I'm presenting at a research conference in Lisbon, Portugal, and I would love to hear from folks who have traveled there. Any suggestions on lodging, food, entertainment, nearby cities I should visit, etc. are most welcome.

The conference is at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Gulbenkian Park. Thanks for the info!

4/21/2008 10:21:09 AM

I know this won't really help you that much but I saw someone's photo gallery from last summer when they went on a trip to Lisbon and they had taken a picture of some graffiti on a wall that was of the dramatic chipmunk.

4/21/2008 10:47:29 AM

http://wikitravel.org/en/Lisbon

4/21/2008 11:11:25 AM

My fiancée attended an N.C. State conference in Portugal some years ago. I'll ask her tonight about "lodging, food, entertainment," and so on.

4/21/2008 11:55:32 AM

ask her about the chipmunk too

4/21/2008 11:56:39 AM

^ Um. . .I don't. . .um. . .think I want to know, do I?

4/21/2008 12:02:05 PM

^^^ awesome, thanks

[Edited on April 21, 2008 at 12:02 PM. Reason : cm]

4/21/2008 12:02:16 PM

i'm starting to cobble together plans for a trip to portugal. lisbon, coimbra, porto, and somewhere in the south over maybe a week. anyone have some extra suggestions for things to do and places to see?

10/10/2008 5:18:16 PM

Check out some of Alvaro Siza's architecture porn buildings.

[Edited on October 10, 2008 at 5:23 PM. Reason : ]

10/10/2008 5:23:20 PM

too many places for just a week in my opinion

10/10/2008 5:23:53 PM

wouldnt you like to just relax at a villa and take in the culture or something?

10/10/2008 5:29:05 PM

^^i'll probably end up cutting the trip into something more manageable. but i wanted some opinions on what cannot possibly be missed

^if i'm going halfway around the world, i want to do more than sit down and watch the culture go by me...i'd like to get out and see it first-hand

[Edited on October 10, 2008 at 5:32 PM. Reason : ]

10/10/2008 5:29:50 PM

daytip to Sintra

10/10/2008 8:02:10 PM

Lisbon is probably the most boring European city I've been to, but the port is damn good

[Edited on October 11, 2008 at 2:23 AM. Reason : .]

10/11/2008 2:23:40 AM

Lisbon is incredible - one of the best cities I've ever visited.

7/7/2018 11:54:58 AM

I'll be there next month. Staying in Alfama for three nights and we planned a day trip to Sintra, but what else is must-do? We wanna have lots of port and great food, so recs are appreciated. Thanks!

7/7/2018 12:00:27 PM

Alfama is really nice. To me, there's nothing here that's as monumental or must-see as other cities - just walk around the neighborhoods and enjoy. Riding Tram 28 is supposed to be great, and you could also go to the castles.

It is EXTREMELY hilly. Be prepared to walk a lot unless you can make sense of the elevator/tram system or pay for a lot of taxis (which aren't too expensive). For example there were 191 stairs between my hotel and the main street at sea level, not including sharp inclined roads.

Unfortunately, I got food poisoning yesterday and was supposed to fly home this morning but had to push it back til Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel well enough to explore a bit more.

7/8/2018 8:10:23 AM

any thoughts on lisbon vs. porto for a weekend trip? i'm looking for somewhere to go next month and portugal keeps popping up...

is a weekend (probably thurs afternoon/evening to sunday) long enough to see some stuff and/or relax a bit? other random options at the moment are venice, stockholm, or another city in france (but paris is pricey and the french are meh...)

8/15/2018 5:16:58 PM

I liked both cities. Lisbon would fill the entire trip but Porto I’d do 2 days in the city and then drive out into the Douro valley.

8/15/2018 5:25:31 PM

I’m in Lisbon right now and we leave tomorrow. It’s an interesting, beautiful city with a lot of surprises. We did Sintra yesterday and enjoyed it a lot; if you have time, I highly suggest a day trip. I think the biggest myth I’d like to dispel is the idea that Lisbon is “cheap” So far, the only inexpensive things have been Uber rides (2-3 Euro is the norm) and glasses of wine are typically under 5 Euro). Given how run down and seedy parts of the city are (we’re staying in Alfama which is very hit/miss depending on alley/block), I kinda expected more. With that said, there not a whole lot to “see” or “do” here. It’s a place to wander around and chill. We’re going to Cascais tomorrow, but in hindsight, a night or two here and two nights in Porto probably would’ve been a better trip for us. IDK. YMMV.

Don’t get me wrong, Lisbon is very nice, just a little overrated on the excitement/affordabilty factor. From what I’ve heard from others, Porto is the Lisbon of 3-5 years ago.

8/18/2018 5:44:34 PM

Compared to other European cities that are destinations, Lisbon is cheap.

8/18/2018 5:51:53 PM

She will see what I mean when she gets here. Madrid has much better food and nightlife and it’s cheaper (we were there before we got to Lisbon). I think the ship has sailed for Lisbon being cheap, but maybe I’ve just been unlucky the entire time I’ve been here.

[Edited on August 18, 2018 at 6:06 PM. Reason : Asdf]

8/18/2018 6:04:45 PM

I agree about Madrid. I really enjoyed it there and it might have been cheaper than Lisbon.

When I went to Portugal I first flew into Paris for a few days. Everything is cheap after being there and I live in Brooklyn.....

8/18/2018 10:35:22 PM

It’s all relative, and this is coming from a cheap bastard that lives just outside of SF. Compared to London and Stockholm, Lisbon is definitely a steal. Compared to Madrid or Dublin? IDK, Lisbon feels kinda pricey. It’s not really fair to compare it to Madrid, which punches wayyyy above its weight, but Lisbon has built itself up on being a cheap/affordable alternative to a lot of places, and we didn’t find anything outside of pastries, cheap wine, and transit to be cheap.

I guess my point was that Porto appears to be the better, less touristy bargain these days. FWIW 3 nights in Lisbon was either too long or not long enough. Cascais/Sintra could each be a great weekend on their own. I all honesty, Portugal is freaking fantastic and it’s a bit silly of me to quibble about it being “overpriced”

8/19/2018 7:01:53 AM

I also agree, Madrid was much better than I expected. I enjoyed it more than Barcelona.

About Porto, it’s much smaller than Lisbon. It’s very interesting by the water but outside of a certain area most of it was built in the 40-60’s and pretty depressing.

I’m going to Mexico City in 2 weeks which will be exciting. Someone I know described it as a massive and more chaotic Madrid. Going to Pujol, Contramar and all the other “in” food spots.

[Edited on August 19, 2018 at 8:34 AM. Reason : Hh]

8/19/2018 8:32:52 AM

I used to live in MXC so lmk if you need any suggestions. If you loved Madrid, you will have a great time. It’s one of my favorite cities and it’s definitely cheaper than Lisbon

8/19/2018 9:09:34 AM

it's looking like i'm heading to lisbon as the (direct) flights are more favorable for a weekend trip than porto

i was not aware of lisbon's 'cheap' reputation so not too bothered that it's not exactly that cheap, i'm pretty indulgent when i travel and it looks more affordable than dropping €300+/night for a hotel in paris

planning to just drink some wine/port, have a good meal or two, and wander about a bit -- not sure about a day trip to sintra yet but i'll see if i can work it in

thanks for the help

8/19/2018 12:21:52 PM

Just in town for two nights after Azores. Going to do a port tasting and probably hit up https://www.oceanario.pt/en
Any other must sees?
Heading the Madrid and Barcelona afterward.

8/19/2018 4:33:36 PM

I wouldn't say there is one definite "must see" in Lisbon - just walking around and enjoying everything. We did a boat sight seeing tour that was a good way to see a lot of the more remote spots - you can hop on and off. I'd be trying to eat as many of the food items that you can only really get in Portugal.

8/20/2018 10:23:04 AM

We went "port tasting" at several places, but in all honesty, there was only one spot that was better than just buying a bottle at the grocery store for 8 euro.

Check out "The Corkscrew" in Alfama. The flights/pours were reasonable (we had 5-6 IIRC) and less than 5-6 Euro. Good service, good charcuterie, not a lot of attitude. We also went to the much hyped "Winebar do Castilo" and while the dude was kinda nice, but was 40+ euro for maybe 3-4 tastings and we felt like the guy was a bit condescending (we mentioned we have memberships at a few Sonoma wineries that serve "port" and he rolled his eyes and tried to lecture us).I honestly forgot the other places since we had a glass or two or lackluster port and felt like we might as well just buy our own somewhere else.

As far as food, the Baxia/Alfama areas had crap food for a lot of money. The Alto/Chiado district is where I'd spend most of my time eating tbh. We tried to eat at Ramiro, but it was closed. We went across the street to Barcabela and it was quite good for seafood, but IDK how great compares to Ramiro. AVOID: Timeout and Pinkstreet for nightlife- both were super lame.

If you're going to Sintra, be sure to just book tickets for a few sites (Pena, Castilo, and to a much lesser extent the Palacio). Eat at Tascantiga (one of the best meals we had in Portugal).

Cascais was OK, but if you've been to Med beach towns, you won't be impressed.

Overall, just focus on the cheap/delicious pastries and Uber rides, and keep your expectations in check. Lisbon ain't Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Munich, etc. It's old, kinda dirty and grungy, and very, very hipster.

Also worth mentioning. I love Barcelona and Madrid equally, but for very different reasons. Madrid is like NYC- so much energy and very, very Spanish. Awesome food/tapas/nightlife, and lots of beautiful architecture/scenery, but the museums (palaces aside) were kinda dull. Barcelona is definitely "prettier" and arguably more "fun" (it's a very party-centric place), but it's not really "Spain". Go there for the beaches, gothic quarter, and Picasso/Gaudi art, but don't expect "free" tapas or a lot of Spanish culture- it's more like Spain's Miami or San Diego. Ive been to Madrid twice and Barcelona 3x, and I can't decide which I like more, but it's important to remember how vastly different each one is.

[Edited on August 23, 2018 at 7:51 PM. Reason : .]

8/23/2018 7:44:39 PM