tjhsu

My wife and I have plane tickets into Lisbon arriving the morning of Dec 24 and leaving the morning of Dec 31, for a total of 7 nights.

The rest is up in the air. I'd like some help/suggestions/itinerary outlines for what to do during that time, so I can start making hotel and transportation reservations.

Here is what we enjoy:
-Food food food!! Fresh, authentic food
-Farmer's markets (i.e. more food) and street fairs
-Interesting cultural sites, experiences, scenic drives or views.
-We're not that into museums, although we may visit 1 if it's interesting. And we're not huge shoppers either.

Here are a few of my major questions:
-Should we spend all 7 nights in Lisbon?
-Where else should we try to visit besides Lisbon? e.g. - other cities or towns in Portugal or nearby cities in Spain, like Seville?
-Should I rent a car the entire time? for part of the trip?

Thanks!!

Ivy

Hi tjhsu, My DH and I visited portugal last december. I printed a trip report here, search under my screen name "Ivy" and it will come up. I do not recommend spending the whole time in Lisbon. there is so much to see in the countryside of portugal and the food and wine and sights in the country make it worth it to get a car and go! read my trip report for our itinerary and feel free to post questions. you will have a great time - portugal is great. And oh the wine. . . .

ribeirasacra

First of all you have posted this in the Spanish section and maybe you will get more help if it was under Portugal.
You should note that some things like restaurants and places of interest will be closed on Christmas day so you must plan ahead for this.
With seven nights just stay locally or you could end up with all of your days driving around.
If you are not comfortable with driving in Spain or Portugal then driving in cities is defiantly not for you.

Nikki

I have only been to Portugal in the summer, so I don't know about the countryside or other cities at that time of year. My main advice, though, is that you really don't want a car for the time you are in Lisbon. It's a very hilly city with narrow, winding streets and limited parking. There is plenty of public transportation and taxis are readily available and inexpensive.

lobo_mau

A popular activity in December is skiing down the narrow, winding streets. You may bring your own equipment, or rent it localy.

helen_belsize

A friend told me that on 24th December all the Portuguese eat in the restaurants and there is really only the traditional Christmas eve menu available, based on the Portuguese favourite salt cod. Probably avoidable in international hotel restaurants. Perhaps worth checking out with someone with local knowledge.

Nikki

OK Lobo, you're on; we want pictures.

lobo_mau

This is the main area for street skiing. You may see the tracks, however, nobody is in the picture, because it was shot during lunch time.

http://wintercenter.homestead.com/photolisbon.html

pinkaurora

For good authentic food you have to go to the local "dives" (they're not going to look like elegant restaurants that's for sure) but I don't know if anything will be open during Christmas time.

The best thing to get is the daily bacalhau (salt cod). The Portuguese have hundreds of ways of preparing it. All yummy!

tdyls

Your Portugal trip sounds exactly like mine last year (except your is 2 days longer). I left the US on Christmas Eve and landed in Lisbon on 12/25. While there was a bar here and there open, Lisbon was pretty much dead. A handful of restaurants were open and those were mainly on Rua das Portas de Santo Antão. December 26th was better but many places were still closed. Since you will have the full day of the 25th to you (whereas I only had about half a day and that was with a full case of jet lag), and the city was dead, you may want to rent a car for that day and drive around and see the Lisbon environs and scenic drives like the Ponte 25 de Abril or Ponte Vasco da Gama (Sorry but I'm an engineer so these things sound exciting to me 8-) ).

The weather in Lisbon was sunny except for Christmas Day when it rained. Lows were probably the mid/upper 40's, highs in the upper 50's.

The main farmer's market is across the street from the Cais do Sodré train station. Around the Baixa and Rossio areas will be pushcharts selling roasted chestnuts. One coneful was €2.

I spent 5 full days in Lisbon and felt that that was not enough time to see and do everything I wanted. Belém was definitely worth going to -- for the pasteis de Belém as much as for the sights -- but the tram was mobbed both ways. It ways beyond standing room only, it was crush density. And this was on December 27th!

SonOfLusus

Hi!
On the 25th almost everything will be closed, as you'd expect. So I'd make that a walking sight-seeing day. Lisbon is great for that, as it is built on seven hills and there are many viewpoints (http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/viewpoints.html) called ed "miradouros" where you can sit, take photos, relax, etc.

You definitely should not leave Portugal without visiting Sintra (http://www.golisbon.com/portugal/cities/sintra.html) which you can reach by train in about 40 minutes. You may also take an express bus that takes about 2 hours to the city of Evora (http://www.golisbon.com/portugal/cities/evora.html)

Alternatively, if you decide to rent a car, go to Obidos (http://www.golisbon.com/portugal/cities/obidos.html), a beautiful walled medieval village.

As for the authentic food, Lisbon has many international restaurants but by your description I assume you're looking for local, Portuguese cuisine. Here is a list of good Portuguese restaurants to consider in Lisbon: http://www.golisbon.com/food/portugu...staurants.html

As for your hotel, I'd recommend one somewhere in or near Avenida da Liberdade, as they're the most central. You may also go for an apartment (http://www.golisbon.com/apartments) in the center of the city, which will probably come out cheaper than a hotel at that time of the year.

For other ideas, Fodos's has a good guide about Lisbon and the rest of Portugal, as does the very comprehensive http://www.golisbon.com site.

Have a great time!

dmlove

We were in Portugal many years ago (Lisbon and south). I think 3 full days in Lisbon (in addition to Christmas Day, when apparently you won't get much done!), a day to Sintra-Queluz-Cascais (we hired a driver) and a trip to Evora and/or Obidos would be great. (We like the same things you do, although less into food, and more into markets in general, not just farmer's markets....love street fairs, castles, just soaking up the ambiance of a city/town, etc.)

I have to tell a story in response to Ivy's "and oh the wine" comment. We were on the Algarve and having dinner in a decent restaurant. We decided to order local wine, at $1.00US per bottle (no kidding, but this was back when a nice room in Lisbon was less than $50 a night). The wine was dreadful, so ever since, we refer to all bad/cheap wine as "Wines of the Algarve" (I gather it's much improved!!)