August of 2023 with my wife and our young son. We moved without a school lined up, as our son was not yet old enough to attend anything other than a pre-school and we thought we would just figure it out after moving. This ended up being a great experience to bond with our son for the first month of living here, but it also was a bit stressful finding activities to keep him entertained. We ultimately found three amazing spots with annual passes that I’d love to share with others.

If you are interested in reasons to consider moving to Lisbon, check out my 10 Amazing Reasons to Relocate to Lisbon!

Oceanário de Lisboa – Lisbon Aquarium

Photo by Armando Brenlha on Unsplash

Located near the Oriente station south of Parque das Nações, this is the first of the annual passes for Lisbon we purchased and it is also, by far, both the easiest to obtain and the best value for your money. At the time of writing, the cost for a family of three (2 adults and 1 child) to enter the Oceanário a single time is 65€.

The cost of an annual membership is 85€, and this allows for 2 adults and 2 children. Additional children can be added at additional cost. This membership will allow you to skip the long ticket line every time you show up for a rolling calendar year from when you purchased. It will provide access to both the permanent and temporary exhibits within the Oceanário.

My family, and especially my son, enjoy the variety of exhibits. There is a Japanese zen garden inspired aquarium exhibit, a room in which the walls are screens that show an ocean movie, and of course, plenty of aquatic creatures. The whole aquarium is built around a massive central tank that has schools of fish, rays, and a number of different sharks. This central tank is visible from almost anywhere in the Aquarium from every angle so no fish inside will ever be unfindable.

The Oceanário is also home to exhibits of sea birds like puffins and penguins, as well as tropical fish, and my family’s favorite, the sea otters. At the end of the two floor experience is a small playground and learning center for children which we often find ourselves rushing towards after our son gets bored of the fish.

So how do you obtain this annual pass, and how do you use it? Easy. Directly to the right of the ticket counters is an information center for the Oceanário. It is an office and has a door to enter. Ask one of the very pleasant people inside to sign up for an Oceanário membership and they will help fill out the forms. You may require an ID, but this does not need to be a Portuguese issued ID.

Once you sign up, you will be issued a membership number and the lovely people at the information desk will print you out your tickets, which you can use to enter through the normal line. Each time you return to the Oceanário, you will need to enter the information center and provide your membership number. They will print the tickets for you and you can use them in the same way.

Pavilhão do Conhecimento – Pavilion of Knowledge – Children’s Science Museum

Located very close to the Oceanário de Lisboa, the Children’s Science Museum is an awesome spot to take your children, especially if they love hands-on play. The annual pass allows access to both the permanent and temporary exhibits. One permanent exhibit, Tcharan!, is set up like an interactive circus. Kids can play with giant foam blocks, suit up in a velcro outfit and launch themselves at a giant frog tongue, race against each other on playground animals, and even enter the construction zone with a working rail and crane.

A second permanent exhibit upstairs is related to exploring the physical world through hands-on experiments which is a little above my son’s level, but both my wife and I really enjoy. The ground floor contains a rotating exhibit, which in my experience thus far changes about once every 6 months. So far there has been a dinosaur exhibit, an outer space exhibit, and currently an exhibit about the development of language. The final exhibit room is called Doing, which is a giant workshop where kids can build paper airplanes, play with robots, and design rube-goldberg machines.

A family ticket, costing 30€, is available at the ticketing office and will provide access for up to two adults and three children. The annual pass is available through Ciencia Viva for 60€, but it does take a bit more work to get, especially if you come from America and are unused to European electronic payments.

Firstly, you will need to add the membership card to your cart and fill in your email address and name. You will receive an email with payment instructions. Access your portuguese bank app and access the location to Pay Services. The email sent to you will contain the entity number and reference number you need to use in order to make the payment. Shortly after your payment has been made, you will receive another email with an activation code. After you activate the card, you will be able to begin using it at the Children’s Science Museum. In a week or two, you will receive mail at your address with your physical card.

To use the card, you no longer have to wait in line or go up the main ramp to the ticket office. Instead, you now have a separate entrance. Instead of going up the main ramp to the ticket office, simply go around to the left side of the building facing the ramp entrance. There is a side entrance that goes directly into the gift shop. Approach the gift shop counter and show your card, they will print you out tickets which you can use to scan directly into the ground floor of the museum.

Jardim Zoológico – Lisbon Zoo

Photo by Pierre Goiffon on Unsplash

The last of the annual passes for Lisbon I recommend is for the Lisbon Zoo, Jardim Zoológico. The Lisbon Zoo is a fantastic outdoor space that can be enjoyed even in the summer as it is largely shaded. It has all the animals that you would expect in a major zoo – lions, tigers, giraffes, and elephants. It also has the surprising additions of all the great apes and a dolphin show.

Additionally, included with your entrance, there is a rather lengthy gondola ride around the zoo which gives you a great perspective above the animal pens and allows you to find some of the more elusive animals that you may not have seen from the ground. Be aware that there is no halfway stopping point on the gondola, the ride is about 7-10 minutes and you do reach some appreciable height at times, so this may be something you want to skip if you have a fear of heights.

The dolphin show is also included in the entrance fee, and runs twice a day in the winter, and three times a day in the summer. While I would wish there was a larger enclosure for the dolphins, it is a really spectacular show. Additionally, unlike the Oceanário and Children’s Science Museum, the Lisbon Zoo is centrally located and easily accessible by the either the metro on the blue line at Jardim Zoológico or the overland train at the Sete Rios stop.

The downside to the zoo is that it is the most expensive of the attractions, adult tickets are 29€ each and Children are 19€. There is no daily family pass. This led me to inquire about an annual pass, and I found that they do exist with a couple caveats. Firstly, the pass runs on a calendar year, so it is likely not worth acquiring in the later months of the year, and secondly, it is quite expensive compared to the other annual passes. You pay per individual, with adults costing 85€ each and Children 65€. This works out to be roughly 3x the entry cost for each.

After deciding to spend the money, obtaining the annual pass is its own journey. It is not available at the ticket office, and instead you must locate the Office of the Secretary for the Zoo and request one there. This can be found by leaving the zoo entrance and heading west to Estrada Benfica and following the outside of the zoo gate until you reach a door 158 that says Secretaria with a video doorbell. See the map and picture below:

Ring the doorbell and you should be buzzed in. They are open between 9am-1pm and then again between 2:30pm-6:00pm. You will need to ask for a “Passe Anual” and will be asked to fill out a form with details for each member of your family as well as for 2 passport size photos of each member who needs a card.

The zoo secretary office physically makes the cards and laminates them in the office for you. You can pay at the office. The staff there spoke very little English when my family acquired our passes. Once you have your pass, using it is extremely easy. Simply walk up and past the ticket offices to the people that would scan your ticket to enter. Show your pass to the zoo staff there and they will allow you entry. Like all the other passes I’ve mentioned, this can really help maximize the amount of time you actually get to spend at the attraction as the line for the zoo tickets can be quite lengthy.