If a trip to the beautiful city of Lisbon might be on your radar, then we’ll most certainly have
you covered here. We’ll be looking at navigating around the city, saving some time by skipping all
those queues, how to get the most from the local cuisine, where’s the best location for your hotel,
and a bunch of suggestions for visiting the popular day trip to Sintra. I’ve ordered
everything into chapters so feel free to jump to the section, that’s most useful for you.
So number 1, let’s talk about the 2 best ways of getting around the city. There’s the Viva card
which acts like a pre paid top up travel pass. And the Lisbon Card which offers unlimited travel
but also includes many of the most popular attractions that you might be visiting.
You can purchase the Viva card from the machines at the airport or subsequent stations,
for just 50 cents. Here you can decide how many up front journeys you want to pay for,
or you can simply add a 24 hour pass. They can then be used on metro lines, buses,
funiculars, trams, ferrys and some train routes.
This is a great way to keep on top of what you’re spending and each journey works out
as half price when compared to just paying in cash. But it may mean sometimes waiting
in line for top ups whenever you run out of your pre paid journeys.
The only other downside I saw, was this massive queue at the airport
when everyone was trying to buy the card for the first time and top it up. But overall,
it’s usually the most affordable way to get around Lisbon.
The other option is the Lisbon Card, which we opted for. This can be used over a 24,
48 or 72 hour duration. It can be purchased before arrival and then
activated at the airport, which for us at least, had much less of a line for pickup.
The best thing about this ticket, was the convenience of never having
to think about topping up or waiting to top up during our entire stay. It also included
entry for Lisbon’s most popular attractions, which we were planning on visiting anyway,
so worked out cheaper than buying everything separately. I’ve linked the Lisbon Card in
the description below and it should be appearing in the top right of your screen now.
One of Lisbons most popular and uniques sites is the Santa Justa Lift. But whilst it
might give you wonderful views of the city, I’m not so sure they’re worth the up to 45
minute wait time. So I wanted to share a way you can actually a skip all of this.
Simply search and follow the directions for Carmo Convent, which is 5 minute walk from the Lift,
and you’ll end up here. Then, this alley to the right hand side will lead you onto the
same viewing platform but without wasting your time in the queue. I almost wanted to
yell at everyone below to help them but I feared they would just assume I was insane.
I did read online that you need to pay €1.50 to access the platform this way, but for us,
that wasn’t the case and everything was totally open and free. It also has the
bonus that if you still want to experience the lift, taking a trip down is a lot less crowded
than when it leaves full from the bottom, so it’s a win for all your lift enthusiasts also.
Another popular attraction is Tram 28, which allows you to experience the city
as if you’ve been transported back in time. It’s certainly a unique journey
but here’s a couple of tips that should make it a little smoother.
The first is that it can get really busy, even in the shoulder month we visited. A few times
when it passed us by, it was standing room only, which, at that point, it becomes less
of an attraction, and just really, holding onto a handrail and trying not to fall over.
So the easiest way to avoid the crowds is just to visit early in the morning or after 9pm.
This was 8am, and it meant we had a mostly empty carriage, and was a more relaxing,
enjoyable trip than if we were in commuter mode. In terms of where to join the route, It’s best
and therefore longest queues is from the first stop, which then allows you to grab a window seat.
Our hotel was only a 5 minute walk away so it was a no brainer to begin here. But, if you’re near
the end of the line, I’ve read that it’s a much quieter journey going in the opposite direction
so should be easier to get a seat from there. I’ve linked the official transport page in the
description if you want to see every stop along the route, so you can see what’s best for you.
As for where to stay in Lisbon, most of my saved places on Google Maps were in Baixa
Chiado. So anywhere between these points is going to be super central and walkable.
So because of that, I ended up really loving the location of our hotel,
as it was central but still on a quiet street. It was a simple 30 minutes from the airport via the
Metro. It was a 5 minutes walk from the Santa Justa Lift which is where most of the shops
and touristy places are. As mentioned, it was 5 minutes from Tram 28, and also Rossio Station,
which is the main train line that takes you into Sintra, a popular day trip location.
I’ve linked where we stayed in the card popping up now and in the description,
which helps the channel if you book ANY hotel after visiting.
Despite looking fancy, the hotel itself was somehow cheaper than the nearby ones, but overall,
it just had a really good polish to it. For example, the mirror here doubled as a TV, there
was a plug inside the safe so you could charge your stuff whilst keeping it secure. The curtains
were automatic, we had super fast wifi, the door handles lit up green when you turned off do no
disturb, it was just a generally well thought out, modern hotel and we had zero complaints.
As for how much time to spend in Lisbon, we had 4 full days,
which for us was perfect so that’s my personal suggestion. But we totally could have spent
a week here to be honest as there were still a few day trips and places we didn’t get to visit.
For visiting mainland Portugal itself, you could easily spend 2 weeks in this country,
travelling north and south. As mentioned at the end of the Lisbon travel vlog we
next took a domestic flight to Madeira, which is a beautiful Portuguese island.
That video will be shared here soon so please keep an eye out for it once it’s ready.
But this combination of city break and island
escape was a great pairing and something I’d suggest as an option when visiting.
Weather wise, since its one of the most southern cities in Europe, Lisbons average temperature
fares pretty well year round, but November to March are the wettest times to visit.
April to September are great in general but May, June and September stand out as winners,
without it being too hot, rainy or during peak season. We visited in October,
and when the sun was out, it was a perfect temperature, but it did rain about a third
of the time, which was in keeping with this chart, and makes me feel vindicated.
Now, I covered a bunch of great food in the main travel vlog, so check that out for the complete
list but one of our favourite restaurants I didn’t show, was Da Prata 52. This is a Portuguese tapas
style eatery and to give you a bit of flavour, we ordered the cottage cheese pastries with pumpkin,
octopus risotto, goat meat croquettes with sweet chilli sauce which worked really well together,
diced beef, and shrimps in coconut milk, with the sauce here being particularly amazing.
We ended up reserving this restaurant a day or two in advance, as we noticed they were booking up,
but you can also wait for a table if it’s busy. We booked using The Fork app,
which we found was how most restaurants had set up their online reservations. The
app also seems to regularly offer discounts of up to 50% so is worth keeping an eye on.
Whilst we’re on the subject of food, if you’re in Belem, you simply have to eat at least one
Pastel de nata at the famous Pasteis de Belem. My main tip here is just to be
aware that there are two queues on arrival. The instinct is to join the big long line,
on the right hand side but this is actually just for takeaway. There’s also an entrance to the left
that surprisingly acts like a Tardis, in that it opens up and goes on far longer than you assume.
The other popular Portuguese appetiser I wasn’t able to showcase in the main vlog was the pastel
de bacalhau. This Codfish cake, sprinkled in salt, mixed with eggs, parsley and surrounded
by hot baked potato was exactly to my taste. Especially when the particular chain we visited,
adds a dollop of runny cheese into the mix, and then neatly serves it up with a glass of
sweet Port, another Portuguese staple which as you can see here, I certainly enjoyed.
In terms of the overall costs of visiting Lisbon, when compared to other similar European capitals,
I found it to be average to below average in price. For example, transport was average or cheap
to use. Attractions within Lisbon, mostly ranged from 3 to 10 Euros and the city itself is lovely
enough to just walk around and experience for free if you’re on a budget. For the evening meals, do
keep in mind that we went to top rated restaurants on Google Maps and they ranged from €55 to €80.
The number one day trip from Lisbon is to the town of Sintra and its impressive Pena Palace. And yes,
even though weather wise, we were let down a lot, I’d say Sintra is worth the trip when the sky
behaves. Again, have a watch of the main travel vlog on the Suitcase Monkey channel for what we
got up to on the day. Again, have a watch of the main travel vlog for what we got up to on the day.
So, to get to this charming town, the easiest means is by train and the Rossio Station to
be specific. The journey takes about 45 minutes and was included with our Lisbon
Card. After pulling into Sintra Station, you just need to take the 434 bus which
departs from just outside. The 434 runs a circulate route in one direction and takes
about 20 minutes to get to Pena Palace. The buses runs 4 times an hour and you
can buy your ticket as you board. We bought the 24 hour bus pass for €11.50, which gave
us unlimited travel on all local routes, but there is also a return ticket for around €7.
The first stop is the Castle walk and we spent about an hour here. From
there we returned back to the bus to take us to the palace
or we could have just walked about 10 minutes up the steady incline.
Now, I would definitely recommend to pre book your tickets for Pena Palace. The
queues here were crazy but we literally just walked to the front of the entrance
and had our tickets scanned. I’ll link the pre booked tickets in the pop up appearing
now in the top right and in the description below to check them if you’re interested.
If you’re ever given the option to add on a shuttle bus to “skip the 30 minute walk from the
entrance to the Palace”. Definitely skip this this option unless you have difficulties walking. The
30 minute walk wasn’t that steep and was easily done in 7 minutes so it’s quite the exaggeration.
Everything here is time slotted so if you have the 12:30 ticket,
you can join the line 30 minutes before and then you’ll be in by 12:30.
But it was really busy when we were here. I’m not sure if it was super extra crowded
because it was literally at peak time of the day, or if this is just what’s it’s like to
get inside. Arriving for the opening at 9:30 or mid afternoon seems to be less crowded but
please let me know how your experiences have gone as I’d be interested to hear.
For us though, the inside of the palace was certainly not the highlight, especially if the
weather had been better outside. Maybe it’s because we live in a country where there’s
a bunch of palaces and castles already, and so the interior was a bit more of what
we’ve seen already in England. So if there is a massive wait and you’re not feeling up to it,
I don’t think you’d be missing out if you instead spent you time marvelling
at the beautiful exterior, views and acres of surrounding parks. When the weather is good,
that is where this place truly shines and stands out as unique.
Taking a tour guided trip here is another good option. Having someone delve into its history
and detail would have given us a valuable perspective. There’s also the convenience of
being taken straight from one attraction to the next, instead of having to wait for the
buses. We only had time for the castle walk, Pena Palace and then the main town of Sintra, which we
absolutely loved walking around by the way. But there are heaps of other attractions in the area
that seem worth a trip and the guided tours do allow for that with their efficiency. Again,
I’ll link those trips in the description and card popping up in the top right of your screen now.
Thank you for making it this far, you are literally the best. I’ll link the main
Lisbon travel vlog here as it covers more what we got up to and keep an eye out for
the Madeira follow up video which will be coming soon. Please do let me know
any thoughts in the comments as it’s always so lovely to hear from you all. And so with that,
all I have to say is, thanks for watching Suitcase Monkey.