Museums and monuments, palaces and parks, castles and clubs, sandy beaches
and sleek bars: Lisbon and surroundings offer a variety of attractions, as it grows as one of the top cities to visit in Europe.
Ideally you'd have more than one week to experience it all, but chances are
you'll have much less than that. The Belem district
alone deserves an entire day or more, with so many glorious monuments and
fascinating museums, but Alfama should
also be explored unhurriedly, with its number of picturesque lanes, viewpoints,
and churches. To help you manage your time, we have created a few
itineraries.
We suggest you start with the must-sees and squeeze in your personal
interests, whether it's specialist museums or lying on the beach.
For more comprehensive
details on what to see, take a look at our main sightseeing page and our Best of Lisbon
guide.
Get FREE or reduced admission to most of Lisbon's attractions and ride the city's metro, buses, and trams for FREE with the Lisboa Card.
Day 1: Start your day downtown, down Avenida
da Liberdade to Rossio Square
before strolling through the pedestrianised Rua Augusta
to Comercio
Square, where you can hop on tram 15 to Belem.
Go inside the cloisters of Jeronimos
Monastery and take a break at Antiga Confeitaria de
Belem to have one of its legendary custard tarts.
Then take the
underpass from the monastery's gardens to cross the road to the Discoveries
Monument. Walk along the waterfront from there to Belem
Tower.
Return down the same road and choose among the several museums
nearby - the Coaches
Museum, the MAAT, and the Berardo
Museum are the favorites, while the Maritime
Museum is a good choice if you become curious about Portugal's maritime
past.
For lunch you may want to consider one of the international
restaurants in Docas (take the
train from Belem station to Alcantara-Mar, and walk in the direction of 25 de Abril
Bridge), or if you decide to stay in Belem to explore
one more museum or perhaps to visit Ajuda
Palace, there are good-value traditional Portuguese restaurants in the
pretty row of buildings along Rua Vieira Portuense facing the park between
the monastery and Belem
Palace.
Back downtown, walk up
Chiado
and have some coffee or a refreshing drink at the Brasileira
café or Cafe Benard.
Walk up to São Roque
Church for its splendid baroque chapels (and if you didn't decide to
stay in Belem for the afternoon, there is still time to visit the gothic ruins and
eclectic museum of Carmo
Church), followed by a stop at Miradouro
de São Pedro de Alcantara for the sunset over the city.
It's now
dinnertime, so step into the cobbled Bairro Alto
streets and choose among the various restaurants. After
a long, relaxed dinner, join the locals bar-hopping through
the neighborhood. If it's a Friday or Saturday night, you will stumble
across what has to be Europe's biggest bar crawl.
Day 2: Take the metro to Parque das
Naçõs and visit the Oceanarium.
Walk along the waterfront to admire the impressive modern architecture of
the surroundings (including the seemingly-endless Vasco
da Gama Bridge), before heading to Alfama. Wander
around the maze of narrow streets, stopping at the viewpoints
before walking up to the castle. You may
want to choose to visit the Tile Museum
(take a taxi) or São Vicente de
Fora Monastery,
or go straight to the castle if it's
now late afternoon - you don't want to miss the sunset as you stand above
the city. If you did not have lunch at the popular docas when you
visited Belem, it's perhaps a good idea to head there for dinner today.
Day 3: The third day could be one of art and culture. Start at
the Gulbenkian
Museum, where you can spend half a day admiring its treasures and relaxing
in its pleasant gardens.
After lunch, you may want to continue admiring art, this time at the Ancient
Art Museum. Take a tram back downtown, where
you can decide where to go for dinner (see our restaurant
recommendations).
To end your Lisbon visit, go for some
late-night Fado.
Note: if you follow this 3-day itinerary for a long weekend, and the
third day is therefore a Monday, invert the second and third day
recommendations above, since the museums are closed on Mondays. You can
also easily spend an entire day or more in Belem, depending
on your interest in seeing its museums. A visit to the Coaches
Museum, Berardo
Museum, and Maritime
Museum takes about one hour each. For Ajuda
Palace, plan about 90 minutes.
Four days in Lisbon allows you to go outside the city and visit Sintra. Follow the 3-day itinerary above and on the last day take the train to Sintra, where you should remain for the entire day. If you are staying even longer, daytrips to Cascais and Estoril or Obidos are also recommended, or if you enjoy palaces and architecture, head to Mafra for its palace, a baroque masterpiece.
Day 1: With only two days in Lisbon, you obviously don't have time to
visit a large number of monuments and museums. Concentrate on the main
highlights, starting in the Belem district,
reached by tram 15. It departs from downtown, where
you can also take time to admire the city's main squares (Rossio and Comercio
Square) and pedestrian streets (Rua
Augusta).
Once in Belem,
head straight to the Jeronimos
Monastery, then take the underpass to the Discoveries
Monument, and walk to Belem
Tower. Take tram 15 once again, this time in the opposite direction,
and once back downtown, walk up
to Alfama.
Rest at one of its viewpoints
and end up at the castle. At the
end of the day take a taxi or the train from Cais do Sodre station to
Alcantara-Mar's Docas, or, if you prefer a cultural experience, head to a Fado restaurant.
Day 2: On the second day take the metro to Parque das
Naçõs and visit the Oceanarium.
Stop to admire the futuristic architecture of the district, and head back to
the metro, getting off at the São Sebastião stop for the Gulbenkian
Museum.
End your Lisbon visit with a night out in Bairro Alto,
first for dinner, then for some drinks as you bar-hop through this
old quarter.
An alternative to the Oceanarium or the Gulbenkian
Museum is a quick, half-day trip to Sintra (to
visit Pena Palace), about a 40-minute train ride away.
Lisbon has become increasingly popular as a cruise destination, and many
visitors arriving by sea only have one day to explore the city. If that's
your case, head straight to the Belem district
and go inside the Jeronimos
Monastery's church and cloisters, and admire the Discoveries
Monument and Belem Tower
from the outside.
Take tram 15 to Baixa (downtown), walk
from Comercio
Square through Rua Augusta
to Rossio
Square before heading to Alfama and St. George's
Castle for the late-afternoon glow over the city. If it's not yet time
to return to the ship, walk through Chiado to Bairro Alto
for a light meal or dinner, before heading to Miradouro
de São Pedro de Alcantara and bidding farewell to the city from above.
Couples on honeymoon or on a romantic holiday will find plenty of charming and memorable spots in Lisbon, from the viewpoints and the castle (always popular with local lovers), to the narrow alleys of Alfama and a dinner to the sounds of Fado. The fairytale carriages of the Coaches Museum and the spirit of the Age of Discovery in Jeronimos Monastery and Belem Tower can also be enchanting, as is the entire town of Sintra. An overnight stay in Sintra is strongly recommended for couples, while the castle pousada in Obidos is also worth checking out. Villages don't come any more romantic than Obidos, while for those looking for some seaside romance, Cascais is within very easy access from the capital.
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