A small guide to Lisbon
SHiFT is only a few days away. Some of the speakers and participants are not from Portugal, so I decided to write A small guide to Lisbon to help them on this visit. It’s small so don’t expect everything to be written here and it’s supposed to be a guide written by me so expect my personal opinion every now and then.
(the Electrico is beautiful and still used in Lisbon - photo by Monguinhas)
Arriving in Lisbon
by air: airport is close to the city (too close in fact). There’s no underground so the best way to get to the center it to get a taxi. It will cost you around 10 euros (extra fee for luggage). You can also get the bus (#44 or #45). It’s cheaper but less convenient.
by train: you’ll probably arrive at Santa Apolónia train station. Get a taxi or a bus to the center.
by car: avoid rush hours (8-10 am and 6-8pm). Find a public park and use the underground or the bus.
(Lisbon is a beautiful city, full of nice people - photo by ivogomes)
Traveling in Lisbon
The best way to get to know Lisbon is to walk. Lisbon has a few hills but nothing is more beautiful than walking the old streets. Sometimes you may need to catch an elevador but that’s just part of the fun.
If you need to, use the underground which is cheap, fast and clean. A journey ticket will cost you 0,70 euros for zone 1 which covers most of the city center. There also a bus network that might be more useful if you’re visiting something not in the underground’s way.
For transport directions get the underground and bus map or access the Google Maps Lisbon Underground mashup.
What to visit in Lisbon
Bairro Alto
Bairro (as it is shortly called by the Portuguese) is one of Lisbon’s trendiest neighborhoods. During the day its narrow streets have a very friendly athmosphere and you can shop around the design shops. But when night comes, the neighborhood gets full of life. Restaurants (some with Fado), bars and discos make this area of the liveliest in town.
Chiado / Baixa
Chiado is where some of the most fashionable shops are located. It also has some very beautiful old cafes where once Lisbon’s intelectual people use to go. Take a look at Brasileira where Eça de Queiroz and Fernando Pessoa were frequent clients. I usually go in and just grab a croissant and drink an expresso, standing in the middle of the crowd can be a bit daunty.
Convento do Carmo was once the largest church in the city but it was almost completely destroyed by the 1755 earthquake. It’s now a beautiful, open-air, set of ruins. Once there, walk down to the Baixa from Chiado or take the Elevador de Santa Justa (or do both!).
(view of the Elevador de Santa Justa - by Batixa)
Baixa is the city’s lower town. It has lots of small shops and cafes around the area. You shouldn’t miss the Praça do Comércio and Rossio which are the main plazas.
Alfama
Alfama is the oldest of Lisbon’s neighborhoods. It has so many narrow streets and small squares that you can spend a whole day just wandering around and admiring the view over the Tagus river.
Just on the top of Alfama, Castelo de São Jorge (the castle) is one of Lisbon’s highest points and the view is accordingly amazing. Nearby, Sé is Lisbon’s cathedral and is worth the visit.
Feira da Ladra is Lisbon’s most famous flee market. It happens on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It’s not that special compared to some of Europe’s flee markets but if you go soon in the morning you can get the feeling of the market which is something, I think, all markets have different. Get there by taking bus #28 or #12.
The Monastery of São Vicente de Fora and the Pantheon of the Bragança dynasty are landmarks of Lisbon and should not be missed. I specially like the amazing 360º view from the Pantheon’s dome.
(the Panteão Nacional dome - photo by Batixa)
Not far away, if you’re into azulejos (tiles) visit the
Museu Nacional do Azulejo for a complete tour on this ancient art. I haven’t been there but I hear it’s very good.
(Azulejos history at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo - photo by Isolano)
If it’s lunch or dinner time and you’re still in the area try one of my favourite resturants: Casanova locate at Cais da Pedra à Bica do Sapato. It’s a more than delicious pizzeria just in front of the Tagus river.
(view of the Tagus from the Pizzeria Casanova - photo by batixa)
Parque das Nações
The 3 km riverside park used to be home to an oil refinery but it has been completely transformed into what it is today because of the Expo98 world fair. Besides de riverside walk there’s also are a few other attractions. I live nearby so I can highly recommend the visit. To get there take the underground to Estação do Oriente.
(The Parque das Nações calm - photo by batixa)
Once there, don’t miss the Ocenarium which has an impressive collection of marine life and makes a very relaxing visit.
From all over the park you can see the Vasco da Gama bridge as it crosses the Tagus river to the south.
(Vasco da Game bridge - photo by batixa)
Avenidade da Liberdade / Parque Eduardo VII
Avenidade da Liberdade is considered to be Lisbon’s most important avenue. It takes around 20 minutes to walk. It’s now home to high-end shops like Louis Vuiton and the likes but it is worth it the visit if you want to walk for a while. At the top of this avenue lies the Parque Eduardo VII which has two very interesting plant houses: the hot and cool houses. Both have a nice athmosphere.
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
It’s one of my favourite places in Lisbon. The building and the gardens of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian are impressives. The Gulbenkian Museum and the Centro de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Center) are very important in terms of cultural Lisbon and should be visited with that in mind. There’s also a small cafe that serves very good (and cheap) food.
(sculpture from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian gardens - by Sophie)
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga is Portugal’s national gallery. It holds an impressive set of works that date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century.
Belem
The best way to reach Belem is to take the tram (#15) or bus from Gulbenkian Museum (#51). Belem has lots of intersting things to visit and you can easily spend a day there.
The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos is a magnificent manueline monastery that dates back to 1500. A few metres closer to the river lies the Torre the Belem (which once controlled the entrance to the port). Both are represent the great discovery of a sea route to the Orient by Vasco da Gama.
Located between the two previous monuments, Centro Cultural de Belem is an important cultural center. Besides the Design Museum it also presents some cultural exhibitions and concerts.
Every time I go to Belem I can’t return without going through the Pasteis de Belem factory where anyone can try some of the most delicious cakes man has ever made. thankfully, boxes of 6 are available to buy!
Around Lisbon
There are a lot of good places to visit if you decide to leave Lisbon for a few hours. I highly recommend Sintra, Estoril, Cascais and Setubal are some of most interesting. If you dedide to visit only one, definitely try Sintra.
Sintra is one of the most beautiful Portuguese villages. Lots of trees cover the old villas that make up the character of Sintra. There are many thing to visit there.
In the village centre try the Palacio Nacional and admire the giant chimneys that grow from the kithcens. On the way to the fantastic Palacio da Pena don’t miss the ruined Castelo dos Mouros.
(Palacio Nacional and its impressive chimneys - photo by Batixa)
Sill in Sintra, visit the Quinta da Regaleira where a set of tunnels lead the visitors from a spiral well to a distant lake. Really, really nice.
More information
VisitPortugal covers Lisboa
Turistic Association of Lisbon
A very complete source of information over at GoLisbon.com
There are a also few books about Lisbon. I own The Rough Guide to Portugal (also online) and it’s really good, so I can highly recommend it. There’s also A Hedonist’s Guide to Lisbon and Lonely Planet Portugal or if you’re into french, Guide du Routard Portugal.
Enjoy your visit to Lisbon!
Note: those of you who read this and think you can add something. Please do so in the comments below. Thank you.
comments
35 Responses to “A small guide to Lisbon”
Leave a Reply
-
I'm André Ribeirinho, an entrepreneur in Lisbon, Portugal. I'm a co-founder of wine community Adegga.com and AVIN (ISBN of Wine). I'm also an advisor at Tarpipe and an organizer at SHiFT. I do Web Consulting and give Wine and Social Media Workshops.
-
my startup
Adegga lets you track the wines you are drinking and share your wine discoveries with the community. -
I support
-
-
Special Posts
-
Twitter updates
-
Where
-
Mobile
-
Blogroll
- // lisbonlab // v.2
- /Ambivalence
- /Message
- @rgumente
- A VC
- AlgarveBuzz
- ballpark.ch - english
- blog da batixa
- blog.delaranja.com
- blog.luís.soares
- bootstrapping.net
- Centopeia
- Chama
- Charlene Li’s Blog
- Comparison Engines
- Crowdstorm
- cruel to be kind
- david galipeau information flow\how
- Exciting Commerce
- Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog
- FLYING SEEDS
- Genuine VC
- GigaOM - Om Malik
- Jacques FROISSANT Altaïde
- Joel on Software
- kelblog
- LibraryThing
- LIFT06 || Conference blog
- Loic Le Meur Blog
- Londonist
- Lunch over IP
- Mashable
- Michel de Guilhermier’s Blog
- Micro Persuasion
- Nicolas Clairembault
- O meu cantinho
- O’Reilly Radar
- onstartups.com
- Planeta Asterisco: Tudo o que lhe interessa
- plasticbag.org
- Read/Write Web
- Seth’s Blog
- Signal vs. Noise
- SiliconBeat
- Simplice.net
- Social Customer
- TechCrunch
- The REthink Wine Blog
- The Winery Web Site Report
- Thing-ology (LibraryThing’s ideas blog)
- Union Square Ventures
- vanda silva
- Vida colectiva
- Vinography: a wine blog
- Weblog de Eduardo Manchón
- WeBreakStuff
Olá André,
Nice work
Não sou alfacinha, e apesar de trabalhar em Lisboa achei este guia muito útil. Gosto sempre de ouvir as sugestões de rotas de quem conhece outros cantinhos e de novos locais para comer
Olá Mónica.
Thanks for you nice words!
André
Nice guide…
Just a hint about taking a taxi at the airport. If the queue is too long at the arrivals you just have to go upstrairs to the departures area and take a taxi there!
Good hint Pedro. Thanks!
Very nice guide, good job!
This is a great little guide, being born in Lisbon, growing up in Cascais and now living in the US, I often try and tell my friends how wonderful of a city Lisbon is and just how beautiful of a country Portugal really is.
Thanks for the writing this post.
Why not share this also in the wikitravel website? It’s a partner of wikipedia but with articles targeted at tourists. I’m sure many more would appreciate the info and the beautiful pics:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Lisboa
Cheers.
Joao
Good idea Joao!
really enjoyed this site as I am right in Lisbon at the moment and have taken some notes of where I will go from it…
tried to walk along the Tagus river today but couldn’t persevere as just arrived and was too difficult to find way on to it…
tomorrow is after all another day as what famous movie person said?
[...] One to add more stuff to the notes from A small guide to Lisbon and one to add all the notes I have been collecting from my journeys in London. [...]
[...] Last year, I’ve also written a A small guide to Lisbon which guides people through some of my favorite Lisbon places. technorati:lisboa, lisbonShare This [...]
[...] - I created an Archives page with a list of all the articles at blog.delaranja.com. - I removed a lot of unnecessary stuff from the sidebar: the latest posts list, the recent comments list and daily posts top list. - I redesigned the tag cloud. Instead of color and size prominence, popular tags now have only font size distinction. - Search box is not on the top of the first sidebar column. - Important links have a separate list. There are 4 links. The list of all articles by date, the RSS Feed, a link to who links to this blog and a special link to the article A small guide to Lisbon - The list of links to blogs I read is now called Conversation. - The photos are now more visible in the space left empty by the previous links. - There’s a new sidebar section called Familyvertising where I give back some link love. [...]
Very nice guide. I was just about to write something similar, but -assuming your kind approval- I just linked to your blog:
http://derherrmoellertravels.blogspot.com/2007/02/small-guide-to-lisbon.html
Best,
derherrmoeller
Very good tips André, I lived in Lisbon for 3 years and it is a great place for people to visit. Don’t forget the fantastic church at Estrela and take the number 28 tram for a great view of old Lisbon.
Now I live down the coast in Sintra near Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point of mainland Europe and love the place so much I produced my own guide.
I love walking and this has given me the motivation to go back to Lisbon this summer to discover more about the history.
Hello Andre! You did not mention the best residential neighborhoods in Lisbon. Would you mind telling us about it, please?
Thanks!
[...] be getting a thing for Lisbon (who wouldn’t?). Next time you come (SHiFT?) take a look at my Small Guide to Lisbon and see what great places this amazing city has to [...]
[...] Ines Eiban und Alexander Fallier haben am 9.5.08 und 10.5.08 am OFFF Festival in Lissabon teilgenommen. [...]
Cultural Agenda of Lisbon = Cultural map of Lisbon. Daily updates for all theatres. Look at: http://cultmap.googlepages.com.
[...] Lisbon and Portugal I am referring to blogposts by others (a Lisbon blogger, not related to KM4dev) A small guide to Lisbon by André Ribeirinho. This is literally that: a small guide to Lisbon. No Comments Leave a [...]
The view from the Elevador is just fantastic. Thanks for such a nice photo!
[...] pizzaria Casanova, junto a Santa Apolónia, restaurante no qual vamos no mínimo 2 a 3 vezes todos os verões e que [...]
[...] September 8, 2008 by dragon http://blog.delaranja.com/a-small-guide-to-lisbon/ [...]
[...] A chance to visit one of Europe’s most historic cities - Lisboa! [...]
Just some music and nightlife tips to enjoy Lisbon:
- Lux Disco
- Fado concert at Chapito
- Sunset at Adamastor
- Jazz at Ondajazz
- a night in Bairro Alto
- concert or dance night at Music Box
- spend a night in CCB (Centro Cultural Belem)
I’m expert on it….believe me!
Have fun!!!
thank you so much for the info. I going to be in lisbon on a layover for a few hrs at least this will give me something to do and explore…
[...] A small guide to Lisbon : blog.delaranja.com [...]
I can only agree on what has been said here on this page…
Lisbon is sooooooooo beautiful….We went there last year, bought the tickets online and the hotel was more than any1 could have expected…..Extraordinary…
found the offers on this website: http://www.secretplaces.com
And in our case was it really a secret place/treasure.
Hope I could help you out with my advice!
Bye!
hello, I’ m from istanbul.
in 14 june 20008, I listen very nice concert in Castle of São Jorge.
unfortunately I colud’nt remember group and singer name. If anybody knows these group or singer name please inform me.
thanks,
ismail
does anyone know the fastest/cheapest way to get from Lisbon airport to Estoril? i will be visiting in April.
@kush: there are a couple of options.
1) A special bus from airport to Cascais (near Estoril). I think it’s around 20€.
2) Take a Táxi which should set you back €30.
3) Public transportation is the cheapest but the one that takes longer (although it is quite scenic). Take the bus from the airport to “Cais do Sodré” and then the Train to Estoril.
Hope it helps!
Ola Andre,
I’m enjoying your small guide to Lisbon. I’m a kiwi living in Australia and am thinking of visiting Lisbon in the New Year. I realise it is the winter season but can you share some of your thoughts of Lisbon at that time of year. If it’s just cold and not raining I can rug up and enjoy the atmosphere drinking strong bica, portuguese wines and eating lots of yummy seafood.
Many thanks,
Sandra
Olá Sandra, good wines and good are available all year round so you want miss that for sure. New year’s eve is normally pretty nice with plenty of places to party around town or the Algarve (2 hour drive) if you feel like partying in the beach. Hope it helps!
Hi Andre - Emidio gave us this blog for your guide to Lisbon which we shall be using. We enjoyed meeting you both at the Real Palacio wine tasting last evening and have added our first wine to your site. Chosen totally by accident, grape totally unknown, producer also not noted, we simply drank and enjoyed an excellent wine in a small restaurant near the hotel. - we registered as AnnDen - we wish you success in the adegga venture. Best Regards Ann and Dennis
What about Santos? This area is always understimated and has loads of things to see!!
regards,
Flavio