Please critique my Lisbon itinerary over 3 full days

The walk is somewhere between 3 to 4 kilometers although it seems longer.
The Baixa is flat with a slight incline after the Rossio train station.
The funicular after the Rossio train station will take you uphill to Bairro Alto from there is mostly downhill towards Baixa Chiado.

If you want a nicer restaurant I recommend Cervejaria Trindade ( it's number 19 on RS map).
https://www.cervejariatrindade.pt/en/

Hello Evelyne

I spent three nights in Lisbon a few years back and I loved it.

I can only tell you that I loved Sintra but regret that I never made it to the top, walking. Severe knee problems. Still the walking was beautiful. Lots to see and do.

Also made it to Belem and Belem was more interesting than I expected. I think that it would be very easy to spend a whole day in Belem. I did not eat at any of the bakeries but my memory is that there were some very good bakeries in Belem.

I did not take any of the hoho buses. My memory is there were four separate routes and you had to pay for each one individually. Things might have changed. If you bought three, you got the fourth one free.

My hotel was in the Baixa neighborhood and unfortunately for me, that is the only neighborhood I explored. Big regret. I took several walks from Rossio Square to the waterfront and back again.

You did not mention what months you would be there. I was there towards the end of October and it was very rainy with occasional downpours. It was also still crowded but manageable .

My first time at the Lisbon airport and it was challenging but I survived.

Lisbon is wonderful. Would love to someday go back.

Try to squeeze in a visit to the Gulbenkian Museum. Very interesting and varied collection…and they have a very good cafeteria!

Lisboa is a small city, the proximity of those 2 walks is not that significant time-wise, so if I had concerns vis-à-vis aggravating a knee condition I'd do the walks on separate days. Also, Uber is quick, ubiquitous and not terribly expensive (again, it's a small city), so consider availing yourself of Uber to save time and knees getting between destinations and to/from your hotel. We were last there during an unseasonably-hot and crowded autumn and found airconned Ubers preferable to long queues and being crammed into crowded stifling trams.

Thanks everyone for the good advice. We will be there in 3 weeks, in early May.

The funiculars are still closed after the crash last fall (this is the Rick Steves forum thread about it). Some may be reopening in April, while others will take a little longer. Keep that in mind if you will be counting on them for your itinerary.

Thanks HK...I did not know that...makes you think twice about using them after all...

My husband and I have been to Lisbon twice in the past two years so I will try to give you some specific answers to your questions. Overall, you have a wonderful itinerary for a first time visit. The only thing that I see that is missing is seeing a Fado performance. You can do that over one of your dinners. Lisbon is the birthplace of Fado and if you haven't seen a performance before, it is a magical experience.

Day 2: I have taken the Rick Steve's Baixa and Barrio Alto self-guided walking tours my first time to Lisbon in 2023. Each tour individually takes about 2 hours, assuming you don't make too many stops along the way. The big open question in the walking tour guidelines is whether the Gloria funicular will be open (tentative for April). They were offering bus replacement service, so check on that alternative. If that is not available, then you can use the Rossio train station escalators to get you partially up to the Barrio Alto, but then you have to walk uphill from there (we did that in September 2026 and I don't recall it being too strenuous).

A note on the Barrio Alto portion of the walk. We stayed in the Barrio Alto on our trip and spent a lot of time exploring the areas that RS outlines in the book.

When you visit the Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara, there is a little cafe that serves my favorite drink in Portugal, the Port Tonic (white port and tonic over ice). Since you will have been on your feet for awhile on the walk, this is a great place to sit down and have drink (super casual). The other stop that you may want to have a drink is the roof top bar behind the Carmo Monastery. It has a wonderful view of the city.

Since you are going to be in the Barrio Alto in the day, I can recommend a few restaurants for lunch. Leve Leve: https://levelevetapasbar.pt/ great for tapas style meals, chicken skewers are amazing as is the honeymoon goat cheese. Taberna Carolina tucked away beneath the Church of the Martyrs see story here: https://www.eatingeurope.com/blog/taberna-carolina/. Taberna Carolina has awesome caldo verde (potato/kale soup topped with sausage). It is located near Livraria Bertrand the oldest operating bookstore in the world (stop by here and by a souvenir book and have them emboss it either in English or Portuguese). Cafe A Brazileira has been in business since 1905 and is well positioned for people watching. It is touristy and there can be a wait, but they have the most amazing French toast.

Oficio is my absolute favorite restaurant in Lisbon. It is dinner only. Since the Michelin guide has recognized them, it is challenging to get a reservation, but the food is so inventive, tasty, and stunningly beautiful. Great wine list and attentive service.

Day 3: Sintra tour, one tip is to minimize the strain on your knees, tell the guide you want to take the little tram up instead of walking up. They should offer it, but if not ask.

Day 4: Belem. The highlight for my visit to Belem was the Jerónimos Monastery. Book tickets online for a designated time. After Belem when you visit the Castle would recommend that you book in advance as they lines can be long. We visited the Castle and honesty we wished we had not wasted our time, so if you have a time crunch, I would skip visiting the Castle and just do the walk.

Day 5: Staying in Lisbon versus staying near the airport. Each time we visited we had a very early morning flight and the airport is so close to town that you can get an Uber and be there quickly enough. We opted to do that and were glad as we had time for one last evening in Lisbon to enjoy. We knew that if we stayed at the airport, we were unlikely to go back into Lisbon for dinner.

SandyO...Thanks so much for taking the time to write this amazing insight. I will follow your recommendations. Especially about the Castle...for which I was sitting on the fence anyways.

I agree with Philip about visiting the Gulbenkian Museum. It is amazing!

When you visit Belelm, you can visit the Coach Museum. Also, I highly recommend taking the elevator to the top of the Discoveries Monument. Not sure if things have changed, but when we were there in 2018, there weren't any lines for the elevator. We just walked right on. The views are amazing. We didn't even bother waiting in line for the Belem Tower because the lines were so long.

I have read that the Tile Museum is very, very interesting, but we didn't have time to visit.

For restaurant recommendations, we loved our seafood dinner at Cervejaria Ramiro, frequented by the late Anthony Bourdain.

I also recommend buying advance tickets for the Jeronimos Monastery in Belem.

Double check before your trip in case you are interested in either the National Tile Museum or Gulbenkian, both are currently closed for renovations as far as I've seen (we are going to Portugal in May).

Thanks to both of you. You are right Debbied...they are both closed for renos. I just checked.

Too bad the tile museum is closed, I thought it was an underrated gem. I assume the castle your talking about after Castle? I loved it and would have regretted missing it.

It's been 7 years since I was in Lisbon so I won't be able to recommend any restuarants. Unlike some cities, the airport is not that far from the city centre, so it's unfortunate that you have a hotel closer to the airport- I don't know how early your flight is so of course it may be wise to be closer. I know the Gulbenkian is closed. When I visited I did it on my final day and took a taxi to the airport from there so it was even shorter trip.

I really enjoyed the Tile museum- yes I read above that it is closed - too bad. I was not impressed by the castle. It is a ruin so not much to see; at the time I was there an excavation was going on. The neighborhood immediately surrounding the castle was more interesting to me than the castle and then walking down to the Alfama.

The Jeronimos monastery is much less busy if you visit in the afternoon.

Where to find the elevators/escalators is very clearly described in the RS Portugal guide book and are so handy to get from one neighbourhood on another hill to another neighbourhood on a different hill.

The marble mosaic side walks can be slippery if wet.

Thanks ToCA!