Greetings forum friends, will be visiting Lisbon first week of February and am looking for input regarding the best area of the city to stay. We will be in Lisbon 3 full days and are considering day trip to Sintra. We like museums and are foodies so would like to be within walking distance of many attractions if possible. Considering a food type tour so any recommendations of tours/guides would be appreciated. Still not sure if will do apartment or hotel, open to all options. Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions!
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
882 posts
One of the nice qualities of this forum is the diversity of opinion. I am no authority on Lisboa or Portugal as my first visit was only last month - five days - a rented apartment (Chiado district). We took one day to visit Sintra and another to visit Evora. If I had only three days in Lisboa, I would focus my time, there - especially if I like museums and I do (unless one of those days was on a Monday - most museums are closed - a good "Sintra Day"). We took a walking food & wine tour gifted to us by our daughter - wonderful, both in content and as an introduction to Lisboa. I can private message you with the details of that if you wish.
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
Hi Dario,
When we took the RS Portugal Tour several years ago we stayed at the lovely Hotel Lisboa Plaza. It is centrally located in Lisbon's historic center. The rooms were well appointed, breakfast included, and walking distance to excellent restaurants. Our favorite neighborhood restaurant was Restaurante A Gina. Excellent menu, large portions, good value, & 5 minute walk from hotel. We ate there twice and made reservations.
We enjoyed a day tour to Sintra & Cascais with Lisbon Riders. www.lisbonriders.com. It's a small group tour. Our guide Manuel was knowledgeable and engaging. We would gladly recommend this tour.
We found the RS Portual guidebook an excellent resource. Great information on Lisbon and beyond.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
6052 posts
Haven’t been to Lisbon yet, going May 2020 but here is a food tour to consider
Eating Europe added Lisbon to their list of wonderful tours, we have done them in several cities and all have been fantastic
We plan to do this in May
They are running a Black Friday special now 20% off thru Mon
If you wait to book past Monday then use EATWELL10 for a year round discount
Posted by
OP
Virginia
31 posts
Thank you all for your insight. Will be doing some form of tour; a food tour and possibly one to Sintra and on to Nazare
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1603 posts
If you only have 3 full days in Lisbon, I would spend those days in Lisbon and not take any daytrips. Otherwise, your visit to Lisbon will be rushed, especially since you like museums. The Gulbenkian Museum is open on Mondays and it is awesome! We spent a lot of time there, including a light lunch at their café. We also enjoyed the Coach Museum in Belem. Didn't have time to visit the Tile Museum, and I know there are other museums in Lisbon. In Belem, we also visited the Jeronimos Monastery and took the elevator to the top of the Discoveries Museum. We spent a whole day at the Castle Sao Jorge and wandering around Alfama. We visited several small churches. And Lisbon is a wonderful and interesting city just for wandering through the neighborhoods and visiting the miradouros.
Is there any way you can add an extra day to Lisbon so that you can visit Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon? We had 5 nights in Lisbon, and that included the day trip to Sintra.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7552 posts
We are planning a trip for the end of February, so no "on the ground" advice. I wish I could tell you I put a bunch of thought into the hotel and picked the perfect spot, but there is a Holiday Inn Express close to center near Liberdade. The location looks pretty good and I have a ton of IHG points...so free stay, too good to pass up.
For Porto though, we wanted to stay closer to the river and the IHG hotels were further away, so did not go that route there.