Coworking in Marquês de Pombal — Lisbon's Central Business District

The square took shape as part of the Avenidas Novas project led by engineer Frederico Ressano Garcia from the 1880s through the 1930s — Lisbon's deliberate Haussmannian extension northward, modelled on Paris and intended to give the post-earthquake city room to breathe. The orthogonal grid, broad boulevards, and Belle-Époque palacetes that still define the area date from this period; Modernist and Estado Novo additions came later, and the 1970s glass-and-concrete towers around the roundabout layered another generation onto the same skeleton.

Today Marquês de Pombal is the densest office cluster in central Lisbon. Major landlords like Merlin Properties anchor the area: BPI Bank's headquarters occupies their Monumental building on the square, and other Merlin-owned addresses (notably Marquês de Pombal 3) host professional-services tenants. The fintech Pleo took three floors of the renovated DP11 building in 2023, signalling the area's pull on growth-stage tech as well as traditional banking. For coworking members, that means a working environment where startup teams, multinational regional offices, banks and law firms share the same elevators, coffee shops and Metro platforms.

The coworking offer here is denser than anywhere else in Lisbon. The flagship is Spaces Marquês de Pombal 14 — 5,700 m² across nine floors with capacity for around 800 members, opened in 2020. Its ground floor houses a 700 m² Business Club, and the building also runs as Regus Marquês de Pombal 14 for shorter-term and virtual-office formats. Around it: Monday Pombal with Eduardo VII Park views and an in-house gym; Nimbler Spaces, eight floors with a rooftop and a converted Piaggio dispensing free coffee; and sitio, a four-floor cowork with rooftop access spanning into the Avenida da Liberdade end of the area.

The membership profile that follows is mixed in a way few other Lisbon districts manage: founders raising capital, consultants and lawyers serving the corporate cluster, fintech engineers, international teams setting up Portuguese entities, and visiting day-pass workers who treat Marquês as Lisbon's natural drop-in hub.

Metro: Marquês de Pombal is one of Lisbon's three main interchange stations, where the Blue Line (open since 29 December 1959, one of the original eleven stations) meets the Yellow Line. Direct connections to Baixa-Chiado (south, three stops), Saldanha (north, one stop), and the airport (Yellow → Red change at Alameda).

Bus: The square is one of Lisbon's busiest bus hubs, served by multiple Carris lines plus the night network.

Walking: Avenida da Liberdade runs 1.5 km south to Restauradores; Saldanha is roughly 10 minutes north on foot; Príncipe Real 10 minutes west on a moderate climb; the riverfront at Cais do Sodré 25 minutes south, downhill.

Airport: Lisbon Portela (LIS) is around 18 minutes by Metro (Yellow → Red Line at Alameda) or 20 minutes by taxi outside rush hour.

Praça Marquês de Pombal — the central roundabout, with the 40-metre 1934 monument as its anchor. Floodlit at night.

Parque Eduardo VII — the 26-hectare park immediately north of the square, originally Parque da Liberdade, renamed after King Edward VII's 1903 visit to Portugal. Redesigned in 1945 by Modernist architect Francisco Keil do Amaral with the geometric box-hedge parterres that still define the view down to the Tagus. The Lisbon Book Fair, running here every spring since the 1930s, is the park's signature event.

Estufa Fria — the "cold greenhouse" inside Eduardo VII Park, a 1.5-hectare botanical garden under a slatted timber canopy.

Carlos Lopes Pavilion — Art-Déco sports and events hall on the eastern edge of Eduardo VII Park, named after the 1984 Olympic marathon champion.

Avenida da Liberdade — the 1.5 km luxury boulevard begins at the square's southern edge, lined with mature plane trees, designer flagships, and Belle-Époque palacetes.

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon — 282 rooms on the hillside above the park, five minutes' walk from Metro Marquês de Pombal; widely used for client meetings in its lobby and restaurants.

• Founders raising in Lisbon — venture firms, family offices and Portuguese banks (BPI's headquarters is on the square itself) all sit within 10 minutes' walk.
• Consultants and lawyers serving the corporate cluster, who need to be near clients without paying for a Liberdade address.
• International teams setting up a Portuguese entity — proximity to legal firms, accountants and the big-four offices makes incorporation paperwork much faster.
• Fintech and growth-stage tech teams — the same building stock that landed Pleo at DP11 keeps absorbing scale-ups.
• Day-pass workers passing through — the Metro interchange means you can land at the airport, drop your bag at a hotel on Liberdade, and be at a desk inside 30 minutes.