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Day 1: A day with lot’s of walking & Exploring
Start in the neighbourhood of Alfama. Personally, Alfama is truly beautiful but honestly it is so overrun with tourists i find it hard to truly enjoy this neighbourhood. Our best advice: GO IN THE MORNING around 9/10AM and wonder the streets and by lunch time get out of there :)
In Alfama, you simply need to get lost and explore. So here are some ideas for where you can wonder to, but don’t be scared to not follow Google maps. It’s truly the one best think of Alfama, getting lost. Try to start from the bottom and work your way towards the top. It’s where we are going next,
Panteão Nacional : Opposite the chocolate shop
Calçada do Cacau : delicious hole in the wall chocolate store which is worth stopping. Getting a coffee and a few chocolates and going on your way.
Now it is time for lunch. Let’s leave Alfama (so you avoid all the tourist trap food) and head over to Ramiro (if you are looking for something a bit more fancy) or Brick Cafe Lisboa for a much more casual lunch.
Next up, take your time and start walking towards Miradouro do Monte Agudo. This was such a great place to simply hang out for hours on end and drink wine/beer. Have a book with you or cards and park yourself in the chairs and simply enjoy. If you are willing to wait on lunch, you can also have a late one here since they have sandwiches etc. On your walk over, make sure you take your time and explore the beautiful streets everywhere.
We came here for late afternoon 4ish and stayed till 7 :-)
Day 2: Campo De Orique Neighbourhood
This is not a tourist neighbourhood which is why we loved it! It has a ton to offer and see and just a bit different than other neighbourhoods to explore.
Start of your day with a breakfast at Amelia (try not to go on a weekend if avoidable. During the week no wait time and during the weekend always a wait!). This is an adorable cafe with very yummy breakfast items.
Next, let’s go for a walk! There are two things to see. The first is an observation deck with amazing views of Lisbon and no tourists (woohoo) it is called: Amoreiras 360º Panoramic View. Truth be told it is hard to find. Make sure you have Google maps. It is at the very top of a mall in their financial district. If you needed to do a bit of shopping, this would be your day.
Once you’ve seen the view and taken pictures, head on over to Observation Deck Park Eduardo VII. This is a beautiful park to walk through and get to know a bit of Lisbon.
Now it is time for lunch and ideally you are going to “sort of” retrace your steps. But this time head for lunch at Campo de Ourique Market. Everyone will tell you about Time Out Market but truthfully we simply did not like it. As a concept it is cool but it gets wayyy too crowded and very overwhelming. We highly recommend this smaller, only local spot. Basically they created Time Out for tourists and Ourique Market for locals. It will work the same way, tons of restaurants and you order and sit in the middle. You can also buy fresh produce if you so desire.
At this point, that’s it! Do as you wish. However, there is an amazing cheese shop very close by called Queijaria Francesa Maître Renard if you plan on eating at your Airbnb or having a picnic any other day. The best cheese we found in all of Lisbon.
Day 3: MAAT & LX Factory
This is your west of Lisbon exploration day.
Start your day by heading to Belem. We personally did not do much here, but if you are interested going to see the Torre de Belém is on many people’s itinerary. I’d recommend coming early (like 9.30/10AM) to skip the tourists.
Then rent a bike or walk (we walked but tons of people were biking on the boardwalk) all the way down to the MAAT mueum which is a new museum right on the water. (Tip: they may offer you tickets to also explore the electricity museum right next door. We were so hesitant but it turned out to be very interesting! Would recommend doing it!)
Once you are done with the museum, start walking towards “LX Factory” and you’ll spend a few hours there and have lunch!
Frankly you just explore and walk around. Here are some of our tips:
Our favourite lunch spot in LX was: Rio Maravilha. Very good food, great view and a cool vibe! It is not on the ground floor so also a few less people.
Have a coffee at Ler Devagar : Old printing press turned bookstore/coffee shop.
if it is raining, do an escape the room at Lx Escape. We did it and had a blast.
Landeau Chocolate - The best chocolate cake in the world.
Day 4: A Fabulous Beach Day
A beach day in Lisbon is truly underrated. No one has ever recommended it to me except our Airbnb host and i thank him soo much for it! Maybe one of our most fun days in Lisbon. Of course, we were here for over a month. If you are here a week at least, we highly recommend doing a beach day.
BEFORE you keep reading. On this day you MUST have dinner at Atira-te ao Rio. So give them a call and make the reservation before you do this day. +351 21 275 1380. Reservations are always for 7PM.
The beach we picked was Praia Da Riviera and we recommend it! We took an uber from our apartment around 10AM and got to the beach around 10.30AM. It was during the week, so it was quite deserted and we had the entire beach to ourselves! (tip: if you can come on a weekday rather than a weekend day you’ll be happy you did). The beach is truly beautiful.
After about 2 hours, we got up and went to the beach bar, with the same name. It is a feet in the sand type of establishment and eating in your swimsuit while continuing to tan is totally acceptable! At this point we decided to eat and order a crisp white wine with lunch because why not? You could technically pack a picnic and not eat here, but truly the food was quite delicious and the atmosphere great.
After lunch, leave your belongings at the restaurant and go for a long walk on the beach to digest.
Once you are all beached out, call and uber and head over to the town of Almada. This is the town directly opposite Lisbon with great views! Since you are already on this side of the bridge this is a good day to explore.
There is one main attraction in Almada which is the “Cristo Rei”. They close at 6PM so try and get there ahead of time. You climb and have an amazing view of Lisbon
At this point, you are going to want to head to the restaurant and as stated above, no choice in where :) Atira-te ao Ri. Your reservation will be at 7PM but get here around 5.30 and they have an area to order drinks and sit with your feet almost in the water. Part of the experience of this place is this, so do it. Trust us.
Enjoy dinner and the sunset and then call an Uber back to your home in the city!
Day 5: Spend a day in Sintra
Sintra is about 30-45 mins by train from Lisbon. If you are going to be in Lisbon more than 3 days, then we recommend you head over to Sintra for a full day of exploring castles and gardens.
Visit Pena National Palace: We decided to be a bit crazy and walk to the Pena palace from the train station. This took us about 1.5 hours but it was great to be away from the crowds, take our time and see the old town from many vantage points as well as desolate homes we wondered if anyone lived in anymore? If you don’t feel like walking, there are many buses you can take which will take you from the train station. On the day we went, sadly the fog would not let up so our photos of the palace are a bit hilarious, here they are for you! (+ one picture which is not ours to give you a sense of what it should look like from the same vantage point, we were so lucky!).
We then walked down to Quinta da Regaleira: We greatly enjoyed these gardens, secret passages and towers. Tons of little things to see and climb. Personally enjoyed this almost more than the palace! However, that could be due to our fog experience :-)
Finally, go visit the palace of Montserrat. This one is a bit farther away from the old town so often overlooked. It is absolutely stunning and worth a visit! Also way fewer crowds. Again we’d rec0mmend this over Pena!
Day 6-7: Porto & Duoro Valley
We did not spend enough time in Porto to give you very detailed days (and we only like to give days we truly loved!) We really loved it and just getting lost in the city was magical.
So for Porto and Duoro here are some tips we have and a few favourite things we did:
Casa Guedes: Fabulous pork sandwiches!
Terrárea : The cutest place for brunch/ lunch in a florist must go!
Candelabro: Loved this wine bar
Rua de almada - start from the north of this street and walk your way down. beautiful little street.
Croft Port: Fabulous port tasting experience. It is away from the main street so much nicer and less people
Fort of Saint Francis Xavier: right on the water and a nice way to explore a different part of porto
Quinta do Jalloto - Family vineyards: The most amazing vineyard we went to. The wines are good (not insanely amazing) but the view and experience was one of a kind.