Our trip is a little over 2 weeks away! This forum, as always, is invaluable in trip planning.

One issue we always have is handling our arrival day - we've slept a LITTLE on the plan and we arrive around 10 a.m. We will drop our bags off at the hotel (Hotel da Baixa), and do our best to orient ourselves and keep moving and not go to sleep until close to bedtime. That generally works and we're pretty much on schedule on day 2. So we can go neighborhood exploring on our own, I know Baixa is touristy, but, hey, we're tourists, and I thought we'd head for Chiado after that. I've thought about signing up for a walking tour, but maybe that's not best for the first day. I've seen some 'do your own' walking tours and we could sort of follow those.

Any suggestions for that first day, where we want to stay active (and awake), but may not be at our tip-top best? Maybe a nice late lunch, and a light dinner in between walking around?

Alice

Alice,
We are going next week! Here’s my planning thread for our visit to Lisbon - maybe it’ll give you some ideas. We are starting in Sintra but will arrive mid-day on a Sunday and am planning to use it as a chance to just wander the nearer areas (unless of course, we have a burst of energy).
6 days in Lisbon - please help me plan!

An idea that is not Lisbon specific -
The last time I arrived early to my destination (Athens), I arranged for a private driver to pick me up at the airport and take me on a 1/2 day tour (to Corinth). My friend was arriving the next day. He returned me to my hotel just in time for check-in.

On another trip, we had a private driver pick us up from the ferry at Sorrento (as we traveled from Capri) and he drove us around the Amalfi coast and returned us to our hotel in Naples.

Both were perfect for "Any suggestions for that first day, where we want to stay active (and awake), but may not be at our tip-top best? "

I plan to do the same on future trips.

Alice,
Your hotel is smack dab in the middle of Baixa, so it won't take long to get oriented.

Just walk down Rua de Plata to the gateway to the city, the enormous square, called Praça do Comércio (a.k.a. Terreiro do Paço) where you'll see the 6-columned Triumphant Arch, Arco da Augusta, and where you'll find the Tourist Office-Visitors' Center. This square is the "gateway" in to the city, lined with outdoor cafés, shops and the elegant Pousada (hotel) on the northwest corner, and there will be many people sitting there at the steps down to the river.
Some enjoy taking the elevator up into the Arch, then stairs to the very top for the views. (I haven't done this).

https://www.visitlisboa.com/en/place...da-rua-augusta.

The Lisboa Story Center on the square is a museum dedicated to the history of Lisbon and offers visitors a 60-minute audio guide, "introductory tour" to the history of the city. Some say it's a "must do" and some say it's skippable. Read the TA reviews to decide

https://www.lisboastorycentre.pt/en/content/home.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti..._Portugal.html.

Wines of Portuga-ViniPortugall on the west side of the square offers a tasting room (for later on).

The Pousada has a nice restaurant, Rib Beef & Wine, with outdoor terrace, if that appeals for dinner sometime. It also has a gorgeous library lounge--it's a beautiful hotel.

It won't take long to see the Baixa, so you may want to go to the Baixa-Chiado metro entrance and take the escalators (to avoid a climb) up to the Chiado neighborhood. These escalators will bring you up to the center of Chiado on the Rua Garret, and you'll see a large square in front of you, the Praça Luis de Camões. Around this area you have little kiosks for refreshments, cafés (A Brasileira and Benard) on Rua Garret, which is the main shopping street, and places for pastéis de nata and other treats (Manteigaria on Praça Luis de Camões, Alcôa on Rua Garret and Castro across the street). The lovely Bertrand book store on Garret (oldest in the world) has guide books in English (and maps) and a café at the back of the bookstore.

Kaffehaus on Rua Anchieta at number 3 serves very good sandwiches and beyond it, at Anchieta 11, there's the lovely handicraft shop, A Vida Portuguese, selling the finest handicrafts in Portugal (not a souvenir shop--everything here is extremely tasteful).

https://www.kaffeehaus-lisboa.com
https://www.avidaportuguesa.com/en/stores

North of Rua Garret, you might walk up to the pretty Chafariz do Carmo tree lined square where you'll find outdoor terraces (Mar ao Carmo seafood restaurant) and the ruins of the Convento do Carmo, which are Gothic ruins of a convent destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, housing the Carmo Archaeological Museum.
On Rua Trinidade, at the top of this square, running east-west, you have another seafood restaurant, Aqui Há Peixe.

https://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/carmo-church.html
Restaurant Mar ao Carmo - Fresh seafood with terrace right.
https://aquihapeixe.pt/en/
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Rick Steves has a section on neighborhood walks (self-guided) in his Lisbon guidebook. I know a lot of people don't like Rick but I do like his neighborhood walks. You could follow one or two of his suggestions. He covers Baixa, Chiado, Bairro Alto, and Alfama.

If you want a very casual lunch or dinner, since you might not be in tip-top shape to enjoy a fancier restaurant, I can recommend Bon Jardim, noted for their roasted chicken and piri piri sauce.

Bonjardim is located in Baixa, off Rossio Square at Travessa de Santo Antão, tucked away off "restaurant row" (Rua das Portas de Santo Antão), and it has an outdoor terrace.
I have Rick Steves' Snapshot Lisbon and as Karen says it does have good orientation walking tours, of Chiado, of Bairro Alto, of Alfama. It's definitely worth your purchase.

Amazon

Amazon

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Alice9, we'll be right behind you. We are staying in Chiado, so we plan to do the Rick Steves walking tour of Chiado. If we are walking we can't fall asleep, right?

I booked early (7:15) dinner reservations) at a place just around the corner from our flat. I know that when I am very tired, my sense of direction goes, so I didn't want to have to find our way home from somewhere more than a few blocks away. By the time we finish dinner it will be close to an early but decent bedtime.

In my original 2020 itinerary, I booked the Treasures of Lisboa food tour for arrival day. It goes from 3-6:30 pm and I thought that would be perfect. This time around, the first day of our visit was fully booked so we're doing it on Day 2.

I'll tell you what NOT to do. We took the kids to Paris when they were in 2nd, 5th and 7th grades. I planned a boat ride on the Seine for our arrival day. I took pictures of the other 4 people in my family fast asleep on the boat, in the most uncomfortable positions you could image. It turned into an expensive nap time.

Yes, this is the book that I have, and we followed a couple of his walks, which brought us to areas/streets we might not have otherwise seen.

I have all the Lisbon pocket guides, RS, Rough Guides, Time Out, Moon (just so, so) and Eyewitness. RS and Eyewitness, for me, have the best walking tours.

Well, I go out for a few hours and look at all the good advice I find on my return!

I have the Rick Steve Portugal book, I will look at the walking tours since multiple folks have recommended those.

starrs, the idea of a private driver and walking tour is intriguing, but I’m not sure I want to listen that much, I think we’ll want to wander a bit on our own.

I really appreciate all the restaurant recommendations – should I be making reservations before we go? We generally only do that for ‘special’ places, once we’re there we can frequently make a reservation for that day or the next day, or we use the hotel to do it for us.

Realgirl58, I love your boat trip story! That would definitely be me, nodding off on a bobbing boat. My experience with food tours is that I am too picky an eater AND don’t eat enough to do them justice (although we did do one in Copenhagen that we both liked so maybe that’s not entirely true). And we had originally planned a trip in 2019 that we had to cancel, similar to you.

Progol, we will have to compare notes! I will look for your posts. Too bad our trips don’t overlap (well, depending on the rest of your itinerary and if it’s long enough, maybe they do…).

KarenWoo thanks for the restaurant recommendation, sounds like it will be more our speed on our first day.

Maribel, you have so much good information (including links!) as always, I so appreciate it. I picked the hotel for its’ central location, figuring it seemed easy to get to lots of places from there. We have a room overlooking the courtyard, so I’m hoping it will be quiet. The Bertrand bookstore is high on my list, I’m a big bookstore fan and my husband has to go exploring while I spend too much time in them. I also very much appreciate the information on the handicrafts store, another favorite place I like to haunt (more exploring for my husband).

My planning may wane a bit in the next few days, as my younger son IS GETTING MARRIED on Sunday, so I will have… a few things to do and to enjoy. But trip planning CALMS me so I will still be online a bit.

Thank you everyone!

Alice

Alice,
Depending on the spot, you could make restaurant reservations a few days in advance or email the Hotel Baixa and have them do it. Our experience in March won't necessarily be your experience now closer to the high season. We did make advance reservations for most of our meals since we dined at small places, the "tascas" and" tabernas" that are very popular but don't have many seats.

We also had reservations at the large and bustling seafood restaurant, Ramiro (shellfish only), but had to do this by email. They only take reservations that way. We wanted to avoid a long wait in line there.

I do know that most of the restaurants of the ever-growing Jose Avillez dining empire in Lisbon DO require advance reservations. The one we most enjoy is his original and informal Cantinho de Avillez, and I believe progol already has her reservations there. It's a hard table to book, since it's small, and Avillez is considered one of the country's top chefs. He also has sibling Cantinhos in Porto and Cascais.

Congratulations to your son on his nuptials!

Thanks, Maribel! I'm thrilled with my daughter-in-law to be, she's just lovely. We're having lunch with her parents (coming in from out of town) tomorrow.

I have many friends for whom eating is a focus and highlight of their trips (many Instagram meal photos), but we enjoy eating new cuisines and don't necessarily need to eat at the hottest spots in town. Planning-wise, once I have everything else sorted, I may put some attention to making a few reservations ahead. We also sometimes eat a large lunch at a nice place, and a lighter dinner since we're not used to dining late, and hate going to bed on a very full stomach.

Alice (currently wearing my wedding shoes to break them in...)

There are several cute, small places in Lisbon that specialize in "petiscos", or small plates, meant to be shared. That's what we do in the evening. Our main meal is at lunch. The hotel should have a list or knowledge of those "petiscos" places.

Hi
Here's my practical tip to staying awake in Portugal, as soon as you arrive go to a cafe and ask for a bica.
Bica is expresso coffee, very small but very strong, that should keep you awake for a long time.
Add sugar only, no milk.
Happy travels

LOL, I drink a double espresso every morning - I may be immune.
I'll personally drink 5 Hour Energy upon arrival (a bottle is under 3 ounces).
If you want to try 5 Hour Energy, or any other energy drink and haven't tried it before, try it at least once before you trip. I gave my daughter a bottle when she went on a school choir trip to Europe. She reacted badly. Her choir teacher told me that if she hadn't witnessed my D drinking the stuff, she would have thought she had taken drugs. (I've only had an iffy reaction when I drank it on an empty stomach.)

Oh, my coffee has to have milk, sugar is optional! and I am very wary of those energy drinks, my son got sick on one too! I will likely imbibe some sort of strong coffee drink along with a sugary snack..
Thanks aulop and realgirl58.

Alice

Yeah, I wasn't exactly up for Mother of the Year after the energy drink incident. But they work on me, for about 6 hours.

I'll tell you one more thing, on the general subject of arrival day. Years ago I went on a choir trip to eastern Europe while 4 1/2 months pregnant. I was the only one in our friend group who didn't indulge in the "free" alcohol on the flight over. As it turns out, I was the one in the best shape by the afternoon of arrival day.

Alice,
Try a "meia de leite" that's similar to a latte or a "galão", that is usually 1 part espresso with 3 parts milk.

Maribel, sounds EXACTLY my speed. Thanks!
Alice