This paper presents a study on how the Internet of Things (IoT) can be applied to the intelligent management of parking lots in the historic area of Covilhã. The aim is to study the parking areas and car parks, the challenges faced when trying to find a parking space and, finally, to apply technologies, such as IoT, to mitigate and solve some of the existing problems. This study can be extrapolated to other mountain towns across Europe, as they have very similar characteristics to Covilhã, such as sloping terrain, narrow streets and old architecture. Ultimately, one of the main objectives of this study is to formulate how, through the use of technologies such as IoT, innovative solutions can be created to solve the current problems of cities, bringing them ever closer to a modern 'Smart City', a city capable of providing intelligent responses to its various users. A Smart City brings together various technologies which, when combined, facilitate the management of various functions such as mobility, energy, parking, transportation and other resources. The case study presented, as mentioned above, is Covilhã, Portugal. This city has an old and historic part, with dilapidated houses, narrow streets, difficult traffic circulation and a shortage of parking, and a new part, with modern buildings and wide streets. Consequently, in the historic part of the city, there are several car parking problems. To reduce this problem, parking silos have been built. However, these lack information on their location, operation and real-time information on how many parking spaces are available at any given time. Thus, combining the concepts of IoT and Smart City, some theoretical and practical proposals for modernization are explored in this article. The study focuses on the Mercado, Sporting Shopping and Pelourinho silos. There is also a proposal to prepare the spaces to prioritize the accommodation of electric cars, as well as making it possible to charge their batteries while they are parked inside the silos. As for the proposed vehicle counting mechanism, it consists of an electronic device equipped with ultrasonic sensors, placed on the roof of the parking lot, to count the free parking spaces. These sensors are then connected to an electronic prototyping platform, in this case an Arduino. This equipment is then able to count the number of vacant spaces and send the corresponding information to be displayed on digital screens, visible from outside the car park. This real-time information can also be sent via the IoT to screens in central areas of the city. In this way, drivers have access to privileged information to make the best decision when parking.