THE LISBON COAST
You’d think that summer would be high tourism season for the city of Lisbon. But it’s not. Most locals go on vacation in August (many heading south to Algarve), and foreign tourists actually prefer to stay based by the beaches of Cascais and Estoril or in the refreshing hills of Sintra. In the summer Lisbon is much less of a city break destination and more of a gateway to beach-and-sun holidays.

MUSIC FESTIVALS
Everything from international pop to jazz to rock will be playing somewhere in the open air in Lisbon throughout the summer. It starts later this month with Rock in Rio-Lisboa which will host Metallica, Evanescence, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, The Offspring, Lenny Kravitz, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, and Bruce Springsteen among many others. Then comes the annual Out Jazz which offers free jazz concerts throughout the summer every Friday and Sunday afternoon in different parks and gardens. In July, closer to the Atlantic beaches comes Optimus Alive, recently listed in “The Guardian” and “The Times” as one of Europe’s top festivals this year (some of the bands will include Radiohead and The Cure).

A MONTH-LONG PARTY
Throughout the month of June you’ll be able to participate in the annual “Festas de Lisboa,” a major street festival with lots of eating and drinking around every corner of the city’s historic neighborhoods. It’s as if Lisbon becomes one big village, with major feasts on the 12th and 13th, including a parade down Avenida da Liberdade with each of the city’s neighborhoods competing for best song and costume.

EUROPE’S BEST VALUE FOR MONEY
Where else in Europe can you spend the summer with plenty of sun, great urban attractions of a capital city mixed with resort vibe at the beach without spending a fortune and without traveling huge distances? Only in Lisbon. In the Portuguese capital you have mild weather, you can start your day at the beach in Cascais within minutes from the center, escape the heat to the fairytale palaces of Sintra, and end the day at a Michelin-starred or cheap-but-wonderful restaurant in Lisbon’s old center. Accommodation is also the cheapest of anywhere in Western Europe, allowing you to stay at a stylish central apartment for as little as 20 euros per night per person, or at a 5-star hotel often for less than 100 euros. You do the math and find out for yourself why Lisbon is the place to go this summer.

A GRAND NEW SPACE TO RELAX IN THE SUN
It seems that Lisbon’s biggest square, the riverfront Praça do Comercio has undergone renovation works every year throughout the last decade. From a new pavement to cleaning up the sewage system, there was always something preventing everyone from fully enjoying this grand and monumental space. It will finally be completely cleaned up by July (or so they say) and will offer several new cafés and a couple of shops on the east wing, joining the ones already found to the west. And because summer in Lisbon lasts until October, the end of the season will see the opening of a new major museum on this square, the Lisboa Story Center telling the story of the city’s post-1755-earthquake rebuilding.

A survey conducted at the airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal showed that the vast majority of tourists (88%) left “very satisfied” with their experience in Portugal and want to return within the next three years. Close to half said their stay exceeded expectations, highlighting the landscapes, beaches and cultural attractions.
The tourists that most enjoyed Lisbon arrived from Spain, the Netherlands and Brazil, while the French preferred Porto.
With the highest satisfaction rate is “friendliness of locals” at 75%, while the reasons that led them to choose Portugal as a destination ranged from recommendation of friends or family (25%) to internet information (33%).

Every culture has them: Foods that only a local could love. In case you’re brave and curious enough to try new things, or prefer to be informed of what can be avoided, here are the ten strangest foods in Portugal.

“ARROZ DE CABIDELA”
Recently a tourist reported an experience at a restaurant in a Portugal Pousada where a waiter explained what the “arroz the cabidela” listed on the menu was like. He correctly described it as rice soaked in chicken’s blood, and the facial expression of the tourists reacting to that description must have surprised the waiter because he quickly added “with chicken!” as if that made it sound any better. Yes, it’s a bloody good delicacy if you’re familiar with it, but for anyone hearing about it for the first time, it’s understandably disgusting. And the cooking process is even more disturbing: After the chicken is killed, it hangs upside-down for the blood to be drained out. It’s then added to the meat when it’s cooking, giving the dish a brownish color.

“ARROZ DE SARRABULHO”
If “arroz de cabidela” sounds good to you, perhaps you’ll also want to try “arroz de sarrabulho.” Instead of chicken, the meat is now pork, but it’s also soaked in its own blood. It’s a specialty from the north of Portugal and the blood also gives the rice a greyish-brown color. You may be surprised to know that it was one of the 21 finalists in the vote for the “7 gastronomic wonders of Portugal.”

“MORCELA”
At this point you’re probably thinking there’s something vampirish about Portuguese cuisine, but here’s one more bloody food: Morcela, a sausage made with blood! This type of sausage actually exists in several cultures in almost every continent, and the Portuguese version is mostly meat-free. It varies from region to region, but is always filled with rice and pig’s blood. In some cases, pieces of pork are added.

“CARACOIS”
The French call them escargots and have turned them into something of “haute cuisine.” In Portugal they’re “caracois,” also meaning snails and are eaten mostly in the south of the country. For whatever reason the people in the north are not fans, but it’s a favorite dish on a sunny summer afternoon in Lisbon’s cafés and restaurants. In reality, what its devotees really like is the stew they’re cooked in, and not exactly the tiny wormy shelled mollusks that you can barely taste.

“COELHO À CAÇADOR”
There are some who say that a rabbit’s flesh is the closest to that of a human. Many may agree and may wish to avoid eating what in some cultures is a beloved family pet. In other countries it’s a wonderful meal, including in Portugal. It’s made popular by hunters, and is most often accompanied by rice or potatoes in a dark sauce.

“CODORNIZES”
Quail is definitely not unique to Portuguese cuisine but it’s another favorite of Portuguese hunters. While mostly served at home, you can find them listed on menus of restaurants in the interior of the country. They’re usually cooked and served whole, leaving the job of cutting the wings and legs for you on the plate.

“TRIPAS À MODA DO PORTO”
It’s one of Portugal’s most historic dishes but also one of its least appetizing. When Prince Henry the Navigator asked the people of the city of Porto to provide food for the men going into the sea, they gave all their meat and ended up with only the animals’ stomachs. Out of necessity they had to create meals out of them, and so was “Porto-Style Tripe” born. Tripe is also present in French, Italian and Eastern European cuisines, and Portugal’s version includes pieces of sausage and beans.

“TORRESMOS”
This cholesterol-filling delicacy is made of pig skin and fat. It’s cut into small pieces and fried until it becomes crunchy. The Portuguese took this tradition to Brazil, becoming quite popular in the northeast of that country, often served with beans.

“COZIDO À PORTUGUESA”
At the risk of receiving hate mail from the most patriotic Portuguese, we’re going to include one of the most emblematic dishes of the country on this list. This national specialty mixes a variety of vegetables, sausages and meats, and it’s the choices of meats that may be a problem for some. It seems that no single part of a pig goes to waste in Portugal, and this dish often includes a nice crunchy ear with tiny hairs. If there’s no ear, you just may find a foot.

“ENGUIAS”
The Portuguese don’t eat snakes but they do enjoy the snakelike eels. Popular in the coastal areas of the north of the country, they are often bought alive. No matter how many spices or delicious condiments may be added, the very sight of them will make many people lose their appetite.

The current business trend in Lisbon seems to be bakeries. Not ordinary bakeries but French-inspired or traditionally-Portuguese-inspired bakeries. Here are the five newest ones, especially perfect if you’re staying at an apartment and want to have bread for breakfast when you wake up:

LA BOULANGERIE

TARTINE
Perfectly located around the corner from the famous Brasileira café, this is a bakery by the entrance and a café upstairs. You can grab the bread to go or stay at a table enjoying a light meal (we recommend the pancakes) at any time of the day.

LA BOULANGERIE
The most attractive bakery-café downtown (Rua da Madalena, 57) opened recently and is already known for the quality of its French-style bread. The consensus is that the service could be a little friendlier and more welcoming, and that has also been our experience, but hopefully the attractive space and the quality of the products will make up for it in the long run.

A PADARIA PORTUGUESA
Not far from La Boulangerie downtown (on Rua do Ouro, 175) is this new branch of Portuguese bakeries adapted to modern times. It has an attractive contemporary interior but serves the bread and pastries the Portuguese have been traditionally making for decades.

ERIC KAYSER
Found across the street from the Amoreiras shopping mall, this is Lisbon’s branch of the now-international French bakery. It has a rather spacious interior but also a few tables outside for you to enjoy a baguette in the sun.

POISON D’AMOUR
This is not a bakery but a pastry shop. And we warn you that if you’re counting calories, this is not a place for you. Incredibly mouth-watering pastries will tempt you into getting more sugar than you should, but once in a while it’s actually a healthy stress-reliever to give in to temptation. So after a visit to the São Pedro de Alcântara viewpoint, continue up the hill to this French patisserie and relax with a tea and something sweet. And you may take some croissants with you as well.

Being on vacation doesn’t have to mean taking a break from your diet. Here are ten places in Lisbon serving veggie, organic, or simply healthy meals:

Bake the Difference
This vegan bakery/café is a convenient stop on weekdays for breakfast, brunch, lunch or afternoon snacks. It’s found on a street parallel to Avenida da Liberdade close to Restauradores Square and has soups, salads and even desserts free of animal products.

Go Natural
This is a fast food restaurant found in almost all shopping malls, but also independently in the center of the city, facing Marquês de Pombal Square. Pastas, salads, wraps, soups and fruit juices are pre-packaged to grab and eat. Many are vegetarian options, but there are also chicken and salmon dishes.

Jardim dos Sentidos
Up the hill from Avenida da Liberdade is the best vegetarian lunch buffet in the city. It mixes world cuisines and even the biggest meat lovers will enjoy the vast selection of dishes available. For dinner it has an a la carte service.

Terra
Everything served at this restaurant grows from the ground. It’s all available in a varied buffet and can be enjoyed in the open air on a backyard terrace.

Open Brasserie
Sharing the building of the Inspira Santa Marta Hotel, this eco-friendly restaurant is also health-friendly, using organic products in its Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.

Liquid
This tiny café is mostly a juice bar. Although it also has a couple of things to eat, its specialty is immunity-boosting smoothies made of fresh fruits in front of you.

Naturalliving
Centrally-located in a Chiado courtyard, this café has healthy snacks and light meals throughout the day, but also a vegetarian lunch buffet every day. The only thing that will ruin your diet are the cakes but those can be avoided if you just concentrate on the rest of the menu.

Pimenta Laranja
Found not far from Jeronimos Monastery, this all-organic café has wraps, salads, and hamburgers. It also has pastries but you’ll likely skip those, especially if you can’t resist trying the famous custard tarts (“pasteis de Belém”) nearby.

Quinoa
The main attraction for locals is the organic bread but you may also sit for tea or for weekend brunch. It consists of all-natural juice, fresh fruit, granola with yogurt, eggs, croissants and more.

Origem
Found next to an organic supermarket in Chiado, this cafeteria has a pleasant terrace where you can enjoy a light lunch or snack of salads, quiches and sandwiches.

To some this sounds like cultural blasphemy, to others it’s a smart way to bring culture to the masses: The Ancient Art Museum has taken part of its collection to the Colombo mega-mall. Until the end of June a group of 31 pieces will be on display as a “mini museum” in an exhibition related to the art of medieval Portugal. A second group of pieces from the same museum will then be shown in July until October, this time relating to Portugal’s exploration of the world.
It’s free and open every day, making it a perfect excuse to go spend some money or to combine art and shopping on a rainy spring day.
If you can’t make it to the Ancient Art Museum to see its entire collection when you’re in town and prefer to go shopping instead, this is also a good way to get a sense of Portuguese culture for free.

They’re not officially on UNESCO’s list, but these sites of extraordinary cultural significance could very well end up there one day, joining the 14 others in Portugal (like Sintra and Lisbon’s Jeronimos Monastery and Belem Tower).

MAFRA PALACE
It’s one of the world’s biggest palaces and it has some singular features such as a total of six organs that are unique in the world and the world’s largest collection of church bells in addition to one of Europe’s finest libraries. One of Nobel Prize author José Saramago’s most translated novels is about the building’s unbelievable construction (published in English as “Baltasar and Blimunda”).

DOWNTOWN LISBON
The only reason Lisbon’s downtown isn’t yet a World Heritage Site is because many of its buildings have reached an advanced state of decay and have been stripped of many of their original features. Before it can present its candidacy to UNESCO it will have to restore everything back to its original state, but even without the official recognition Lisbon’s downtown is already a remarkable place. You couldn’t tell by simply looking at it, but this is Europe’s first urban planning project, using large-scale pre-fabricated earthquake-proof techniques that included modern sanitation. This type of grid of broad streets was later replicated in other European cities such as Paris and Barcelona.

SAGRES
Prince Henry the Navigator’s inspirational coastline is just as mystical and mysterious today. It’s Europe’s southwesternmost tip and was therefore believed to be the end of the world in ancient times. Prince Henry however, wondered what laid beyond the horizon and started a project of “discoveries” that paved the way for Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Christopher Columbus and all the other famous explorers. An enormous compass believed to have been used to study navigation is still seen on the ground in Sagres today.

VILA VIÇOSA
This town is made almost exclusively of marble. Like most others in the serene Alentejo province, it’s a rather sleepy place today but it was once a royal town with a palace belonging to the royal family of the Bragança dynasty. The palace is naturally also made of marble, as are benches and pavements, as this region is rich in this “white gold.”

MARVÃO
This near-Heaven village is a fortified medieval place described by the New York Times as “a fairytale mirage.” It’s one of the world’s highest settlements, standing close to 3,000 feet up high on a mountain, all inside a wall and protected by a castle. It’s almost unbelievable how anyone chose to settle here, but you’d have to have a 13th-century mentality to understand it.

COIMBRA UNIVERSITY
It’s one of the world’s oldest universities and it’s quite a special one, with unique traditions associated with it over time. It includes one of the world’s most remarkable baroque libraries and is the most likely candidate to end up on UNESCO’s list in the near future.

BUÇACO FOREST
It was one of the first forests in Europe to reunite plants from all over the world. It’s also the site of one of the continent’s first palace hotels, surrounded by a magical atmosphere.

ARRÁBIDA NATURAL PARK
This isn’t just another beautiful natural park. It’s one of the best places for geologists to learn about three key phases of the earth’s evolution and its tectonic plates, as well as a curious landscape of Mediterranean flora that’s actually on the Atlantic, developed around 180 million years ago when it was under water. The diversity and singularity of the park in terms of vegetation distribution gives it a natural heritage unmatched anywhere in the world.

As Lisbon grows as a tourist destination, so do the number of airlines and cities interested in being connected to the city. The low-cost easyJet will have a base in the Portuguese capital next month, and starting this week the airport’s terminal 2 will be used exclusively by low-cost airlines.
Other non-low-cost airlines are also reenforcing their Lisbon services to meet demand this summer, and Emirates will fly to the city for the first time in July, from Dubai.
As for the new easyJet destinations they’ll be Amsterdam, Asturias, Bordeuax, Copenhagen and Venice.
Five other destinations will be operating to/from Lisbon airport for the first time this year, but those have yet to be announced. They’ll be from TAP (which will also begin service to Berlin this summer), Transavia and bmibaby.
This way not only residents of those cities will have more access to Lisbon, but tourists will also be able to better combine a trip to the Portuguese capital with another destination in a longer holiday or city break.

VISIT MONUMENTS ON SUNDAY MORNINGS
Most of Lisbon’s national monuments and museums are free on Sunday mornings until 2PM. That means that if you’re in the city on a weekend, be sure to wake up early on Sunday and head to the Jeronimos Monastery. After a visit to the church and cloisters, head next door for the Archaeology Museum (currently with an exhibition of Portugal’s Celtic and Roman past and with the “sick mummy”), then next door again for the Maritime Museum (telling the story of Portugal’s history at sea).
Then cross the road using the underpass across from Jeronimos’ gardens and walk towards Belem Tower. It’s also free until 2PM. Then walk back again, past the Discoveries Monument and enter the Berardo Museum for its surprising collection of international modern art. This museum is always free, every day of the week.

GET THE LISBOA CARD
Even if you take advantage of the free Sunday mornings for monuments and museums, you’ll still have to pay for transportation. So to avoid having to look for change and taking time buying tickets, acquire the Lisboa Card. It’s the city’s tourist card which provides free unlimited rides on all of the city’s buses, trams and metro except for the special airport bus. It saves you lots of money and time on getting around, but it also offers free admission to all the major attractions, even when it’s not Sunday. The few attractions that are not free with the card still have reduced admission with it. It’s really the best investment you can make in Lisbon.

EAT AT CAFÉS
You’ll find that eating out in Lisbon is much cheaper than in most other European capitals. However, prices have gone up and it’s probably a good idea if one of your meals is not at a restaurant. The best lunch options are often at cafés, especially in Chiado. Many offer great-value meals often with restaurant-sized portions. Those may includes pastas, salads or sandwiches. The same type of light meals are found at fast food restaurants in the shopping malls. Next to McDonald’s and other well-known names you’ll find local options such as “Go Natural,” “Vitaminas” and “H3” offering healthier choices. The Armazéns do Chiado mall in Chiado has a good food court with city views, with several of those fast-but-good restaurants.

STAY AT AN APARTMENT
Although Lisbon’s hotels are officially the best-value in Western Europe (especially 5-star accommodation according to annual surveys), you can really save by staying at an apartment. Many renovated houses in charming residential neighborhoods like medieval Alfama or in the heart of the city in Baixa are now used for tourist stays. GoLisbon has the most Lisbon apartment choices online, for as little as 20 euros per person per night. That means your own Lisbon home, with more privacy and even more space than a hotel room. It’s perfect for families or for those looking for the “living in Lisbon” experience.

DON’T OVERLOOK THE FREE ATTRACTIONS
The Berardo Museum mentioned above is not the only major attraction that’s always free. The Design and Fashion Museum is also free, and so are the most impressive churches: São Roque Church, Estrela Basilica and Santa Catarina Church. Also don’t forget that perhaps Lisbon’s main attraction is the city itself, its setting and scenery, so sitting at the terrace viewpoints will perhaps be your most memorable experiences, where you take the most beautiful photos, and it’s always free!

There are close to a million trees in Lisbon, and around 65 of them have been classified and protected. Many of those are naturaly in the city’s parks and gardens, others are isolated on the streets. Here are the ones that most catch the eye of the tourist:

Close to the Santa Luzia viewpoint, up the hill from the cathedral, is this strange tree which probably came from Brazil. It was placed here just over a century ago, substituting a lemon tree that grew on the site. Its roots, branches and trunks are growing wildly in every direction on the sidewalk, causing many to stop and take a look. Children sit and hide inside it while parents take photos. Many give their own interpretation of what each shape looks like, with some more perverse minds seeing phallic symbols.

This 130-year-old tree with a 23-meter (75 feet) diameter is a gigantic umbrella in the garden of Principe Real. The official scientific name is Cupressus lusitanica, and while “lusitanica” recalls the name of Portugal during Roman times, this tree does not have origins in Portugal or even in the Iberian Peninsula. It’s from Mexico and probably ended up in Portugal in the early 1600s when it was planted in the Buçaco forest. Sadly, the iconic tree in Lisbon is slowly dying and probably won’t last for many more decades.

The strangest trees in the city are found in the enchanted forest that is the botanical garden. Among the countless species from all over the world is this strange subtropical dragon tree. It’s native to the Canary Islands, although it’s also found in Portugal’s Azores, the probable origin of this one growing here for decades. And we do mean grow, as it’s rapidly expanding more to the sides than up.

This majestic tree welcomes you to the botanical garden and has strangely developed several trunks over the years. It’s originally from Australia and it’s been here for over a century. It’s usually planted to provide shade, as it can grow up to 60 meters (around 200 feet) tall.