Things to see and do in Lisbon

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I was thinking about Portugal some time in the future as well, possibly next year...

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Hmm. All I can remember is that the castle ruins had loads of cute (although probably vicious) feral kittens in trees. Awww. I really do have a one-track mind. Actually all I remember about Portugal in general is lots of cats, including a lovely ginger kitten owned by a poor old lady in a shack and smuggling sardine paste out of hotel breakfasts to the kitten. And good food and freshly-squeezed orange juice. (Erm, that's other stuff I remember, I didn't feed much orange juice to the cat.) Mmm.

― Rebecca, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

kittens in trees = my new favourite band

― Graham, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

i am thinking of going possibly mid november. what will the weather be like there then do you know? i'm worried it might be too late in the year, weatherwise. the other option would be to go almost as soon as i get back from america, but that would make the earliest possibility oct26, which may still be quite late? and i'd like to spread things out a bit more

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 5 September 2002 09:43 (10 years ago) Permalink

i think it'll probably still be pretty warm in november. it's a lovely place, lots to do and not packed with tourists, not to mention cheap

― leigh, Monday, 9 September 2002 09:21 (10 years ago) Permalink

So, Leigh how was it? I'm going next week and was hoping this thread would suggest some essentials.
What did you get up to and what would you recommend?

― Simeon (Simeon), Monday, 9 September 2002 09:50 (10 years ago) Permalink

Shamefully i didn't get up to very much. My primary reason for going over was to see Radiohead, so i was working on keeping myself in a fit state for the gigs.

make sure you take a ride on tram 28, it goes through the old part of the city and is bone shaking experience.

― Leigh, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 13:24 (10 years ago) Permalink

I remember the castle and the cats and that's about it (this from 1994). Also, Cascais is quite boring although pretty. Also the girls aren't as good-looking as I thought they would be.

― Sam (chirombo), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 13:28 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'll make sure to take the tram - It's what everyone advises visitors to London to do and yet I've never done it myself.
Don't mind the gurls being less than perfect as I'll be with female company, and she'll be very happy to see a castle and cats everywhere.
Otherwise I imagine we won't do a great deal either. Eating pastries and drinking beer seems to be in order.

― Simeon (Simeon), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 14:08 (10 years ago) Permalink

If it's castles your after, take the train to Sintra (3O min from Lisbon) & visit the Palacio della Pena. It's pink and purple and yellow and looks like a confectionary delight.

― Miss Laura, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 07:29 (10 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

i didnt manage to get there last year, but i want to rectify that year. lisboa, dont let it pass you by, who wants to go?

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 14:46 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm already here. Should I suggest a Lisboa FAP?

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 15:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

The oceanarium is fantastic. Seems to be plenty of live music, caught a couple of african groups in a free festival type thing.
There's a 'proper' European jazz club which was... nice.
Great food and wine in the Barrio alto. Perfect.

― Simeon (Simeon), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 15:10 (10 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

i m doing a class project. me and a partner are going on a vertual trip to portugal, and we need things to do if you know of anything we need to travle all around the country email me if you have any ideas.

― katia, Wednesday, 31 March 2004 23:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

Best city ever?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 23:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

Ever ever ever?

I plan to retire there and write my memoirs.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 23:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Just got back from Lisbon, and yes, the girls really are not that pretty (more Ricardo Carvalho than Cristiano Ronaldo), but I loved the place.

It was once described to me as the most unfuckedup part of Europe and I could see what they meant.

I loved the fact that bookshops, boutiques and galleries were open at midnight and beyond in the Bairro Alto, and yet by day it's a normal area where people hang out their washing and take their kids to school and so forth.

The Chinese Pavilion is among my favourite bars ever.

Palacio da Pena in Sintra is, as was mentioned upthread, truly spectacular. Sintra is well worth a day trip even if you don't go in for castles and stuff.

― Daniel Giraffe (Daniel Giraffe), Thursday, 4 January 2007 16:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

Just got back from Lisbon, and yes, the girls really are not that pretty (more Ricardo Carvalho than Cristiano Ronaldo), but I loved the place.

Oddly enough, I've found that portuguese women as a rule don't really look to Cristiano Ronaldo, or indeed any male footballer, as a role model for what they seek to look like.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 4 January 2007 19:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

Perhaps, but I think I got my point across, i.e. I just didn't see any drop-dead-gorgeous women when I was in Lisbon.

The bullfighting stadium at Campo Pequeno looked extraordinary from the outside. Any been in?

― Daniel Giraffe (Daniel Giraffe), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

this happens on sunday

3 nights, 1 girlfriend, 1 unexplored city

any advice?

― Just got offed, Friday, 22 August 2008 21:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

ok so the answer to this thread is EAT THE CUSTARD TARTS

― Just got offed, Thursday, 28 August 2008 13:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

Where are you staying? Just got back from Lisbon myself. Stick around the south side of the city really, near the river. It gets progressively less interesting the further away from the river you get.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 28 August 2008 13:07 (4 years ago) Permalink

But yes, EAT THE FUCKING CUSTARD TARTS. But if you're going to do it, go to Pasteis de Nata in Belem, which is the original place. It serves, like, nothing else. The surrounding area is interesting as well.

Also go drinking out in the streets of Bairro Alto until 6am.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 28 August 2008 13:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

Where DID I stay, more like! Right next to the Marques de Pombal, awesome cast-iron dude in a wig with a pet lion.

Belem might well be my favourite place in the world. We didn't go to Pasteis de Nata for our tarts, but a place down the road towards Lisbon (about 2 blocks away) on a street-corner was perfectly sufficient. I think I ended up having about seven in one afternoon.

As for Belenenses' stadium, well there's a photostory in there when I can be arsed to load my pics. Let's just say that security there isn't what it is in Britain.

And yeah, we stuck around the river pretty much throughout. Our only venture north was to the zoo, which was actually a pretty sweet one as these things go.

The city itself is truly lovely, with a hot but not too much so Mediterranean slow-life twisty vibe, great architecture, vivid colours and superb wall-tilings. We went for several walks around the city (when not bussing; that Lisbon card! So handy!) and found it endlessly delightful. Bairro Alto, nice as it was initially, became seedier the more we penetrated, and at my gf's insistence we turned off halfway down Rua de Atalaia, before we could reach all the recommended bars/restaurants but also before we had to walk past a battalion of very shifty-looking bums on the road ahead. Went to an Argentinian place instead. With views over the whole city. Rock.

Oh yeah, the food. The fish!

The funicular railways!

That fucking bridge!

L'ARANJAS!

― Just got offed, Thursday, 28 August 2008 13:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

Shame, Bairro Alto's pretty fucking cool and not as dodgy as it looks. Also those trams are awesome.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 28 August 2008 20:18 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

to lisbon in may! psyched. 5 nights then to morocco for a week or so. i'm mostly interested in cool old stuff and eating, what should i look at/consume??

― adam, Friday, 24 February 2012 16:32 (1 year ago) Permalink

Go to the Gulbenkian museum

― Like a Leppard Messiah (Michael White), Friday, 24 February 2012 17:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

I really liked this restaurant

http://chafarizdovinho.com/en/index.htm

― Like a Leppard Messiah (Michael White), Friday, 24 February 2012 17:41 (1 year ago) Permalink

Also, I second Daniel Giraffe's recommendation to go the Pavilhão Chinês. That bar is amazing and good fun, too.

― Like a Leppard Messiah (Michael White), Friday, 24 February 2012 17:45 (1 year ago) Permalink

Eat one pasteis

― (Uptown Baby) (admrl), Friday, 24 February 2012 17:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

^^^

They're very good

― Like a Leppard Messiah (Michael White), Friday, 24 February 2012 17:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Going a week today for a long weekend, can't wait. What are the nightclubs like? Been reading a few horror stories about doormen and dresss codes...

― boxedjoy, Thursday, 3 May 2012 09:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

just booked a four day stay in july (for what will be my first trip out of britain), wahoo. although three of those days i'll be at a conference. unless i decide to just give my paper and then fuck off into the city.

― hot young stalin (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 04:24 (2 months ago) Permalink

If you want to party, the Bairro Alto area is basically several blocks full of minuscule bars, with people drinking and partying both inside and on the streets. Seedy and a bit touristy maybe, but we had plenty of fun there.

The Sea World was also really cool, especially the penguins and the sharks. (The queues are long though, so if you want to visit you should go there pretty early in the morning.) The old monastery in Belem was worth seeing too, but the fortress at the top of the city was kinda boring, except for the (admittedly beautiful) view... There were other places in Alfama with almost as nice views, though, and you don't have to pay admission.

I'll also second Michael White's recommendation of the Gulbenkian museum; there's loads of cool art ranging from antiquity to the 20th century, and not just paintings, but also furniture, jewelry, mosaics, grandfather clocks, etc.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 11:22 (2 months ago) Permalink

Lucky you, it's really good. The Oceanario was terrific - I think that's the same thing as the Sea World? But if you only have a short time, probably stick to the old town, eat custard tarts, etc. The view from the castle is super.

― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 11:30 (2 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, the Oceanario, that's what I meant, couldn't remember what it was called.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 11:40 (2 months ago) Permalink

if you want to see tiles, go to the National Tile Museum. After visiting I felt like I never needed to see another tile as long as I live, a feeling which sticks with me to this day.

― Neil S, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 12:13 (2 months ago) Permalink

Lovely place. I haven't been back for a couple of years. We took the train to Belém and went to Casa Pastéis de Belém for the Pastéis de Nata, addictive! If you want to blow the budget then Bica do Sapato for food and then nip to Lux for dancing - that was a great night.

― mmmm, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 12:32 (2 months ago) Permalink

Already mentioned, but: Custard Tarts. Seriously.

Day trip to Sintra. V Pretty.

― 29 facepalms, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 13:32 (2 months ago) Permalink

Indeed, at Casa Pastéis de Belém I was told they made 10,000 a day. Might be a bit of an overstatement.

― mmmm, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 13:37 (2 months ago) Permalink

ooh, thanks everybody. worst case scenario is being stuck giving my paper on the last day of the conference so i have two days worrying / finishing it rather than being able to relax. if that doesn't happen, this all sounds nice.

i'll be there from sunday evening till thursday evening - what's the weekday nightlife like?

― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 17:13 (2 months ago) Permalink

Lisbon is the one place in Europe where I have seen men and women in their sixties drinking in bars at 1am on a Monday night.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 17:21 (2 months ago) Permalink

If you are a carnivore please do not ignore this suggestion: eat at Tomo La Da Ca
Veal cheeks especially recommended
Cosign on Oceanarium, Sintra, Chinese Pavilion. Shows at ZDB. My favourite city ever

― ♫ don't you have your own computer? ♫ (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 17:21 (2 months ago) Permalink

Tomo La Da Ca is in my top five restaurants ever, it's a simple take on Portugeuse food by a French chef

― ♫ don't you have your own computer? ♫ (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 17:22 (2 months ago) Permalink

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