Vila Franca de Xira

Bull-running festivals held each July and October make Vila Franca de Xira one of Portugal's most distinctive Tagus-side towns, sitting on the river's banks north-east of Lisbon with mountains visible in the distance. The Lusitano horse — bred in the surrounding Ribatejo marshlands — can be seen at the Lezíria Grande Equestrian Centre nearby. The town's bullring houses an ethnographic museum of Portuguese bullfighting costumes, the Misericórdia church displays 18th-century azulejos, and the 1823 Vilafrancada insurrection, a prelude to Portugal's civil war, unfolded here.

• Population18,355
• Nearest water from center 0.1 km0.1 mi
• Nearest mountain from center 11 km6.9 mi