Visitor guide
Conímbriga visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting
Conímbriga is one of the largest excavated Roman towns in Portugal and, for anyone interested in how Romans actually lived, the most rewarding archaeological site in the country. It lies about 16 kilometres south-west of Coimbra, near the village of Condeixa-a-Velha, on a plateau that people have occupied since the 9th century BCE. Under Rome it grew into a walled town of perhaps 10,000, with a forum, public baths, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre and grand private houses whose floor mosaics — above all in the Casa dos Repuxos — rank among the finest in the Iberian Peninsula. Sacked by the Suebi in the 460s and never built over, it survives as an unusually complete Roman townscape, visited today with its on-site Monographic Museum on one ticket. This guide is everything we tell our customers before they visit.
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What is Conímbriga?
Conímbriga is a walled Roman town on a low plateau near Condeixa-a-Velha, in the municipality of Condeixa-a-Nova, about 16 kilometres south-west of Coimbra in central Portugal. Its name predates Rome: conim, a pre-Roman word meaning a place of rocky height, joined to briga, the Celtic suffix for a citadel. The hill was occupied from the 9th century BCE by Conii and Castro-culture communities, and was already a built-up settlement when Roman forces reached central Lusitania around 139 BCE, during the campaigns of Decimus Junius Brutus.
Because it sat on the Roman road linking Olisipo (Lisbon) to Bracara Augusta (Braga) by way of Aeminium, Conímbriga prospered quickly. Between AD 69 and 79 the emperor Vespasian raised it to the status of municipium, and the town was rebuilt on a grander scale — a new forum, basilica and temple, public baths supplied by an aqueduct nearly three kilometres long, colonnaded streets and monumental private houses. It was a fully Roman provincial town, and its ruins today let you walk its streets, houses and public buildings as a connected whole rather than isolated fragments.
The town's decline is as legible as its rise. A hurried late-3rd-century defensive wall, an unfinished emergency measure, cut through existing buildings. The Suebi sacked Conímbriga between 465 and 468; its bishopric later moved to Aeminium, which took the old name and became Coimbra. Conímbriga emptied and was never rebuilt over, which is precisely why so much survives. It was classified as a National Monument in 1910. It is not an inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How does your ticket work?
Admission to Conímbriga is a single ticket that covers both the excavated Roman city and the on-site Monographic Museum. There is no separate museum ticket and no fixed time slot — your ticket is dated entry, valid at any time during opening hours on the day you choose. The site and museum open daily from 10:00 to 18:00, with the ticket office closing at 17:15, so plan to arrive before then.
When you book with us, we purchase your ticket from the official system in your name for your chosen date. It arrives by email as a QR code — show it on your phone at the visitor-centre desk when you arrive, or print it if you prefer. No printing is required; staff scan the code and you walk through to the ruins and museum. We re-send the ticket ahead of your visit so it's easy to find in your inbox.
Children under 13 enter free and need no ticket. The reduced youth (13–24) and senior (65+) rates require a photo ID showing age at the desk. Portuguese residents receive free admission on Sundays and public holidays under a national scheme; that concession applies to residents, not to visiting international tourists, who pay the standard rate every day of the week. The on-site ticket office sells the same admission at the counter if you prefer to buy in person.
The Casa dos Repuxos — the fountain house and its mosaics
The Casa dos Repuxos, the House of the Fountains, is the single most famous thing at Conímbriga and for most visitors the reason to come. It is a 2nd-century domus built around a central peristyle garden whose ornamental pools and water jets — the repuxos — have been restored so that the fountains play again over the Roman floors. On a still morning it is genuinely magical: thin arcs of water rising above 1,800-year-old mosaic.
Those mosaics are the point. The house's floors carry some of the best-preserved polychrome mosaic in the Iberian Peninsula — hunting scenes, the four seasons personified, mythological figures such as Perseus and the Minotaur, and dense geometric borders, all in coloured stone tesserae. The house is partly roofed to protect them, which means it is shaded and cool but also small; it is the one corner of the site that feels crowded when a group arrives, so it rewards an early visit.
Take your time reading the floors. Roman mosaic was both decoration and status display — the richer and more mythologically literate the imagery, the more it advertised the owner's education and wealth. Raised walkways guide you over the mosaics without walking on them; move slowly and look for the small details in the borders as much as the big central panels.
The Casa de Cantaber, the forum and the baths
The Casa de Cantaber is one of the largest private houses known anywhere in the western Roman Empire — a vast domus with its own bath suite, several courtyards with pools, and grand reception rooms. It is named for Cantaber, a resident recorded by the 5th-century chronicler Hydatius as having had his family carried off when the Suebi took the town. Walking its footprint gives you a real sense of the scale on which the town's elite lived.
The forum was the civic heart of Conímbriga — a colonnaded public square with a temple and basilica, rebuilt monumentally after the town became a municipium. Around it lie the public baths, an essential institution of Roman daily life, with their sequence of cold, warm and hot rooms and the hypocaust under-floor heating system whose brick pillars are still visible. The baths and the town were fed by an aqueduct that ran nearly three kilometres from the springs at Alcabideque.
Between the great houses run the streets and the shops, the ordinary fabric of a working Roman town. This is what makes Conímbriga special among Iberian sites: it is not one monument but a legible townscape, where you can follow a paved street past a shopfront to a bath-house to a mansion, and read how the pieces fitted together.
The wall built through the town
The most striking single feature at Conímbriga is a wall. As the Roman Empire came under pressure in the late 3rd century, the townspeople built a massive new defensive rampart around a reduced core of the town — and, working in a hurry, they drove it straight through houses, streets and monuments, demolishing part of their own city and reusing the cut stone in the new fortification. You can see the wall slice across earlier Roman buildings; it is one of the most vivid illustrations anywhere of a Roman town bracing for the end.
It worked, for a while. But between 465 and 468 the Suebi — a Germanic people who had settled in north-western Iberia — sacked Conímbriga. Some inhabitants were killed or enslaved, others dispersed. The chronicler Hydatius recorded the fall, including the capture of Cantaber's family. The town limped on for a time, but the bishop's seat moved to nearby Aeminium, and Conímbriga slowly emptied.
That abandonment is the reason the site is so complete. Aeminium — which took Conímbriga's name and became Coimbra — grew into the regional centre, while Conímbriga was left to the fields. It was never overbuilt by a medieval or modern town, so when archaeologists began serious excavation in the 19th and 20th centuries they found a Roman townscape preserved rather than buried under later centuries.
The Monographic Museum
The Monographic Museum of Conímbriga sits at the site entrance and is included in your ticket. It was built to hold the objects excavated on site, and it is organised thematically around Roman daily life rather than as a dry catalogue — you see the town through what its people used and made.
The collection includes coins, glass and ceramics, oil lamps, jewellery and personal ornaments, sculpture and inscriptions, and a striking set of Roman surgical and medical instruments. Several fine mosaics recovered from the houses are displayed here too, alongside reconstructions that help you picture the town at its height. It's a well-judged 30–45 minutes and it makes the ruins outside read more clearly — visit it either at the start, to orient yourself, or at the end, to place what you've just walked through.
There is a café and a shop at the visitor centre by the museum, useful for a break before or after the exposed, mostly unshaded ruins.
When is it busiest?
Conímbriga is never as crowded as Sintra, Belém or the Algarve — it is inland, 16 kilometres off the main coastal tourist routes, and most international visitors never make it here. The pressure comes in waves rather than as a constant crush: school groups in term time and coach tours in the middle of the day, concentrated in the small, roofed Casa dos Repuxos.
The quietest and most comfortable windows are the first hour after opening at 10:00 and the last two hours before the ticket office closes at 17:15. In summer these are also the coolest times on an exposed plateau where midday temperatures reach the mid-30s °C. Aim to see the mosaic house first, before the midday groups, then work through the open ruins and finish in the museum.
The site is open daily and closes only on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 July and 24–25 December. Because entry is dated rather than timed, there is no slot to miss — but do arrive before the 17:15 ticket-office cut-off, and allow enough daylight for the open-air ruins.
Getting there and combining with Coimbra
By car, Conímbriga is 15–20 minutes from Coimbra on the IC2 / N1, with free parking at the site entrance. From Lisbon it is about 2 hours on the A1 motorway (exit Condeixa); from Porto about 1h30. The site is well signposted from Condeixa-a-Nova, 2 kilometres away.
Without a car, the simplest option is the Transdev 'Conímbriga' bus, which runs from Coimbra via Condeixa-a-Nova directly to the ruins on visiting days — check the current timetable, as departures are limited. Alternatively take any Coimbra–Condeixa bus and cover the final 2 kilometres by local taxi. Coimbra sits on the main Lisbon–Porto railway, so rail travellers can base there easily and day-trip out.
The natural pairing is Coimbra itself. The University of Coimbra — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — and its dazzling Baroque Joanina Library are 16 kilometres away, and a Conímbriga morning followed by the university in the afternoon is the single most rewarding day in the region. We book tickets for the Joanina Library and the university too; reply to your confirmation and we'll set up the full day.
Read the full guide: How to Get to Conímbriga from Coimbra →
Practical logistics
Open daily 10:00–18:00, last tickets 17:15. Closed 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 July and 24–25 December. Address: Rua Professor Vergílio Correia, 3150-220 Condeixa-a-Velha. One ticket covers both the ruins and the Monographic Museum. There is a café and shop at the visitor centre.
The site is open-air and largely unshaded, on uneven Roman paving and gravel. Wear comfortable closed shoes; bring a hat, sunscreen and water in summer, and expect cold, slippery paving in winter. Personal photography is fine; tripods and commercial shoots may need an advance permit. Children under 13 are free; youth (13–24) and senior (65+) reduced tickets require photo ID at the desk.
Accessibility is partial: the visitor centre, museum and the approach to the forum are level and firm, but much of the excavated city is uneven and the Casa dos Repuxos is entered on raised walkways. If mobility is a concern, email us and we'll send the operator's accessibility notes and the flattest route through the site.
How does our service work?
We are an independent concierge service. We do not own or operate Conímbriga and we are not affiliated with the site authority. What we do is purchase your ticket from the official system on your behalf, in your name, for the date you choose. The ticket arrives by email as a QR code within a few hours of your purchase, and we re-send it ahead of your visit so it's at the top of your inbox.
Our concierge fee is included in the displayed price. We do not add service charges, currency-conversion fees or processing fees at checkout — the price you see on the ticket card is what your card is charged in your local currency. Tickets are issued for a specific date and are non-refundable and non-transferable once issued; all sales are final. If your plans change, reply to your confirmation at least 48 hours before your date and we'll rebook to any open date at no charge. The only refund cases are operator-side failures, such as an unscheduled closure on your date.
Support runs by email at the brand address on every confirmation, in your language. Most enquiries get a reply within a few hours; date changes may take a little longer if we need to confirm availability. If Conímbriga closes unexpectedly on your booked date, we contact every affected customer as soon as we know and refund in full when no equivalent date can be secured within your trip.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a visit to Conímbriga take?
Plan two to three hours. The excavated Roman city — the forum, the public baths, the streets, the great houses with their mosaics, and the dramatic late-Roman wall driven through the town — takes an hour and a half to two hours at a steady pace, and the on-site Monographic Museum adds another thirty to forty-five minutes. Photographers and anyone who likes to read the mosaics slowly should allow longer, especially in the Casa dos Repuxos, where the water garden and the floor panels reward a patient look. The site is open-air and mostly unshaded, so in summer it is worth timing the visit for the cooler first hour after opening or the last couple of hours before the ticket office closes at 17:15, with a break at the visitor-centre café in between.
What exactly is the Casa dos Repuxos?
The Casa dos Repuxos — the House of the Fountains — is a 2nd-century Roman townhouse at Conímbriga built around a central peristyle garden whose ornamental pools and water jets have been restored so the fountains play again. It is famous above all for its floors: some of the best-preserved polychrome mosaics in the Iberian Peninsula, with hunting scenes, personifications of the four seasons, mythological figures and elaborate geometric borders in coloured stone tesserae. The house is partly roofed to protect the mosaics and entered on raised walkways, so you look down over the floors without walking on them. It is the single most celebrated feature of the site and, being small and shaded, the one place that fills when groups arrive — which is why we suggest seeing it first, in the quiet of the early morning.
What is the Casa de Cantaber?
The Casa de Cantaber is one of the largest Roman private houses known in the entire western half of the empire — a sprawling domus at Conímbriga with its own private bath suite, several courtyards with ornamental pools, and large reception rooms. It takes its name from Cantaber, a resident recorded by the 5th-century chronicler Hydatius as having had his wife and children captured when the Suebi sacked the town in the 460s. For visitors it is the clearest illustration at the site of how a wealthy Roman-Lusitanian family lived — the scale of the rooms, the private baths, the sequence of public and private spaces — and it stands in vivid contrast to the smaller shops and houses along the nearby streets.
Why is there a defensive wall running through the middle of the town?
As the Roman Empire came under growing pressure in the late 3rd century, the people of Conímbriga built a massive new defensive wall around a shrunken core of the town — and, working fast, they ran it straight through existing houses, streets and public buildings, demolishing part of their own city and reusing the stone in the rampart. The result, visible today, is a wall that visibly cuts across earlier Roman structures. It is one of the most memorable things at the site and one of the most eloquent anywhere about the anxiety of the late empire. The defences delayed disaster but did not prevent it: the Suebi sacked Conímbriga between 465 and 468, and the town never fully recovered.
Is Conímbriga a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Not yet. Conímbriga has been a classified Portuguese National Monument since 1910 and appears on Portugal's UNESCO 'tentative list' of candidate sites, but it is not an inscribed World Heritage Site. That said, it is one of the largest and the most thoroughly excavated Roman town in Portugal and one of the best-preserved in the Iberian Peninsula. For the UNESCO stamp on the same day, pair it with the University of Coimbra — an inscribed World Heritage Site 16 kilometres away — which many of our customers do.
How do I get to Conímbriga from Coimbra without a car?
The simplest option is the Transdev 'Conímbriga' bus, which runs from Coimbra via Condeixa-a-Nova directly to the ruins on visiting days; departures are limited, so check the current timetable and plan your return before you set out. Alternatively, take any of the more frequent Coimbra–Condeixa buses and cover the final two kilometres from Condeixa-a-Nova to the site by local taxi, which is inexpensive. Coimbra sits on the main Lisbon–Porto railway line, so international visitors usually base there and day-trip out to the ruins. By car it is only 15 to 20 minutes from Coimbra on the IC2 / N1, with free parking at the entrance — the easiest option of all if you have a vehicle.
Can I combine Conímbriga with Coimbra and the Joanina Library in one day?
Yes, and it's the day we most often recommend. Conímbriga is 16 kilometres south-west of Coimbra, so a classic itinerary is the Roman ruins in the morning — arriving at opening for the quiet mosaics — then lunch in Condeixa or back in Coimbra, and the University of Coimbra with its Baroque Joanina Library in the afternoon. The university is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Joanina is one of the most spectacular libraries in the world, entered in timed 20-minute slots. We book tickets for both the university and the Joanina Library as well as Conímbriga; reply to your confirmation email and we'll arrange the full day so the timings line up.
Is the site suitable for children?
Very much so. Conímbriga is one of the better Roman sites for children: there is open space to move around, the restored fountains of the Casa dos Repuxos actually run, the mosaics are colourful and full of animals and figures to spot, and the story of the emergency wall built straight through the town gives even reluctant young visitors something dramatic to latch onto. Children under 13 enter free and need no ticket. Do bring sun protection and water in summer, as the site is exposed, and keep an eye on footing on the uneven Roman paving. The Monographic Museum's coins, lamps and surgical instruments tend to hold children's attention well too.
Is Conímbriga wheelchair accessible?
Partly. The visitor centre, the Monographic Museum and the level approach to the forum are on firm, even surfaces and are broadly accessible. Much of the excavated city beyond, however, is original Roman paving, gravel and low steps that are uneven underfoot, and the Casa dos Repuxos is entered on raised walkways over the mosaics — so a fully step-free visit of the whole site is not possible. Visitors using wheelchairs or unsteady on rough ground can still see the museum, the forum area and a good part of the site comfortably. Email us before your visit and we'll send the operator's current accessibility notes and suggest the flattest route through the ruins.
What are the opening hours and closed days?
Conímbriga and its museum are open every day from 10:00 to 18:00, with the ticket office closing at 17:15 — so arrive before then to be sure of entry. The site closes on just five dates each year: 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 July and 24–25 December. Because admission is dated rather than tied to a fixed time slot, there is no entry time to miss on the day you book; you simply arrive whenever suits you during opening hours. We will not issue a ticket for a closed date, and if you accidentally choose one we'll flag it and rebook you to an open day.
Are photographs allowed, and when is the light best?
Yes — personal photography is permitted throughout Conímbriga. The mosaics and the running water garden of the Casa dos Repuxos are the obvious subjects, but the open ruins, the forum and the late-Roman wall all photograph beautifully in the low, raking light of early morning or late afternoon, which brings out the texture of the stone and the relief of the excavations. Midday sun on the exposed plateau tends to flatten everything, so the quiet opening and closing hours are best for pictures as well as for comfort. Tripods and any commercial photography may require an advance permit from the operator — let us know if you need one and we'll check the current rules for you.
What should I bring, and is there shade or food on site?
Bring comfortable, closed, grippy shoes — the site is uneven Roman paving and gravel — and, in summer, a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and plenty of water, because the plateau is almost entirely unshaded and central-Portugal afternoons reach the mid-30s °C. In winter and after rain the stone can be cold and slippery, so a warm layer and careful footing help. There is a café and a shop at the visitor centre by the museum, which is the one shaded spot for a break, but very little cover out among the ruins themselves. Plan your visit around the cooler ends of the day and use the café to wait out the midday heat.
How does our booking and support service work?
We are an independent concierge service, not the site operator and not affiliated with it. We buy your Conímbriga ticket from the official system in your name for your chosen date, and it reaches you by email as a QR code within a few hours; we re-send it before your trip so it's easy to find. Our fee is included in the price you see — there are no separate service, currency or processing charges at checkout, and the amount shown is what your card is charged in your local currency. Tickets are dated, non-refundable and non-transferable once issued, and all sales are final; if plans change, reply at least 48 hours ahead and we'll rebook to any open date at no charge. The only refunds are for operator-side failures such as an unscheduled closure, in which case we contact you and refund in full when no equivalent date can be secured within your trip. Support is by email in your language, usually answered within a few hours.
Sources
This guide is written by the concierge team and cross-checked against the official operator every time we update it. Primary sources:
About our service
Conímbriga Tickets acts as a facilitator to assist international visitors in purchasing tickets directly from the official operator. We do not resell tickets — we provide a personalised booking and support service in your own language. Our concierge service fee is included in the displayed price. For those who prefer to purchase directly, tickets are also available on the official website.
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