Lisbon

The beautiful capital of Portugal is such a nice place for a small city trip. Tons of views points, beautiful sunsets an amazing food.

1. How to move:

– From the airport to the city center you can move easily with the Metro. Tickets can be buy at the vent machines.

– In the city center there are the ones that buy a city ticket and drive with the tram everywhere. Im more the explorer so I walked all around and just to go to the Belém tower buy a single ticket for the tram.

2. Where to stay:

– Hostel: Rodamon Lisboa (nice hostel with private toilet in the room)

– Hotel: Dear Lisbon – Bordalo House, Lisboa Carmo hotel, 9 Hotel Mercy or Teatro Boutique B and Breakfast

3. What to see / what to do

– Getting to know the city with a free walking tour

– View points: Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, Portas Do Sol Terrace, Miradouro de Santa Luzia (the view is for free, what you pay is the elevator ride, but you can perfectly walk to the observation deck and enjoy the views), Miradouro da Graça, Miradouro da Senhora do Monte (sunset).

– The catedral and the Alfama neighborhood and get lost in the small streets

– Ribeira Market and Barrio Alto

– The other side of the river: Sanctuary of Christ the King, crossing the Tagus with s ferry, at the sunset is a cool ride

– Visit the Jerónimos Monastery. The architecture is amazing, it is very close to Belem Tower and a walk besides the river is nice.

If you are interested in something cultural and kinda touristy I would definitely recommend a Fado night.

– If you still have some free time visit LxFactory, in an small corner with some cool spots. I didn’t ate there, there are many restaurants.

4. Where to eat

For that I will suggest you to avoid the restaurants close to R. Augusta, is extremely touristy and the food its not so fresh. The not touristy placed may have smaller opening times just for the lunch so, check in advance and do a reservation.

– Breakfast – Brunch:  Nicolau Lisboa, O Botanista/ Orteá Vegan Collective, Dear Breakfast, Basílio or Break Sé

– Lunch – Dinner: Dom Feijão (super traditional, where the locals go, just with reservations), Restaurante Floresta das Escadinhas (small place, they don’t take reservations, be esrly there, fresh sea food) , Ribeira Market, Cervejaria Sem Vergonha, Madame Petisca, O Botanista, A Cevicheria (Peruvian), Fogo de Chão, Yakuza by Olivier (sushi michellin star)

– The other side of the river: Ponto final, amaizing fresh seafood besides the river, still thinking about the delicious octopus salad and the grilled sardines (from there you had a nice view from the Ponte 25 de Abril and Lisboa, could be cold on windy days)

– Drinks-Tapas: Madame Petisca (also good for lunch-dinner – tapas, the views are amazing) , Las Ficheras, Pavilhao Chinês, Alto do Barrio, Tasca Mastai

-Restaurants with Fado:Tasca do Chico (super small, you need to reserve and be early there, the tapas are selled super fast, so order quickly ),O Corrido – Casa de Fado (a fancy one)

– Pastéis: Pastéis de Belém or Manteigaria. Both are delicious! For me de Belém ones were best.

5. One day excursions

– Sintra: you can easily get there with the train from Rossio terminal. If you are planning to do a day visit I recommend you to come here early, is really so much to see. There are many historic buildings, check the ticket options to decide what fit your interests. From the train station in Sintra if you had enough time you can decide if you wanna do a hike to the castle (kind nice between the woods) or ride with the bus. There are also day tickets to move through Sintra with the public transportation. In my case I just buy one way ticket to the castle and walked on my way back to the station, took me around 30 minutes.

– Obidos: a nice town with a medieval castle.

– Nazaré: Famous spot for “the wave” between the surfers. The waves could be around 30 m(100 feet). If you are interested check on the internet what the predictions are. I think the best season is around November, but not sure.

Enjoy Lisboa!