2 Days in Lisbon

Our Portugal & Andalucia Trip

Lisbon | Sintra | Lagos | Seville | Granada | Ronda | Cordoba

Lisbon is a hip capital where visitors can tap into the exploratory spirit that dominated this country and commercial port for a good chunk of European history. But you won’t need to pack the schedule to see everything at breakneck speed: Lisbon is truly for wandering, admiring, and getting a bit lost.

We spent one day on historic plazas, scenic overlooks and urban walks through the zigzagging lanes of the Baixa, Barrio Alto and Alfama, and a second on a quick ride out to Belem to explore architecture and celebratory monuments.

Don’t miss a day trip after to the palaces of Sintra, covered in a blog soon.

Getting Around:

We used the metro to travel from the airport to Rossio Station by purchasing a reloadable Viva Viagem card from the machines. We added more to the card to ride Tram 28, the bus out and back from Belem, and to take the train to and from Sintra on our day trip. Accessing everything else was easy by foot.

Day 1: Baixa & Barrio Alto

Rua Augusta & Praca do Commercio

Our hotel (Be Poet Baixa) in this central neighborhood was the perfect home base for three nights, offering easy access to the surrounding districts. You’ll be dodging tourist shops and restaurants (“don’t eat here,” pleaded the savvy locals on our hotel staff) but it was safe, convenient and well-trafficked. If you don’t stay here, it’s worth a quick walk for the tiled lanes and grand Arco Triunfal that opens to the sprawl of famous Praca do Commercio, once a bustling square where wealth moved from trading ships into Portugal’s heart.

Rossio Square

In a wondrous, jet-lagged stupor as we crawled across the city center from the underground airport transfer, this was the first place we walked and where I returned with camera in hand after dinner to snap shots of rain glinting off the undulating grey and white tiles. We passed by this square several times on our outings, and I became so fond of it, I bought socks patterned in its honor.

A Ginjinha

One man. One bottle of famous ginja, a cherry liqueur. One drink for €1.20. That’s all there is to this fun little Lisbon tradition, so it’s worth running by to join the throng sipping and puckering up over the suspended cherries if you order it com fruta (my husband and I could only stomach one of two).

Tram 28

This charming yellow-sided electric clunker still serves Lisboans as public transportation, and has been picked up as a tourist must-do for its scenic route through the city as it climbs hills and on certain stretches defies speeds I thought impossible for something born in 1914.

I’ve read that at peak times, lines for this particular tram grow hours long and pack in riders like sardines. My takeaway: It’s so fun and worth it if you can walk on and sit down. In early November at 9am, we had no lines at this stop and no trouble snagging a seat to watch the Barrio Alto and Alfama roll by out the window. Otherwise, spend your time exploring.

Funiculars

Like most things in Lisbon, we didn’t seek them out, but ran across them. Cute and graffiti-clad, they lurk in alleys haul passengers up and down slippery tiled hills that I may not or not have fallen twice on, even in sturdy boots…

Carmo Convent

This striking roofless ruin, another architectural victim of the 1755 earthquake, was once a Catholic convent and now a quiet, reflective space where we found visitors respectfully staying out of photo ops to admire the play of sunlight off arches.

Church of Sao Roque

My preferred church visit over Se Cathedral, this decorative Jesuit place of worship houses ornate paintings, intricate gold chapels and Catholic altars with visions of the macabre: Human remains on the Altar of the Holy Virgins peek through glass cases and form the bones of arm-shaped reliquaries.

Santa Justa Lift

I’m all for ornate elevators. I love lifts, funiculars, trams and gondolas, and this beauty is enticing: Built in the 19th century to help city dwellers and future tourists with the local issue of “how do I get up this hill?”, the design and views are lovely. But every time we walked by en route somewhere else, we eyed the hour-long line outside and said, eh. Go up if you can spare it, as the view looks amazing.

Barrio Alto & Chiado

We meandered around these neighborhoods at different times during our stay for food and window shopping (and some actual shopping when I dipped into an H&M for much-needed socks that worked with my boots), and while we were too tired to make it out late with locals, apparently Chiado is a hotspot for nightlife and bars.

Day 1: Alfama

Our favorite for wandering. We spent most of the day in a maze of tiny streets, tiles, old homes and tiny doors for an ancient generation of much smaller inhabitants. On a sunny day in November, street players were out, people were dancing and beer was cheap. We sat around Miradouro das Portas do Sol and ate something I pointed at in a stall window that surprised us with shrimp inside.

Miradouros

I had a plan of attack for visiting all these famous scenic overlooks in the Alfama District that was quickly swapped for a more Lisbon-suited style of sight-seeing: Just walk around and stumble across them.

Miradouro de Santa Catarina

Miradouro das Portas do Sol

Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara

Miradouro de Santa Luzia

If you do opt to navigate yourself toward one in particular, this is a beauty for its tiled walls, pergola and blooming bougainvilleas shivering in a sea breeze.

Castelo de São Jorge

This hilltop fortification changed hands many a time, earning a 14th-century dedication to dragon-slaying St. George and suffering damage during the 1755 earthquake (you’ll see a lot of this in Lisbon’s architectural history). Now it’s a relaxed heritage center where you can trek the castle ramparts for beautiful views over the city and pick up a bit of history in the museum.

If you’re in shape for some stairs (okay, a lot of stairs), go out on the long lookout extension that’s visible from all over town. The entrance to the castle complex is in the Alfama, but if you’re downhill in the city center/Baixa/Chiado area, you can catch a lift on the elevator here (Google Maps).

Se Cathedral

If you’re in the area, the city’s oldest church offers free admission to peek inside.

Day 2: Belem

Seeing the sights down the coast from the city’s heart will take half a day, and we found there was no rush to hop on the bus and head over. We got to the unmissable Jerónimos Monastery by 11 am and had plenty of time to see everything.

Jerónimos Monastery

The critical advice to enjoy this beautiful 16th-century complex is to walk right by the monstrous line forming outside the ticket area and head into the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia. There is no wait to buy a combo ticket from the machine here, and it is only a few euros more. We made a quick loop of the museum itself, and then walked back out to the street and straight inside.

If you’re not familiar with the Manueline style of architecture, you will be now. Entrancing arches, filigrees and symbols like the differing animal rainspouts keep the eye busy as you wander around the cloister court and upper level. There’s even a nice view inside the connected Santa Maria de Belem Church – so nice we decided to skip the 45-minute line to enter it on the ground level.

Pastéis de Belém

The line goes quick at this famous bakery, where Portugal’s egg custard tarts get a local spin with an ancient recipe developed at the monastery. We enjoyed ours on a bench watching the fountain at the Praça do Império.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries)

Portugal’s Age of Discovery is commemorated in a late ’50s stone monument featuring famous navigators, explorers, writers and one queen along a striking prow that overlooks the Tagus River. Approach along a beautiful tiled compass court and good luck fitting the whole thing in a shot. There is an exhibit and viewpoint inside that we skipped.

Belém Tower

Enjoy the sunshine along the walking path from the Monument to the Belém Tower. The 1500’s fortress once guarded the harbor, and if you look for it in old art and paintings, you’ll notice it appears father out in the water in a century when it occupied an island out in the river. The changing course of the Tagus has brought it back up to the bank.

Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

While not technically in Belem, we hit this museum on the way back east into town. It is a fantastic collection of national paintings, reliquaries, furniture, ceramics and the stunningly intricate sculptures of the Portuguese “crib,” or nativity scene I’d refer to as a manger.

Where to Eat

Lunch at Cruzes Credo

I can’t recommend this place enough. Located along the outer wall of the Se Cathedral, it was relaxing, charming and exquisite. We got three courses for € 9 each plus porto and wine, and sat a while at the window watching leaves fall outside. We ate here Day 1 while walking around the Alfama.

Dinner at Time Out Market

Our Day 1 dinner was at the popular one-roof, many-chefs concept launched first in Lisbon and carried onto other big cities internationally. The busy food-court style space offers options around the outside and foists you onto precious bench seating to enjoy your vinho verde and small bites.

Dinner at Ramiro

The line for seafood heaven is packed at the local 8pm dinner time, but we hadn’t quite adjusted to the new rules and I am glad we did. At 6pm, we waited a half-hour outside this spectacular, low-key restaurant before getting inside and cracking into crab, jumbo prawns, mussels and more.

We spied the menu item “Edible Crab” off of a neighbor, and my husband taught me how to smash and pick apart legs with the provided tools between filling up on bread and the dip dished up inside the main crab shell. So good. Thank you to the Web Summit attendee at our table (one of many in the city for a conference) who ordered it first and shared the wine they didn’t want.

Drinks at Topo Rooftop Bar

As we’re wandering back south from dinner at Ramiro, wondering where to grab a drink, we hear a screeching from the heights above as a panel pulls back from some rooftop perch. We squint, take stock of neon signage that helpfully reads BAR, and decide to check it out. Topo had an awesome vibe and a range of well-priced drinks. We met an awesome husband and wife power couple flown from New York to work in film and stake a claim for citizenship in Portugal, a process that involves just living there for a few years, and got to learn more about the city from their perspective.

We went to Sintra the next day to visit the palaces. You can read about it coming soon, as well as a day on Portugal’s coast in Lagos.