Price, location, and positive reviews from past guests were the selling points for the hotels and hostels most booked in 2009 through GoLisbon.com. Looking at the top 5 hotels, they average an 8.3 out of a possible 10 rating from past guests and are all centrally located or with easy access to and from the airport. Three of them are located downtown, with the relatively new Vincci Baixa having already claimed a spot in the top 5. What they all also have in common is their price range, with double rooms at below 100 euros throughout most of the year, and often going for as low as 60 euros. Their positive rating means that their strongest selling point is good value for money but their locations are also a plus.
In our hostel bookings the ratings from previous visitors were also important to attract new guests, with the top 5 hostels averaging a 93.5% approval. The most booked hostel was the gay-friendly Pouso dos Anjos Guesthouse followed by Lisbon Story Guesthouse and Travellers House in the Baixa, downtown district.
GoLisbon also offers apartment bookings, all located in the most central and charming historical neighborhoods, as well as pousadas which this year attracted a larger number of travelers. Below is the top 5 hotels and hostels, showing their percentage of all bookings made through GoLisbon.com:

TOP 5 HOTELS
1. Altis Park 6%
2. Radisson SAS Lisboa 5%
2. Residencial Florescente 5%
4. VIP Inn Veneza 3.1%
5. Vincci Baixa 2.9%

TOP 5 HOSTELS
1. Pouso dos Anjos Guesthouse 10%
2. Lisbon Story Guesthouse 6.5%
3. Travellers House 6.1%
4. Alfama Patio 3.4%
5. Lisbon Poets 3%
5. Oasis Backpackers Mansion 3%
5. Lisbon Old Town Hostel 3%

2009 was a great year for Lisbon and a great year for GoLisbon.com. We were recommended in Lonely Planet, New York magazine, and London’s The Times, and currently have quite a large number of followers who use this site as their primary source for Lisbon (and Portugal)-related news. According to Google, GoLisbon ranks higher than even the official Lisbon tourism site, so as the most visited and complete tool for Lisbon and Portugal information, we hope to remain a relevant and trusted source throughout 2010.
Below is a list of the 25 biggest news, or the most visited or Twittered posts of GoLisbon Blog throughout 2009, in case you missed any of it:

1. Lisbon’s Twin City
2. The First Dog and the First Photographer
3. The Eyeful Tower
4. A Long Luxurious Weekend
5. The Portuguese Bombshell
6. The 10 Newest Shops in Bairro Alto
7. A Lisbon-style Las Vegas
8. Lisbon’s “haven for the artsy set”
9. “One of the coolest cities in Europe”
10. Lisbon’s Most Graphic Photos: From a Peep Show to a Public Urinal
11. The 7 Portuguese Wonders of the World
12. Hollywood moving to Portugal
13. Old is the New New in Lisbon
14. 5 Alternatives to Lisbon’s Beaches
15. Lisbon is the Setting of Upcoming Brad Pitt and Al Pacino Movie
16. A Trip to the Azores
17. Portugal’s Most Famous Product You’ve Never Heard Of
18. Lisbon Wins Europe’s Best Destination in the World Travel Awards
19. Lisbon’s 5 Best Brunches
20. The Portuguese Diamond: The World’s Most Valuable Gem and Other Portuguese Treasures
21. The Chef of the Year and a new Michelin star
22. Lisbon in New York – Part II
23. Lisbon (and GoLisbon) in “New York” Magazine
24. Lisbon 2000-2009: The Decade in Review
25. A Lisbon shopping list: 10 Shops for your Gifts

GoLisbon.com offers the most Lisbon accommodation choices online, including hotels, hostels, and apartments. Most of those apartments are found in the most central and historical neighborhoods, but now we’ve just added a few in the former Expo site, Parque Das Nações. That district was born in the last decade and that’s where you’ll find the most modern and futuristic architecture in the city. Many of those buildings offer apartments using the latest technology and many have fantastic river views. Some of them are available for tourists to enjoy, and range from 55 to 125 euros on low season. The center of the city is just a metro ride away, and the airport is reached in about 10 minutes. Check our Lisbon apartments page and click on “Near the Expo/Parque das Nações” on the menu you’ll see on the left: Lisbon Apartments

It’s May 1st — time to start thinking about the summer! GoLisbon has just updated its Lisbon Calendar of Events, listing the city’s upcoming concerts. If you’ll be in the Portuguese capital this summer, you’ll be able to catch shows by Beyonce, ACDC, Elton John, Katy Perry (who we just told you is of Portuguese descent), Kylie Minogue, Metallica and Dave Matthews Band at the Optimus festival, The Eagles, Anastacia, and more. In the upcoming weeks other names will surely be announced, so keep checking GoLisbon’s Calendar of Events throughout the season.

You can also get ticket information through that page, as well as know how and where you can catch this season’s final football/soccer games of Portugal’s SuperLiga.
Enjoy the shows!

Now you can follow Go Lisbon’s Lisbon (and Portugal) updates on Twitter!
Find us at twitter.com/golisbon!

London’s The Times has just published an article about Lisbon in its travel section where the writer goes through the Portuguese capital following suggestions found on the internet.
Of course GoLisbon.com was one of the sources of inspiration, which included helping the author find the Fabulas Café we just told you about here, which turned out to be her favorite lunch spot: “This cafe/bar/art gallery/internet cafe is not somewhere I’d have stumbled on, so thanks to golisbon.com for finding my favourite lunch spot.”

She also goes into the charming Casa das Velas do Loreto shop thanks to Go Lisbon, where she ended up buying “a perfect gift,” and stops at Royal Café, also recommended on this website.
GoLisbon.com also persuaded her to visit the Santa Justa Elevator, which she found “worthwhile,” just another example of how GoLisbon.com continues to be the most complete and up-to-date guide to Lisbon, and why it’s the #1 source for tourist information about the city.
You can read the entire Times article here.

Lisbon’s latest guidebook is “Lisbon Encounter” published last January by Lonely Planet. It’s a pocket-sized book that should now be reaching most bookstores around the world, highlighting the city’s attractions by neighborhood, while telling you what to see, where to shop, eat, and play. It starts with a special top 10 section recommending that you get lost in Alfama, bar-crawl in Bairro Alto, see the city on tram 28, drink a Ginginha, visit the Oceanarium, admire Jeronimos Monastery, taste the special pastries, stop at the viewpoints, see the colonial treasures of the Orient Museum, and finally, head to Sintra’s palaces.

In between all of this it presents some suggested itineraries and speaks with locals who share their secrets. The final chapter is a Lisbon history lesson and practical city information, where GoLisbon.com is listed as a handy site for pre-trip planning: “(GoLisbon is) packed with up-to-date info on sightseeing, eating, nightlife and events.” If you’re reading this, you’ve already found GoLisbon, but although you can print out the site’s pages and take them with you as a guidebook substitute, if you still want a guidebook companion, the latest Lonely Planet publication is an equally good source.

After having told you which hotels and hostels got the most bookings through GoLisbon.com last year, we must also tell you that almost as many visitors book apartments as they do hotels. Although the majority of Lisbon’s hotels are located uptown in the business districts, most of the apartments rented to tourists are found in the very center of the city. GoLisbon.com offers a variety of apartments in the downtown (Baixa) and Chiado districts, but also in the picturesque Alfama neighborhood just a short walk or tram ride away.
They accommodate between 2 and 8 people, and are the ideal choice for families, groups of friends, or simply someone wishing to stay in a cosier, more private space.

The neighborhood you choose to stay in depends on what you’re looking to do in the city. Young travelers wishing to be close to Lisbon’s nightlife should look for an apartment in Bairro Alto or Chiado. Those looking to experience the city as a local, often choose Alfama. For easy access to sightseeing, the choice is any of the apartments in Baixa.

With many of the city’s decaying buildings in these areas finally being renovated and often bought by foreigners, there’s an increasing number of modern, fully-furnished apartments being rented to tourists in Lisbon. And everyone wins with this situation — the city has its buildings cleaned up, people make money out of their investments, and tourists can have the advantage of having a home away from home at a lower price than they’d pay at a standard hotel.

For all the apartments available for bookings, see our Lisbon apartments section.

Yesterday we told you which were the top 5 hotels booked through GoLisbon.com in 2008. Today we can tell you which 5 hostels were the favorites among GoLisbon clients last year.

Young independent travelers and backpackers may have heard that Lisbon’s Travellers House has been distinguished as one of the best hostels in the world, and perhaps for that reason it’s become the most popular choice on this website.

In second place was a relative newcomer, Lisbon Story Guesthouse, probably due to its excellent location by Rossio Square and its rooms telling the story of Lisbon.

Coming in third was the Lisbon Poets Hostel, perhaps because of its average 93.3% rating from past guests or its location just steps away from Chiado.

Not too far away is the Oasis Backpackers Mansion, and that was the fourth most popular choice among GoLisbon visitors. Its current 96.8% rating, not to mention its wonderful atmosphere, will surely continue to attract more bookings throughout this new year.

Oasis Backpackers was closely followed by Black and White Hostel, the fifth best-selling choice. Featuring one of the most attractive and colorful interiors in Lisbon, it also has a 90.5% average rating to convince potential guests to go ahead with their bookings.

Tying it with the exact same number of bookings to also make it the 5th most popular hostel was Lisbon Vintage, located uptown but with very easy access from the airport and to the center of the city.

See all of GoLisbon’s hostels, or perhaps you’d rather stay in the privacy of your own apartment. You may also prefer a hotel, and as you may have seen by now, GoLisbon.com offers all types of accommodation in Lisbon and all of Portugal, including the romantic pousadas.

The American/Texan newspaper Dallas Daily News has published an article about Lisbon written by the famous travel writer Rick Steves. Famous for his TV series “Rick Steves’ Europe” and his guidebooks, Steves returns to Europe every year looking for all that’s changed, all that’s new, and all that remains the same in the Old Continent.

On his most recent trip to Lisbon, he decided to experience Fado as the locals do. Although that’s nearly impossible (Fado these days is more of a tourist trap than an authentic experience), and the article itself is a little romanticized, GoLisbon recommends it because Rick Steves also recommends GoLisbon.com at the end of the article

If you’re interested in knowing more about Fado and where to hear it in Lisbon, see our fado section.

To read the full Rick Steves article, click here.