Sher

WWanderer. I like Chiado and there are tourists all year round, of course more outside during the warmer days and nights. There are also many people that live in Lisbon and just want to get together for some food and fun that frequent the cafe scene there.

There is the Amazens do Chiado there and you can get a quick bite in the food court which has a McDonalds(just kidding) but also some good quick places to get a bite or a wonderful gelato at Santini.

But there are cafes and restaurants at your fingertips, there is great transportation both by metro and taxis Even with the hills you can quickly get to Rossio.

What kind of budget are you looking at and I will give you a list of websites if that would help. March is a more reasonable time to visit.

WWanderer

Just to add, the one problem we had when we stayed in Porto was finding restaurants in the neighbourhood where we were staying, which was north of the old city, on Rua Santa Catarina. Great neighbourhood, except finding a restaurant was quite painful--it seemed they were mostly obscurely located and difficult to find without a guidebook (this was before Yelp!)

caldarroste

There are restaurants all over Lisbon and there is actually more than one touristic neighborhood. It's not just Chiado. There are other areas that are filled with hotels and apartments and restaurants (Graca, Rossio, Alfama). It is only recently that Chiado and some of the Barrio Alto have been developed more for a certain kind of tourism. I believe there is even more than one branch of Santini in Lisboa. But even if there isn't, you probably will go to Chiado at some point in your Lisbon stay, and you probably won't want gelato every day in March, so you don't actually have to stay in Chiado to taste it. (I don't think Italian gelato is so important to eat in Portugal anyway.)

Porto is different because there are only a very few parts of Porto that are developed for tourism, and a lot of the city has been almost abandoned. But Lisbon is not like that.

What makes Chiado touristy is not just who is walking around, but all the international brand-name stores. You can see those stores anywhere. Every tourist area has them. Plus trendy restaurants serving sushi, etc. Some of the original Portuguese stores and restaurants survive, however.

caldarroste

>>"We strolled around a bit of Bairro Alto when were there for the day, taking the Elevador de Santa Justa, and just walking around that area, and then down through the back streets towards Rossio. It all seemed very nice to us."<<

You can find plenty of apartments right there. If you know you liked that area, there is nothing wrong with it, and you would probably like it again.

WWanderer

Thanks everyone, all good advice. I'm just musing about apartments at this point, trying to keep the budget down. But also have looked at B&B's. The top tripadvisor recommendation for B&B's is Casa do Bairro B&B and Apartments, in Bairro Alto and looks about $120 a night. Sounds fabulous, but I thought perhaps we could do better than that with an apartment (never done this before.)

Just trying to keep the budget down a bit. This is a "jaunt" for us, probably only a week or 10 days. My husband is going to be attending a conference at a university, don't know yet which one or where it is. So access to public transportation may be critical, if it's out in the boonies. But that's only two days of the trip.

So we'll look at the budget overall and see if we should just splurge with a B&B or do the apartment thing. Conference will be kicking in a couple of days of accommodation, I'm sure.

WWanderer

And my knowledge of the city only extends up from Praca do Comercio to Rossio, the streets around that area, and up the elevador to Bairro Alto and back. So other neighbourhood suggestions are welcome.

WWanderer

This website: http://www.lisbon-holiday-apartments.com
seems to have very good prices. Anybody used them?

Sher

I will give you an idea of our experience the last two visits.

One apartment we actually rented from this webiste:
www.chiado-apartments.com, I think it is 3C.
It is a lovely apartment and in March it is about E80 a night.

More recently we booked on www.booking.com a studio at Browns Downtown in Baixa. It is a small hotel, and some of the studios have washers but all have kitchenettes with microwaves, Apple computers and Ipads (usuage free of charge) large very comfortable beds with a/c and heat. The price in August was E90 per night. I didn't check the price for next March.

The point I am making is that you can find good bargains in Lisbon especially in the Spring.
We prefer apartments so I cannot help you with B&B's.

Good Luck.

WWanderer

So I've found out that the conference is at the University of Lisbon. So easily accessible I would guess by Metro if we stayed more centrally, looks about 4 miles out I think.

So I guess it still makes sense to stay centrally, where all the sights are; or alternatively we could stay somewhere a bit further north along the subway line? I'm guessing with the subway it matters very little.