Lisbon Tips, Info & Pics

From past trips:

Lisbon:

Lisbon is a great city to visit, for just a few days or even for much longer. We first visited in 2010 and have flown in and out of Lisbon on five trips, staying for multi day trips each time. We still find new things to do and see on each visit and love walking around the pracas and streets for the vibe and atmosphere. It is much more crowded with tourists since we first visited, but still well worth a stay if you have time. It has also grown more expensive in recent years, with gentrification from airbnb conversions but it still beautiful and probably one of the lowest cost capital cities in Europe. This has made it more and ever more popular with both European and world travellers.

One caution, it is hilly, as it is called the city of seven hills, so wear comfortable footwear for the cobblestone sidewalks!

Airport arrival…….

-When you arrive at the airport, after you leave the arrivals area and walk out into the main public terminal, go to your right - follow the signs and go to the escalators that are to your right after you walk toward the normal arrivals exit - take an escalator on the right to the area which is for departures - where taxis drop off people who are departing Lisbon. Go out through the doors to outdoors and wait in front of the terminal. As a taxi drops someone off, give them a wave and they will take you as a new customer. Have the hotel/apartment address written down and ask to use the meter. Ask how much (quanta costa) ?

There is at least one (maybe more) fairly large kiosk in the airport that will offer free maps and guides for Lisbon and nearby day trip type things. It is worth a look for this to get some helpful tourist information. There are Tourist Information Center locations in Lisbon but they are not plentiful and may be hard to find. Your hotel will probably have some tourist info.

While in Lisbon on our 2017 trip we went on three different walking tours. Two of these were "free" daytime walking tours, where students knowledgable about Lisbon walk you through interesting areas of central lisbon and describe history and sites. The tours take 2-3 hours (you can drop out at any time if you

dont find them interesting) and they are free but it is suggested that you tip the tour guide at the end if you enjoyed it. We felt they were great tours and tipped about 15-20€ total for 2 of us. We also did an evening food and wine walking tour that visited four sites and included food and wine at each site. They were very interesting local places that served great food and very good Portugese wine. The food and wine tour did have a set cost (dont recall exact cost but it was well worth it). We would highly recommend these walking tours. There are several companies that run these walking tours, we used "The Lisbon Free Walking Tour." If you go to Rossio Square, there are tour people in yellow shirts that have info about the tours. You can also go on trip advisor to see companies and reviews.

We (again, see below) visited the Belem area near Lisbon, great area to see.

Some items we have seen in Lisbon:

-Lisbon castle, the Castelo de Sao Jorge, is on a hilltop and offers great views of central Lisbon.

-we have walked many of the neighbourhoods - Alfama, Chiado, Baixo, Barro Alto, all have unique and interesting characteristics.

The barro alto is a great area to eat. If you stay near here, you may end up here every night. It has small and medium sized restaurants and bars. When i say small - like a handful of tables in total for the restaurant. Many are very quaint and unique. The streets in barro alto are small, narrow cobble stones and there are people coming and going and walking all around this area in the evenings, until wee hours, for the bars and restaurants.

-The Avenida da Liberdade, is Lisbon’s main boulevard and the location for designer shops, expensive restaurants, cafes and trendy bars. This leads into the pedestrian street of Rua Augusta which then leads to Praça do Comércio, a large square at the harbour edge. You definitely want to walk along this street and area and enjoy the squares, shops, cafes, restaurants, sites and people. A great area. We have visited a museum and done a wine tasting in this Comércio square area, as well as stop at cafes for a coffee, pastry or beer and sit and people watch. Lisbon has several big squares in the centro area that are great to sit at a side cafe and have a drink and people watch. There are a wide variety of shops along rua augusta, from large and boutique to small and local, as well as street performers and lots of people.

-you can go up to get a great view of Comércio square area from the top of the arch that is at the entrance to the square. We went up, i think it is only a few euros, great view!

-Timeout Food Market Lisbon. This is a great spot to go for a beer or glass of wine and/or lunch or even supper. It is like a shopping mall for foodies. It has multiple food stops with different types and styles of food. The food is also very good and from top local restaurants. Look it up. It may be a little pricier than some local restaurants but vey good quality and great atmosphere, very modern. There is a farmers market adjacent to the Timeout, but it has limited hours. This link has a list of vendors…….

Timeout Market Lisbon

-Near the Timeout market is the Pink Street. It used to be where the prostitutes hung out but now has some popular bars, some restaurants and other things. It does have a bit of a sleazy feel to the area. There is shop there from an Anthony Bourdain show called the Sol e Pesca, which sells fishing gear and famous canned seafood made in Portugal. The canned seafood includes sardines, caviar and other treats. Google the store might give you a better feel for this.

-Miradouro Sao Pedro Alcantaro - great viewing spot near where we stayed. buy a beer or two in nearby corner store, sit here and admire the view and people watch. There is a beverage kiosk that also offers beverages, a little more expensive than how the locals do it by carry your own beer and sit on the concrete seats!

Take a ride on the nearby Funicular (bica) - walk down the funicular path (walkway along side the tracks) and drop in a small bar or restaurant along the streets and cubby holes. We stopped in a couple of bars and had a nightcap glass of port and we ate at a restaurant along here. Very unique area.

-The Principle Real neighborhood is a nice area to visit. On Saturday they have an outdoor farmers market. There is a unique shopping place in this area called embarcaxa, that has some boutique type specialty stores in an old restored building. There are also some museums in this area.

If you walk to this area from the Commerce square, we would suggest going up Liberdade Ave, go by the Rossio train station (beautiful exterior), walk through Praca dos Restauradores square and walk up the path of or take the funicular Gloria up the hill and stop at the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara. This is a great lookout spot which often has some local craft vendors selling interesting items.

-on the other side of Lisbon is the Alfama area. Lost to explore here from the hills down to the harbour side and cruise port. There is a the famous church, the Lisbon Cathedral, very impressive if you like visiting churchs, which we do to see the architecture, frescos and decorations. Also Church of Saint Anthony (apparently born here?).

Also in this area a little further into the Alfama district is the National Pantheon, which is worth visiting and going up to see the view from the upper floor balcony (ticket required). It was built as a church but looks different from a normal church, spectacular architecture, similar to the Pantheon in Rome.

Other sites……

-Parque das Nações (Park of Nations) was originally the site of Expo 98 and since has been transformed into a modern area of Lisbon. You can get to this area by Metro from the center of the city, it is maybe about a 30min run. There is a modern shopping center, a cable car ride, modern Vasco de Gama cabled stayed bridge, modern stadium. The area also has a fantastic aquarium (Lisbon Oceanarium) that we visited. We have stayed at hotels in this area as a last night or nights before leaving Portugal via Lisbon airport. It is a very easy and short taxi ride to the airport and there are a number of hotels in this area. In 2023 we stayed at the Moxy (Marriott chain) Lisboa Oriente. It is across from a shopping mall that also has a metro and train station.

Parque das Nacoes

-While in Lisbon we went to a Bar/restaurant that had a supper and Fado show - this was really good. Fado is local Portuguese style music. These are available at various clubs, mainly in Alfama, Barrio Alto and near the Pink Street. We would recommend doing this.

-We went to A Ginjinha and had a famous Ginjinha drink. This is a famous Portugese drink (shot). Look it up and watch the Anthony Bourdain 's show "No Reservations" that was done in Lisbon (2012) - i think you can probably watch it on Youtube.

-The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

-The Elevador de Santa Justa (Santa Justa Lift) - great views of downtown centro area, but, ioho (in our humble opinion), not worth the line up for ticket but it is interesting architecture by the same architect that designed the Eiffel Tower. You can walk up the steps and get just as good a view.

-The medieval carmo convent. Igreja do Carmo. It was ruined during the occurrence of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and the destroyed Gothic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the southern facade of the convent is the main trace of the great earthquake still visible in the old city.

-Two interesting sites that are prominent in Lisbon are the 25th of April bridge - this is like a copy of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. It was built by the same company. The other site is the Cristo Rei (Christ The King) statue - replica of the statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This statue can be seen from most everywhere in Lisbon.

Lisbon has very good public transportation. It has a very modern metro (subway) system, local trains, a good bus system and historic trams. The metro doesn’t have many stops in the center of the historic district, though a couple but it does go through outer areas of Lisbon, including a stop at the airport. You can take the metro from the airport to the Baixa area near the city center. However, taxi’s are also very cheap in Lisbon and Uber is readily used.

You can get a day pass that covers all public transportation, it is a simple paper card you swipe when you get on each type of transportation. You could get one of these and use the train (train is different from the Metro) to go to Belem, same day take a tram ride and the metro to Parques Narcos or to the Marques de Pombal square area. The pass does not cover the funiculars though.

Here is a link explaining the public transport…….

Lisbon Transport info

Lisbon is a great city, with many sites and things to see and do. Check out the things to do link on Tripadvisor for Lisbon. There are over 400 items listed.

We also have visited the Belem area four times - It is 4 miles from the center of Lisbon and takes about 15mins by tram or train to get there. It has several very interesting sites:

-Belem Tower

-Monument of the Discoveries

-monastery jeronimos (the Pope stayed here in 2010). There are a couple of museums in this complex also.

-Museu Berardo in Centro Cultural de Belem (this museum has low cost entry and has lots of interesting pieces, including picasso, dali, warhol and others). This is really good art museum and great value.

-coach museum in Belem - very cool stage coaches that have been used by royals from various families around the world.

- there are a number of cafes all over Lisbon where you can buy a famous portugese pastry but it is highly recommended to try this pastry called the Pastel de Nata from “Pastéis de Belem”, they are famous for these Portugese tarts - they only cost 1 or 2 Euro and they are really good and just the operation of this place is entertaining and worth a visit. There will be a short (hopefully) lineup. It is worth the lineup. They have been serving these tarts for more than 100 yrs, it is basically the only thing they serve (you can get a coffee). You can see where they make the tarts, very efficient operation to make and serve these to the tons of people that visit.

In 2023 we used google maps and the bus system in Lisbon. We happened to be there on a weekend where they had open access to various interesting buildings which are not normally open to the public or that charge a fee but for two days they were free. It was called “Open House Lisbon” on May Some of these were museums, but it also included the Supreme Court of Portugal Building, as an example. So Gale acted as bus system navigator and we did multiple bus trips on different lines, getting on and off and doing transfers that are all covered under the Lisbon Metro system 24 hour pass.

In 2023 some of the sites we visited included:

-Ajuda Palace (palacio nacional da Ajuda) former home of royal family, quite amazing for antique furnishings, decor, etc. Not easy to get to, need a bus to get here or maybe taxi or Uber.

-LX Factory - great facility in unique setting with specialty shops, restaurants, bars, but a bit challenging to get to, need to take a bus (or buses) or taxi or Uber.

-Portugal Supreme Court Building (only accessible on Lisbon Open House day)

-National Tile Museum (we both found it very interesting - more so if you are into ceramics)

-Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos - wow - may not be available for general tours, only for shows or on open house day; near Barrio Alto and central Lisbon.

-B Mad - art deco museum - specialty, included a wine tasting, might be worth a stop if you go to the LX Factor, which is nearby.

-Dinheiro (Money) Museum - ok, not standout.

-Casa dos Bicos - Museum and former house of Jose Saramago - nice facade on building, nothing outstanding here, we entered because it was free for short visit.

Day Trips:

There are a number of options for day trips from Lisbon, while staying in the city. Our top two recommended would be Sintra and Cascais. We have been to both places and they are well worth visiting. Both are an hour or less on a train directly from central Lisbon.

Sintra is a picturesque hill town, with several palaces, including what looks like a magical Disney creation, a historic moorish castle with views to Lisbon on a clear day, beautiful other buildings, lots of quaint shops and cafes. Sintra is a busy tourist spot, lots of people stay overnight.

Cascais is a bustling beach resort town, with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, nearby five star resorts and golf courses.

If you look on tourism websites you will see many other suggested day trips from Lisbon - Obidos, Evora, Setubal, even Nazare or Fatima. We have been to all of these places and they are all great places to visit but are a stretch to do any of them justice in a single day travelling from and back to Lisbon.

Not quite as prominent, but maybe more easily doable in terms of distance and time are day trips to Mafra/Ericeira and Cristo Rei/Costa da Caparica. Mafra is the location of a large palace, Ericeira is a beach resort town nearby Mafra. Cristo Rei is the statue across the river from Lisbon and can be reached by ferry and a walk or bus. Costa da Caparica is a beach resort town, reached by car or maybe bus, but not nearly as crowded or as nice (in our opinion) as Cascais.

Here is a website with info for Lisbon:

Lisbon Info website

Car rental at Lisbon Airport:

If you choose to do this, which we have done on each trip to Lisbon, you should be aware about getting out of the airport on to the highways to exit Lisbon. There is a very confusing roundabout as you immediately exit the airport. I would suggest to look at it on google streetview. It is multilane with traffic lights, rather congested and challenging to know when to exit. Depending on your where you are going when you exit the airport - for instance north or south or Lisbon, your exit from this roundabout will be a different road. There are about six roads entering/leaving the roundabout plus a gas station. The roads are not labelled such that you can use a google maps road name and find the sign for the road when you are driving into the roundabout. You need to look at google streetview and determine your way out before hand if possible. Otherwise, another strategy is just do your best guess on the way out and then pull over to get new directions on your google! We have been through this roundabout at least 8 or 9 times, including more than a couple taking the wrong exit from the roundabout and having to backtrack or navigate to a revised route!

Here are some (lots) of pictures of Lisbon: