Travel Bug For Two

Lisbon, Portugal Travel

Rome

Lisbon is an amazing city for travel. It has the best of so many worlds – it has a way of feeling like an exciting foreign city, but it is also a place that you feel you can settle into and feel like you belong.

The people are so nice (everyone speaks English!) and the city is super accessible – very walkable and the public transportation system is easy to figure out. And importantly, it feels very safe, especially as a first time solo traveler!

The city is filled with amazing food and SWEETS (pastries!), has so much history – the size of the roads, the rods in the buildings, the tiles, the facades, the size of the doorways are all tied to the city’s history. They have lots of hills, which means that it is super scenic everywhere. Oh and by the way, it’s close to other towns and day trips that have incredible and different landscapes, attractions, history (Sintra, Belem, Porto, Algarve).

Recommended Three Day Itinerary

Day 1: Explore Lisbon

Day 2: Day Trip to Sintra

Day 3: Flex Day

If you’re looking for a more low key day, I would either go with Belem or Castelo de Sao Jorge (not both!)

Make sure you check what time attractions, restaurants open – Coffee shops seemed to open around 9am. Most restaurants open around 11am or 12pm or lunch service. Some places are closed on Sundays.

What to Eat & Drink

Pastel de Nata

You can find these all over Lisbon when you travel. They originated in Belem, so if you have the time I recommend going to the original bakery Pasteis de Belem (be prepared to stand in line). My favorite ones are from Manteigaria. There are a few locations around Lisbon that are more convenient and accessible – and I never had a long wait. Even the locals say they go here and prefer them over the Belem location (may be due to the lines..)

Cod (Bacalao)

Bacalao is a very common fish in Portuguese dishes. I had it prepared a few ways and it was always tasty!

Barnacles

This sounded very strange to me at first, but it is a delicacy in Portugal! There are only ~80 licenses to fish for Barnacles in Portugal and it is a pretty dangerous thing to fish. They grow on large slippery boulders and stick to the rocks at the tide.

Fishermen climb onto jagged rocks to chisel them off the rocks in a rhythm timed between crashing waves. They can’t be harvested from around September to December (for mating season), so they will be harder if not impossible to find during this time. I had the luck of having them at Ramiro and they were pretty tasty, definitely worth trying!

Port wine

I’m not a fan, but it is the thing to try here. The Old Pharmacy is a wine bar that serves various flights!

Vihno Verde

A light, refreshing, slightly bubbly white wine that you will see everywhere. All the things I love about white wine, so I ordered it as often as I could!

Ginjinha

A cherry liquor served in a shot glass. You can find many small shops that serve Ginjinha shots, I don’t think you can go wrong! The ones on my list are Ginjinha Sem Rival and A Ginjinha

Where to Eat & Drink

Timeout Market

A wonderful food hall, featuring the best of the best food and chefs/restaurants in Lisbon. There are so many great options, it will be hard to pick where to eat. My strategy was to make a round, accept the food fomo, and go with my gut 🙂 I ate at Marlene Vierira because there was a tasting menu! Five “snacks” for 18 EUR.

A Cevicheria

A wonderful fresh and flavorful seafood restaurant. It very much lives up to its name. They have a tasting menu that I highly recommend if you have the appetite. I went a la carte, but was quickly jealous of the person next to me enjoying the multi course menu. It came with a generous serving size of each of the highlights. If you are doing a la carte – definitely get a ceviche and the octopus! All the dishes have so much flavor that go into each dish – you can’t go wrong. They don’t take reservations so expect an hour or so wait, but enjoy a few drinks while you wait!

Ramiro

This was my favorite meal. This restaurant was featured in a Food Network show (Somebody Feed Phil) and attracts a big crowd. Go early (before 7pm) and expect at least an hour wait, but know that it is worth it! They have a waiting area with a coin operated beer machine (2 EUR for a Sagres) and with the right mindsight, you’re basically waiting in a beer garden.

I got there around 6pm on a Saturday and the wait for 1-2 people was about 1 to 1.5 hours. The place has the best energy and very fun staff – the waiter was very excited to help me out. Get the crab, garlic shrimp, and definitely the barnacles!

Estrella de Bica

This was a great dinner recommendation from my WithLocals tour guide. Very cozy neighborhood spot that seemed popular with locals. I got the oxtail tacos, cod/Bacalau appetizer, beans & rice. A great gem that is easy to miss!

BA Wine Bar

Great wine bar that does things a bit differently. Not a casual bar for a glass of wine. They schedule limited reservations to fill each table for the entire night and turn wine tasting into more of an experience. They have a long list of wines and offer their help to guide you along.

You pick the type of wine you’re looking for and budget and they will bring you two bottles of wine to try before you commit to a glass. They also have great charcuterie boards, so plan on eating dinner here! Absolutely make reservations for this place. They don’t open until 6pm.

Lisbon Winery

Another great wine bar. They have a wine and food (cheese and charcuterie) experience that looked like an amazing way to spend an evening, but you also can’t go wrong with a glass or two of wine and a cheese and meat (I had a REALLY good cheese here). Service was also great here – they were super helpful in selecting wine, cheese, charcuterie.

Nanarella

Really REALLY good gelato. This place was also featured in a Food Network show (Somebody Feed Phil). Worth a visit and they even let you get up to 3 flavors in the small cup! I had the Pistachio, Oreo, Carmello and they were all amazing.

Cave 23

For a longer splurge pre-fixed meal. Expect an experience and a long nice dinner that will take up an entire evening. Make reservations in advance!

Sea Me

The seafood dishes looked amazing! They have a full service restaurant and are also located in the Timeout market

Things to Do & See

Walking tour with a local

There are so many attractions and things to see by foot in Lisbon. I did a three hour private tour with the company WithLocals that focused on the “Highlights of Lisbon.” It was the perfect way to get my bearings of the city, cover the major attractions that I wanted to see in the city, learn about the city’s history and get the perspectives from a local.

As part of the highlights tour, you will see a lot of the top sites including: Church San Roque, Carmo Convent & Square, views from the Santa Justa elevator, Sao Domingos Church, so many special views (from Rua Augusta and Portos do Sol), Se Cathedral, Praca do Comerico, along with breaks for traditional Portuguese drinks and snacks. WithLocals only does private tours so you are also able to customize it. It was €67 total for the 3 hours (pricing varies slightly depending how many people are in your private tour). If it your first tour, you can get €15 off with this referral link (it was €30 when I booked, so it may change): [http://join.withlocals.com/mQerLrj/c]. They also offer a variety of different types of tours, including tours that focus on food or day trips to Belem and Sintra.

Castelo de Sao Jorge

A castle within walking distance from the city center. Great views of Lisbon and you get to see a different perspective of the city’s architecture. Note that if you end up at the Moorish Castle in Sintra, you may not be as impressed. Make sure you navigate yourself to the ticket office instead of the actual castle. €8.50 for entrance.

Drink at a rooftop bar

I’ve heard great things about Park Bar, but was unable to go because it was closed on the Sunday that I tried to go. I ended up at Topos in Chiado and it was nice – it’s a cute bar above all the action on Rua de Carmo (shopping street with a lot of street performers).

LX Factory

Very cute area with food, shops, and roof top/outdoor bar closer towards the red bridge. It is about halfway to travel from Lisbon to Belem, so it can be a good stop over if you are going to Belem

Belem

I didn’t get to go here, but it is on my list for next time to check out Pasteis de Belem, Belem Tower, and Jeronimos Monastery

Sintra

If you have at least 2 to 3 full days to travel in Lisbon, it is worth spending one of them in Sintra. It is so different from Lisbon and the palaces are absolutely stunning. See a separate post here.

Shopping & Things to Buy

Where to Stay

There are many other travel blogs and articles that break down the areas of Lisbon and suggestions on where to stay based on what you’re looking for. I stayed in both the Barrio Alto area and Principe Real and my suggestion is to stay in the Barrio Alto / Chaido area to be close to my recommendations above. Since I was traveling solo, I looked for nice (safe), but more economical places to stay. Here are some ideas:

Lisbon Travel – The Bottom Line

Lisbon is an amazing city for travel. The people are so nice, and the city is super accessible. I definitely recommend Lisbon for solo travel – enjoy the amazing food, scenery, and attractions!