After postponing this visit for almost a month due to bad weather we finally went to the Dinosaur Park in Lourinhã.
Known as the capital of Dinosaurs since the discovery of a dinosaur nest with several embryos this city lives and breathes Paleontology and since then there were several more important discoveries in this area. The region had a museum of dinosaurs for quite some time but in 2018 it became the “Dino parque” and offers history, activities, explorations and fun to its’ visitors.
The park
The park is quite large and you can expect to walk quite a bit, it’s mostly outside even though there is an interior part. It’s almost like being in a small forest, walking and admiring the huge lifelike representations of dinosaurs. In the registration, they gave us a peddy paper type of game with clues to find dinosaurs, and even though we tried our son was more interested in running around then completing the game.
If the weather collaborates, you can expect to have a very nice day because the park areas are excellent with lots of space, shade and small parks for children to play. It’s true that we didn’t learn almost anything about dinosaurs and we spent all of our time just having fun, but with a three-year-old, that’s to be expected. So we ran, jumped, used our imagination and had a lot of fun.
In the end, there is quite the surprise because you find a huge “fun area” for kids where they can be small palaeontologists and our son loved it so much we couldn’t get him out and had to have lunch there. Understandable given the number of fun stuff kids can try there.
We loved the experience, it’s enjoyable even for us because it’s outside, safe and it makes them happy, so we are happy.
Areas
The park has 4 main outside areas, a central building and an activities pavilion near the end. The four outisde areas are divided by some of the most important periods of earth history:
- Paleozoic
- Triassic
- Jurassic
- Cretaceous
The main building features exibihtions and it’s where you can get up close to the spoielsof this area and even watch people working on fossils, quite cool. The outside area is huge and quite nice almost like a walk in a park.
Where is it? How to get there?
Schedule
Every day from 10h (including Saturdays, Sundays e holidays)
Closes between 17h and 19h depending on the season.
Prices and online tickets
Children (4-12) – €9,50
Junior and Adults (from 13yo) €12,50
Where to stay?