Nau Quinhentista

The Nau Quinhentista (the 16th-century nau) is a full-size copy of the kind of ship Portugal sent to India five hundred years ago, moored on the River Ave in the middle of Vila do Conde. It’s 27.5 metres long and 7.7 metres wide, and it would have weighed about 300 tonnes with room for 180 tonnes of cargo. Children can walk across its decks, look up at the masts and go below to see how the crew lived.

The inside is set up as if the ship were at sea. Life-size figures stand in for the crew: the captain, the pilot who navigated, the escrivão (the scribe who kept the records), the chaplain, the boticário (the apothecary, the ship’s chemist), the helmsman, the bombardeiro (the gunner) and the grumete, the cabin boy. Around them are navigation instruments, maps and charts, samples of the goods ships carried, pieces of artillery, ballast, and a botica, the ship’s pharmacy. Asking a child to find each crew member and guess their job is an easy way into the visit.

A nau was a big, round-bellied sailing ship with high sides. It was about three times as long as it was wide, had three or four decks and raised “castles” at the front and back. It carried three masts: the two big ones had square sails and the one at the back had a triangular sail, called a lateen.

Portugal needed ships like this for the long voyages to India. Sailors could go for weeks without seeing land, so the ship had to carry huge amounts of food and water for the crew. On the way home it was packed with spices, which were valuable but bulky. The nau’s fat hull solved both problems.

The copy was designed from research by Rear Admiral Rogério d’Oliveira and built by the Samuel & Filhos shipyard of Vila do Conde, using the traditional skills of the town’s ship carpenters and caulkers (the workers who seal the gaps between planks). The shipyard used to stand on this very spot, before it moved across the river to Azurara in 1993. The ship was anchored here in the summer of 2007 and opened on 15 December 2007 by the then President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva.

In February 2024 the council announced its first big restoration since it was moored, costing about €152,000 and carried out by the same shipyard.

The ship belongs to the Alfândega Régia, Museu de Construção Naval, the old royal customs house turned shipbuilding museum on the quayside. Its long-term exhibition has been renewed with new material on 16th-century wooden shipbuilding and on the trade and voyages that started and ended in Vila do Conde in the 1400s and 1500s. Using digital displays, visitors can “travel back” to 16th-century Vila do Conde and follow either a town route or a sailing route. There’s also the story of the customs house and the officials who ran it. Buy your ticket for the ship here.

The ship and the museum open Tuesday to Sunday, from 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, Easter Sunday, 25 April, 1 May, 24 June, 1 November and 25 December.

The council’s pages don’t list prices. An Estrelas & Ouriços listing updated in 2023 gave tickets of €0.50 and €1.10, a family ticket of €4.30 and free entry for children under six, and noted that no booking is needed. Treat those as a guide and check at the desk.

The ship is closed to visitors when it rains, when the wind is strong or when the deck is wet, for safety. That makes it a fair-weather outing: on a wet day you may only get the museum. Ring ahead on 252 248 468 if the weather looks doubtful.

Getting below deck on a ship usually means steps or ladders. The council’s page doesn’t mention step-free access, so a buggy is best left on the quay and toddlers may need carrying. Allow about an hour for the ship and the museum together.

Vila do Conde has more for a day out. The Centro Ciência Viva de Vila do Conde is a hands-on science centre, and down the coast at Leça da Palmeira there’s a fire brigade museum and the Farol de Leça lighthouse. In Porto, World of Discoveries tells the story of the voyages with reconstructed ports and a boat ride, and in Lisbon you can board a real 19th-century warship, the Fragata D. Fernando II e Glória.

Can you go on board the Nau Quinhentista?

Yes. You can walk the decks and see the cabins, except in rain, strong wind or when the deck is wet.

Is it open on Mondays?

No. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, with a lunch break from 13:00 to 14:00.

How much does it cost?

The council’s page doesn’t list prices. A 2023 family listing gave €0.50 to €1.10 per person, a €4.30 family ticket and free entry under six. Tickets are sold at the Alfândega Régia next to the ship.

How long does a visit take?

About an hour for the ship and the shipbuilding museum.

Is it suitable for toddlers?

Toddlers enjoy the deck and the crew figures, but expect steps below deck, and no buggy access is mentioned.