Must do in Portugal/Lisbon for only 24 hours

I should add I like historical sights, soaking up local flavor/culture, neat architecture etc but not museums particularly. I've date in Spain after my bedtime! Is that the style in PortugL also?!

I clearly haven't mastered this tiny iPhone keyboard yet! Last sentence of previous msg shoulda said "I've eaten ..."

I don't think you have even time to see more than just the city in a few hours. There is the usual hop on hop off bus (in fact there are a couple of companies operating) so you could use this to get around the city in a few hours. I liked the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos and the Torre de belem - the mosteiro is a museum, but it's an interesting piece of architecture from a particular period in time in Portugal when there was a lot of gold coming in to the country from Brazil. http://www.mosteirojeronimos.pt/pt/index.php Alfama is also a very interesting neighbourhood because it's one of the oldest. These two areas are not close together however. If you are in Lisbon a bit later, you could try to catch a fado performance. It's a particular style of singing unique to Portugal. And, Portugal is famous for its pastry. You really need to find any pastry shop in Lisbon and eat at least one. You will find them everywhere. There is a pastry specific to the Belem area of Lisbon and if you go to the Torre de Belem you'll be in the neighbourhood although the tower is on the river and the pastry shops are a bit inland from the tower. If you want to skip Lisbon and see something outside you could try going to Sintra and looking at the architecture there. But you would have to plan out your time carefully. It's about 30 minutes by train from Lison but then you have to take a local bus to get some of the sights. And, of course, Sintra has its own special pastries too. There is a wine information centre on Praca do Comercio in town if you want to try some Portuguese wine with a little bit of information about the wines of the country. Just some suggestions.

Neat. Thanks Shirley.

Portugal eats earlier than Spain. I don't remember exactly, but I'd say 7 to 9 PM is when people sit down to dinner; certainly not the 10 PM of Spain.

Yes - I forgot about dinner time - I agree with Harold (as does my Portuguese teacher who grew up there). Dinner is not as late as it is in Spain. 8 ish is good.

Hi Tom, I agree with others who've said that trying to do any kind of day trip is unrealistic / unnecessary, although you could hop on a train to Sintra or Cascais if you really want to. I love wandering around Lisbon just soaking up the atmosphere and marvelling at the old buildings, views and pavements. Personally, I wouldn't even bother going to Belem if you've got such a short time there. Alfama is a fascinating area to wander around then you've got the grid-like Baixa and Praça do Comercio, after which you could head uphill into the shopping area of Chiado and on to Principe Real and Bairro Alto. Or stroll up Avenida da Liberdade before heading uphill to Principe Real. There's a really nice viewpoint called São Pedro de Alcãntara there. Regarding dinner, I've found that its mainly tourists who eat early in Lisbon, at least in Bairro Alto and Chiado. Locals tend to eat around 9pm onwards at weekends.

With such limited time, you will get a variety of opinions on what to see and what must be skipped. I agree, skip Sintra or you won't do it justice and will have no time to see Lisbon. You can walk most of the city, hill-to-valley-to hill in a little over half a day. Be sure to visit the castle and ruined monastery. The views from both are well worth it. I would suggest going out to Belem (20 minutes by trolley). It is such an important place in Portugese history and is very beautiful. Visit the church, the watchtower and walk past the monument. Then have a wonderful pastry before heading back into town. You can do all that in a few hours easily. The late afternoon pastry will hold you over till dinner about 8:00. The restaurants won't be crowded with locals yet.

If there was just one thing to do when in Lisbon it would be the 'Inside Lisbon' Gourmet walking tour.. Depending on what time you arrive in Lisbon and if you aren't too tired it's well worh it. ... We learned so much as walked, munched & drank our way around town, it was like the 'insiders scoop' of the City, it's food as well as the Portugese, their culture and history. ... Paulo, our guide touched on everything from The voyages of Discovery, trading routes that were established, to what they get up to at night.. I can't even begin to do justice to the amount of knowledge we gained. I agree with the other posters, if you can get to Belem it's worth it, you could do it on the Ho/Ho bus I don't know if you would have time to get off and visit many of the sites, but even if you stayed on the bus and listened to the commentary you would get a grounding... ...
Have Fun, we loved Lisbon and it's another of our 'must go back to' cities..

Wow! All this great advice!!! Makes me want to leave tomw instead of June 12! Thx everyone.