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Portugal
Lisbon
A hill city that rewards walking badly and eating often.
Alfama, looking down to the Tagus. Dale Cruse - 10M views from San Francisco, CA, USA · CC BY 4.0
Lisbon is built on the kind of hills that make you rethink your shoes. That is the whole point. The city is best understood at the pace of a slow climb: a tiled wall here, a doorway cat there, then a sudden gap between buildings where the Tagus appears, enormous and silver, and you stop pretending you were in a hurry.
It is also a city that has been discovered, repeatedly and loudly, and that has made some of the obvious things worse and some of the ordinary things better. The useful move is to treat the famous viewpoints as a schedule problem rather than a crowd problem, and to spend the rest of your time one street back from wherever the queue is.
Researched from published sources rather than a personal visit. Check before you go.
Published · practical details checked
Neighbourhoods
- Alfama
- The oldest layer of the city, and the most vertical. Beautiful to stay in if you can handle stairs with a suitcase, and tiring if you cannot.
- Príncipe Real
- Flatter, greener, and quieter at night. A garden square, independent shops, and an easy walk downhill into everything else.
- Cais do Sodré
- The riverfront end of town. Market, ferries, trains west to the coast, and the city's loudest street after dark.
- Alcântara
- Under the bridge, former industry turned into studios and food. Worth an afternoon rather than a base.
Lisbon guides
Tables — 2
Tables · Food hall
Time Out Market Lisboa
The city's nineteenth-century market hall, half of it now a curated food court.
Cais do Sodré2/4
Tables · Pastelaria
Pastéis de Belém
The original custard tart, made to a recipe the shop has kept since 1837.
Belém1/4
Drinks — 1
Drinks · Bar street
Rua Nova do Carvalho
The pink-painted street that used to be the port's roughest block and is now its loudest.
Cais do Sodré2/4
Stays — 2
Stays · Guesthouse
A tiled townhouse in Alfama
Sample entry: six rooms behind an azulejo facade, three floors, no lift.
Alfama2/4SampleStays · Townhouse rooms
Garden rooms in Príncipe Real
Sample entry: a flatter, greener base, ten minutes downhill from the centre.
Príncipe Real3/4Sample
Trips — 5
Trips · Viewpoint
Miradouro da Senhora do Monte
The highest of the city viewpoints, and the one worth setting an alarm for.
Graça
Trips · Converted industrial yard
LX Factory
A nineteenth-century industrial complex under the bridge, now studios, shops and food.
Alcântara2/4
Trips · River crossing
The Cacilhas ferry
A ten-minute commuter crossing that happens to be the best view in the city.
Cais do Sodré1/4
Trips · Tram route
Tram 28
A real tram route that became a tourist attraction, with all the problems that implies.
Graça to Estrela1/4
Trips · Walk
The Alfama lanes
The one part of Lisbon that survived the 1755 earthquake, best navigated badly.
Alfama
More Lisbon, as we find it.
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