São Bento train station, in Porto, Portugal, was listed amongst the 16 most beautiful railway stations in the world by Travel & Leisure magazine.

Dedicated in 1916, the building was designed by Portuguese architect Marques da Silva, inspired on the French Beaux-Arts style.

The station is famous for its magnificent tile panels depicting landscapes, ethnographic scenes and well as historic landmarks.

“While the exterior is certainly beautiful—and brings to mind 19th-century Parisian architecture with its mansard roof and stone façade—it is the front hall that will make you gasp. The walls are covered with 20,000 splendid azulejo tin-glazed ceramic tiles, which took 11 years for artist Jorge Colaço to complete.” – notes Time & Leisure.

Main lobby at São Bento train station in Porto, Portugal.

Reportedly designed by Gustave Eiffel in the early 20th century, CFM (Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique) railway station, in Maputo, Mozambique was also listed by Travel & Leisure magazine amongst the most beautiful in the world. The station showcases several historic steam locomotives.

Train station in Maputo, Mozambique.

Three railway stations in the United States also made the list, namely Union Station, Washington, DC; Union Station, Los Angeles; and Grand Central Terminal, New York.

Located in nothern Portugal, Porto (population 237,559) is the second largest city in Portugal, registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.

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