Vasco da Gama Bridge
The EU's longest bridge opened on 29 March 1998 to mark 500 years since Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India — and at this scale, that ambition registers.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Lisbon offline.
A cable-stayed main span flanked by viaducts crossing the Tagus in Parque das Nações. Built over eighteen months of preparation and eighteen months of construction by up to 3,300 workers simultaneously for Expo 98, the World's Fair held at its foot. The second longest bridge in Europe, and still the longest in the EU.
What to look for
- The main span's cement pillars, 150 m tall
- Central viaduct: 81 pillars sunk up to 95 m into the riverbed across 6.3 km
- 45 m navigational clearance under the main bridge at high tide — enough for large vessels
Drive it on six lanes at 120 km/h, or approach from the Parque das Nações waterfront for a full broadside view of the structure.
Vasco da Gama Bridge is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Lisbon, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Lisbon pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Lisbon
- Belém TowerThe last thing Portuguese explorers saw before the Atlantic swallowed their ships whole.
- Jerónimos MonasteryVasco da Gama prayed here the night before sailing to India — then came back to rest here forever.
- Estádio da LuzThe stadium that replaced a 120,000-seat colossus, then hosted a Euro final, two Champions League finals, and 17 million visitors — all under a name that traces to a church, not poetry.
- Estádio José AlvaladeFifty thousand seats, all dark green — two decades of deliberate repainting turned Sporting CP's home into a single-colour architectural statement.
- 25 de Abril BridgeThe bridge still wears the date the dictatorship ended.
- Lisbon Cathedral (Sé)Raised in 1147 directly on the site of Lisbon's main mosque, the same year crusaders retook the city.