Museu Marítimo de Ílhavo and Navio-Museu Santo André

The Museu Marítimo de Ílhavo (Ílhavo Maritime Museum) was founded in 1937 by local people who wanted to keep the memory of their seafaring town. In 2001 it moved into a striking modern building by the architects ARX Portugal, and it now has three sites: the main museum with its cod aquarium, the trawler Santo André moored at Gafanha da Nazaré, and a small centre about sailors’ religious traditions in the town centre.

Its big story is the Faina Maior (the “great work”), the Portuguese cod fishery on the banks off Newfoundland and Greenland in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cod, salted and dried as bacalhau, has been part of Portuguese life for more than five centuries. This museum shows them where it came from and how hard it was to catch.

The Aquário dos Bacalhaus, opened in 2013, is the part children remember. It’s one open tank, 3.2 metres deep and holding 120 cubic metres of cold salt water, kept at a steady 9 to 10°C. Fibreglass rocks recreate the cod’s habitat. You first look down on the fish from a high platform, then walk down a spiral path around the tank, getting closer as you go, until you reach a large window in the auditorium at the bottom.

The cod are wild-caught Atlantic cod from Denmark, golden-brown in colour. A temporary exhibition in the museum until 31 December 2026, Do Mar ao Aquário (From the Sea to the Aquarium), explains their biology: an Atlantic cod can live to 25, grow to two metres and weigh up to 90 kilos, swims in big shoals to protect itself from seals, and a female can release millions of eggs.

The Sala da Faina Maior (Great Fishery Room) is the museum’s centrepiece. In the middle stands a full-size wooden cod-fishing schooner of the early 20th century, built by old master shipwrights and cut off at the waterline. Visitors can walk on its deck and touch everything the crew used.

Along the left side of the room are the spaces that were below deck: the officers’ cabin, the hold where the fish were salted and the crew’s mess. The right side follows a voyage from getting the ship ready and setting sail to the fishing itself and the long-awaited return. The fishing was done from dories, tiny boats that each carried one man, alone on the ocean with a line. The museum calls it a story “full of drama and heroism”.

The Sala da Ria (Lagoon Room) is full of light and eleven life-size traditional boats from the Ria de Aveiro lagoon. The biggest are a moliceiro, used to gather moliço (the lagoon’s water weed), and a mercantel that carried salt. Smaller ones include little fishing and leisure boats and a Vouga-class sailing dinghy. Look at the moliceiro prow panels, painted in oils on canvas.

Upstairs, the Sala das Conchas e Algas holds one of the most important shell collections in Portugal, much of it given by Ílhavo families from 1933 onwards and by a French collector who donated 3,565 specimens in 1976. Look for the heart cockle, which people in northern Portugal used as castanets, and the murex snails the Phoenicians used for purple dye. There’s also a collection of pressed seaweeds. The Sala dos Mares covers Portuguese voyages and navigation, from reading the stars to electronic instruments, with a digital table and boat models. The Sala das Artes shows art about the sea.

The Navio-Museu Santo André is a real side trawler, built in the Netherlands in 1948 for an Aveiro fishing company. It is about 71 metres long and could carry 20,000 quintals of fish, about 1,200 tonnes. It fished for cod with the Portuguese fleet for nearly half a century until restrictions on fishing in distant waters led to most of the fleet being scrapped. The Santo André was taken out of service in 1997, and the owner and the town council turned it into a museum, which opened in August 2001.

The suggested route goes through the bow (the winch, the fish-processing deck, the holds, the net store and the crew’s bunks), then the stern (the wheelhouse, the engineers’ cabins, the kitchen and messes). After a refit, the engine room, which the council calls the heart of the ship, is now open too. Upstairs are the officers’ quarters, the bridge with its controls and radio room, and the top deck. It’s a real ship, so moving between decks means stairs. The council’s pages don’t describe wheelchair or buggy access on board, so phone ahead.

Opened in 2021 in the old fire station next to Ílhavo’s parish church, this small centre shows the paintings, statues and objects of faith connected with the sea (“those who go to sea pray to come back”, in the museum’s words). It’s the first of its kind in Portugal. It’s on a separate ticket (€2.50 adults, €1.25 ages 6 to 17, €8 for a family) and suits older children better than toddlers.

When checked in September 2026:

• Museum and aquarium: €6 adults, €3 ages 6 to 17 and over-65s, €15 family
• Ship: €3.50 adults, €2 ages 6 to 17, €10 family
• Integrated ticket for museum and ship, valid for ten days: €8 adults, €3.50 ages 6 to 17, €20 family
• Integrated ticket with the Vista Alegre porcelain museum: €9 adults, €4 ages 6 to 17, €24 family

The family ticket covers two adults and at least two children aged 6 to 17. Children up to 5 go free. Entry is free for everyone on the second Sunday of each month, on 18 May and on 8 August, the museum’s birthday. The café, shop, library and temporary exhibitions are free to enter.

All three sites open Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 12:15 and 17:15. They close on Mondays and on 1 January, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 1 November and 25 December.

The museum and the ship are on different sites, the ship in the Jardim Oudinot at Gafanha da Nazaré, so you’ll need to drive or allow time between them. The ten-day ticket means you don’t have to do both on one day if little ones run out of steam. Both close for lunch between 13:00 and 14:00, which catches people out. There’s a museum app with extra content along the route, and guided visits for groups of 15 or more, booked in advance.

In the school holidays at Christmas, Carnival and Easter, the museum runs activities for ages 6 to 10, three hours in the morning or afternoon, at €5 a day or €12 for three days. The website doesn’t say whether parents stay, so ask when you book.

The ship is moored in the Jardim Oudinot at Gafanha da Nazaré. From there it’s a short drive to Farol da Barra, Portugal’s tallest lighthouse, and the striped houses and beach at Costa Nova. In Aveiro, children can see salt being raked on a salt pan walk or learn to make ovos moles at the Oficina do Doce. Back in Ílhavo, the Malhada pump track is good for burning off energy.

How much does the maritime museum cost for a family?

The museum alone was €15 for a family and the museum-plus-ship ticket €20 in September 2026. Children up to 5 are free.

When is it free?

On the second Sunday of every month, and on 18 May and 8 August.

How long does it take?

Allow about two hours for the museum and aquarium and an hour for the ship. The combined ticket lasts ten days, so you can split them.

Is it good for toddlers?

The aquarium and the walk-on schooner work well for small children, and under-sixes are free. The trawler has stairs between decks, so keep a close hand on toddlers there.

Can you take a buggy on the ship?

The museum doesn’t describe step-free access on board, and the decks are linked by stairs. Phone 234 329 990 to check.