It’s been widely reported that Lisbon has the world’s best hostels and just a couple of days ago a new one opened as a strong contender to one of the top spots in the “world’s best” list. It has the rather pompous name of “Royal Lisbon Hostel” and it does automatically score points for its location on Largo do Camões, one of the city’s most central squares connecting its two most popular neighborhoods, Chiado and Bairro Alto.
Inside you’ll find everything you expect from a modern hostel, from spacious lockers for your belongings to comfortable beds. As at most other hostels, the bathrooms are shared but divided by gender. Prices are of course quite affordable, and it also allows you to save further by letting you prepare your own meals in the kitchen. You can enjoy them in the dining room before moving to the lounge area with views over the square, watching over the cafés and busy life of the surroundings. That’s also where you can access the wireless internet before stepping right into Lisbon’s vibrant street life.
This is no 5-star accommodation, but its privileged location, brand-new facilities, relaxed ambience, and affordability make it a luxury option for budget travelers.
Complete details and booking information here: Royal Lisbon Hostel

UPDATE: This restaurant has been renamed “Faces in Chiado”

She’s opened boutiques in Paris and Los Angeles in addition to her shop in Lisbon, but Fátima Lopes is now also entering the restaurant business. Widely considered to be Portugal’s most international fashion designer, Lopes is essentially a business woman, and her new restaurant that opened this weekend will have her seal of approval on everything from the staff’s uniforms to the plates and silverware. It’s a place designed to be luxurious, but reportedly with “prices for everyone.” It’s actually more than a restaurant, it’s also a bar and the large pavement outside by the entrance will have tables when weather allows it. The cuisine will be contemporary Portuguese, created by João Simões, a rising star in Lisbon’s gastronomy who’s won the Junior Chef distinction at the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS). He’s previously worked at Lisbon’s Bica do Sapato, Hotel Four Seasons Provence (France), and until recently was at one of the restaurants of Altis Belém Hotel.
In addition to the food you can expect good background music and drinks served until 2AM at the bar. Judging by the list of local celebrities who showed up for the inauguration, this is clearly also a place to see and be seen, but word is that it’s not necessarily a pretentious place.
You can find the restaurant in Chiado, on Rua Paiva de Andrade, right across from São Carlos Theatre (no website yet).

From now until February 28th you can have a glass of wine as you admire one of the best views of Lisbon after a day of sightseeing, conferences, or work in the city. Every day at 5PM, Hotel do Chiado‘s special “After Work Wine Experience” will offer Portuguese wines at its rooftop “Entretanto Bar” which has one of the most beautiful views of Lisbon, from the river to the castle and uptown. The wine is served by the glass starting at €2.50, and you may choose among reds, whites, and sparkling wines — all from Portugal. Each comes with an accompanying snack or tapa, and on some days there will also be live music (mostly jazz and bossa nova). That’s the perfect ambience and the perfect setting for the most perfect end to your day or start of your night in Lisbon.
While this event is open to everyone, if you’re a guest at the hotel, you can have just a few extra drinks, since your bed will not be too far away. More hotel information here: Hotel do Chiado.

You heard it here first: “Largo” is Lisbon’s next great restaurant. You’ll soon see it recommended in every major article about Lisbon and will become one of the most talked-about in the city. Its location in Chiado, in an old cloister by the opera house works in its favor, but it’s the highly professional team behind it that guarantees that this restaurant is a major treat for your eyes and tastebuds. The décor is the creation of Miguel Câncio Martins, mostly known for Paris’ famous Buddha Bar, while the menu is the work of Miguel Castro e Silva, one of Portugal’s most acclaimed chefs who’s been in Porto‘s “Bull & Bear” (largely known as one of the country’s best restaurants) over the past few years. While every dish has a certain international touch, everything on your plate will essentially be Portuguese cuisine, perhaps with the exception of the chef’s signature foie gras tureen.
The two Miguels have created a space that works as a romantic restaurant for couples or as a sophisticated-yet-relaxed business lunch destination. The interior is quite beautiful, with imported furnishings such as Danish lights and a Dutch portico standing out in an attractively-lit space with old columns and sea anemone tanks. It accommodates up to 120 people, but it’s a good idea to book your table in advance. The prices are slightly above average but you’ll agree that the experience is worth it.

Address: Rua Serpa Pinto, 10A
Phone: 21 347 7225
Opens every day
Website: www.largo.pt

Spain is naturally one of the countries that most visits Lisbon, as it’s just across a border that’s essentially imaginary, with the open borders policy set by the European Union’s Schengen agreement. At around Christmas time, New Year’s, and Easter, it’s quite common to hear as much Castilian in Lisbon’s Chiado as Portuguese. So perhaps anticipating a large Spanish migration to Lisbon at this time of the year, Spain’s “El Pais” just published a 24-hour guide to the Portuguese capital.
Entitled “From Fado to Fashion,” the article focuses on the city’s trendier side, from its alternative shops in the Principe Real and Bairro Alto districts, to the new Design and Fashion Museum. That’s not the only recent museum to get special mention, as the Orient Museum and Berardo Museum are also considered unmissable.
Overall, this is a list of recommendations that show how Lisbon has become much more of a globalized city while also managing to reinvent itself as a continuously authentic place.
You may read the entire article at the El País website. It’s in Spanish but you may always use the Google translator to read it in your native language: Del Fado a lo ‘Fashion’

Lisbon has a new café which prefers to see itself as a bakery which is also a lounge on weekend nights. The grand opening was last Thursday and its hours will be 8AM to 8PM, extended to much later on weekends when it turns into a chill-out space with snacky Portuguese foods. “Quinoa” offers 100% biological bread of different kinds (oatmeal, rye, raisons, quinoa…) and some mouth-watering pastries all made in-house. There is also space for Portuguese and international gourmet products on its walls, including a large selection of Kusmi tea.
Special brunch menus are served on Saturday and Sunday mornings, if you prefer to sit at the café instead of buying the bread and some sugary sweets to take home.
It’s located down the street from Largo do Camões in Chiado, and inside is an old staircase which was as beautifully restored as the entrance door salvaged from an old church.

Address: Rua do Alecrim, 54 (Chiado)

Lisbon’s newest restaurant is also a gourmet shop. It’s called “Clara Chiado” and is located in Chiado, on Largo Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, a square surrounded by restaurants and cafés. This one is entered through a “gourmet space,” an area selling gourmet products which includes a large selection of wines, as well as serving some finger food and light meals to nibble on. At the restaurant, the ambience is a little more formal and serves a mostly contemporary Portuguese menu with international influences.
The gourmet area opens early, at 10AM for a late breakfast or light meal, while the restaurant is open for lunch from Monday to Friday from 12PM to 3PM, and once again for dinner between 7:30PM and 11:30PM. On Saturdays it’s only open for dinner and is closed on Sundays.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the opening of the new “Armazéns do Chiado.” In a previous incarnation it was Lisbon’s version of the grand Parisian department stores such as Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, featuring a grand palatial interior (see photo below) and advertising itself in 1894 as the largest store in Portugal and with the best prices. That all came to an end in the great fire of 1988 that devastated much of the Chiado district, and the only thing left standing of “Armazéns” was its façade. The building had to be completely rebuilt and reopened eleven years later not as a department store, but as a shopping mall. Those who knew how it once was, were saddened to see an ordinary-looking modern mall interior take over such a legendary space of the city, but the truth is that this mall is responsible for the renovation of all of Chiado which is today Lisbon’s most vibrant and dynamic neighborhood of the whole historical center.
Its big draw is FNAC, the French megastore that’s the Portuguese favorite for music, books, and electronics. Because it also occasionally hosts cultural events, FNAC has also become a meeting place, and brought much-needed young blood to the center of the city.
What the new “Armazéns” has not lost from the past are the views from its top floor (now a food court), from where visitors can see directly towards the castle on one side, and up the popular Rua Garrett shopping street from the other.
In another part of the building (designed by world-renowned architect Siza Vieira) is Hotel do Chiado, one of the most recommended in the city, if only for its breathtaking views and terrace bar.

There has been a new kind of restaurant opening around the world in the last few years, and it’s just arrived in Lisbon. That type of restaurant is one where only raw food is served and Lisbon’s first is called “Stephens Cru Bar.” It’s found in the Chiado district, in a building formerly occupied by a shop, with 18th-century stone walls and arches. Those are the only things of the past, as the décor and the menu were created for modern palates. The space also includes a bar area, while the restaurant dining area is divided between two levels.
The hoped ambiance is that of a lounge-restaurant for groups to meet for drinks and/or share a few dishes to the sound of background music (there is a live DJ on weekends).
On the menu you’ll find anything that can be eaten raw (the exception being the rice that completes the sushi). So there are carpaccios, salads, and of course the sushi, as well as cocktails for those who just want to chill out with a drink.
However, those who prefer their food straight out of the oven have the “Alecrim Às Flores” restaurant next door which belongs to the same team, and serves a mixture of Mediterranean and traditional Portuguese cuisine.

Address: Rua das Flores, 8
Phone: 21 324 0224
Hours: 7:30PM-1:30AM Monday to Saturday (closed Sundays)

It was closed for over two decades, but a church in the heart of Lisbon has just reopened. It was damaged in the great fire of 1988 that devastated much of the neighborhood, and only now did it have its interior restored. Not everything has been fully renovated but its ceiling and much of the altar and walls are now in complete public view.
The church is called Igreja do Sacramento and it’s found on a street of the same name in the Chiado district, just steps from the ruins of Carmo Convent. It dates from the 17th century, had additional works in the 18th, and includes some beautiful paintings in the ceiling dating from 1805. The damage if suffered over the last twenty years was not just due to the fire of 88 but also because of work underneath its foundation as Lisbon’s metro dug its tunnels in the expansion of its lines.
This church also has a crypt with mummified bodies, and it’s the only church in Lisbon facing East where the sun rises. Another curiosity is that its religious services on Sundays at 6PM will be conducted in Latin!