Recommendations for Lisbon?
 

Hi

I have bought tickets to Lisbon in the middle of May and I would love to hear recommendations for what to see there, hotels, places to eat etc. I have bought a DK Eyewitness guidebook online so hopefully I will have that soon so I can start planning the visit a bit. But if you guys have any recommendations feel free to speak up :-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

You might find my TR useful: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ing-lisbon.cfm

Here is our trip report from New Years this year: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-20102011.cfm

Lots of restaurant recommendations. Dont forget to include a day trip to Sintra!

I loved the Tile Museum as I'd never been to one like this before. Lots of lovely tiles! I also liked the Decorative Arts Museum and the Monastery was the best one of the three I visited (Tomar and Batalha).

But my favorite place was Sintra - the palaces were great!

You can see some examples from the tile museum in my photos. Scroll down to Lisbon at the end.

http://modigliani.shutterfly.com/portugal2009

We followed this walking tour, provided by a very knowledgeable fodorite: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-of-lisbon.cfm. It give a good overview of the city.

A very nice restaurant is Tágide in the Baixa area. We stayed in the Marques de Pompal hotel for a few nights and were very pleased. The location is convenient and there's a metro stop right outside the door. The breakfast also was very good, especially the Nespesso machine.

That guidebook you bought is excellent for maps and illustrated information, but rather poor on restaurant recommendations.
Not knowing your exact interests, I suggest you concentrate on the big major sites (in the Belem area) and also visit Sintra. The middle of May is a good time to be in the city, and it's likely to be sunny and pleasant. I also recommend a nice walk along the riverfront in the Parque das Nacoes neighborhood.
For the longest list of restaurants and shops in the city see http://www.lisbonlux.com/

A good website for info on Lisbon (including transport options) is http://www.golisbon.com/ - transport link near the bottom of the page.

We visited Lisbon in the last week of 2010.
We stayed at Residencial Florescente -
Rua Portas De Santo Antão Nº 99
www.residencialflorescente.com

Very centrally located, near Rossi square, near 2 metro stops. Clean, A/C, good breakfast. Not expansive at all ( I think that it was 60 Euro / double room).

Below there is what we did in each day:

First day - arriving early in the morning after night flight
-Rossio Square
- Santa Justa Elevator
- Praca de Commercio
- Praca Restauradores
- Rua Augusta
- Av. de Liberdade

2nd day- Took Tram 28 for a view of the city ; went to Alfama
- Mirador de Santa Luzia, St. Jorge Castel, Monasterio St Vicente,, Decorative art Museum, Se Cathedral
- Then, Estrela Church

- In the evening - Centro Colombo ( mall)

3rd day
- Figueira Square
- Belem (Jeronimus Monastery, Discovery Monument , Coach Museum
- Ajuda Palace

4th day
- Fronteira Palace
- Gulbekian museum

- In the evening - restaurant Senhor Vino (good Fado singers)

5th- Sintra ( Pena castle,National Palace)
- Queluz Palace

6th day
- Tile museum
- Parque das Nacoes, Aquarium

7th day - Cascais

We traveled in general by tram and metro. Train to Sintra - Queluz. Train to Cascais.
Taxi to Tile museum. Taxi to Fronteira Palace.

We strongly recommend Tile Museum, Fronteira Palace, Queluz Palace (palace and gardens).

We loved Lisbon!

You can find good information here on http://www.lisbon-tourist-guide.com/why-lisbon.html to plan your trip to Lisbon.

When in Lisbon visit Solar do vinho do Porto - the Port Institute. They have bottles of port for about the last hundred years.

Several restaurants I like: Faz Figura on Rua do Paraiso in Alfama district, Colcci Cafe on Rua Ivens in Chiado and Cervejaria Trindade also in Chiado.

If you go to Obidos, I would recommend a local favorite which is just outside of the city walls. It is located next to a huge white building that I think was previously a convent or church. The restaurant is O Caldeirao and you'll find mostly locals here. The food is authentic and fantastic.

Must take Tram 28 around the old parts of town. But be aware of pickpockets on the Tram and also if you take the train (at Rossio station) to Sintra the pickpockets abound. They tend to stay on the first couple of cars you'll come to (which is the back of the train, hope that makes sense). Walk farther up toward the front of the train and on both the train and the tram, try to seat yourself next to a window and near locals as the pickpockets leave them alone. Just be aware of the people around you.

Sintra has a wonderful open air market, I think on Sundays. Check out GoLisbon as Thursdays said to find out the schedule. It's really fun - the only flea market I've been to where you can walk about with a glass of wine that cost half a euro!

Wishing you a wonderful trip.

Thanks for all the recommendations so far :-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

hello i´m Portuguese...and i can help you with any question!
First, May has a unpredictable weather... In April we usually have lots of rain, but until yesterday it was like summer, now is just poring.
May can be ether really nice and warm or rainy...check the site www.meteo.pt before you leave so you can check the weather it tells you the wether for the next 10 days...but probably by the middle

hello i´m Portuguese...and i can help you with any question!
First, May has an unpredictable weather... In April we usually have lots of rain, but until yesterday it was like summer, now is just poring.
May can be ether really nice and warm or rainy...check the site www.meteo.pt before you leave so you can check the weather, it tells you the weather for the next 10 days...but probably by the middle of may it will be nice!! maybe beach weather!
second...ask for help to young locals, if you speak English.
The old/middle-age people probably learned French at school.
third... it´s really easy to go around places in lisbon, we have grate train connections, great metropolitan and also tram, you can go to the city part - Rossio, Chiado, Bairro Alto, Belem, Alfama,- or to the beach part of Lisbon - Cascais, Estoril, São Pedro...
the other side of the river is beautiful too, cross, by train, the 25th of April bridge see the river Tejo, and visit Troia if the weather is nice for a beach day - Troia has wonderful, big, desert, white-sanded beaches...
than there´s Sintra, it´s a litle more cold and humid, but the land scape is breath taking, the castles, the Palace and the Diana´s temple are worth seeing...! also you have Ericeira a world-known place for surfing - very windy but beautiful mountains and beaches...
Lisbon is really easy to walk around too...if you go to Rossio you easily walk to Chiado, to Bairro Alto...
Lisbon was a victim of an earthquake/tsunami in 1755, and was re-built by Marques do Pombal who made everything symmetrical and organized, a lot like military architecture, so some of the streets are really similar...
if you have time, there´s so much to see in Portugal...
Obidos, Algarve, Sesimbra, Alentejo, Porto...
But about Lisbon, there are lots of monuments and, Belem have the most known ones - most of them were made by the time of the discoveries, like the tower of Belem, the monument of discovery, the monastery of Jerónimos, at Belem there´s a place that you MUST go: it´s open since 1837 and it sells the famous "pasteis de Belem" the literal translation is pastels of Belem, but just go and try it...it´s traditionally Portuguese...ask for "pasteis de belem" -http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt/ you will love it!
there is a gourmet restaurant very famous called Eleven you can see the river and it´s very classy, not cheap (i think...but i always heard that food in Portugal is very cheap so...), you should order Wine Dão in Portuguese - vinho Dão, very good, and of course our traditional wine Porto, both red.
try our Bacalhau (codfish), and a soup called "caldo verde"...
there´s a very good restaurant at Chiado called Sacramento do Chiado - http://www.sacramentodochiado.com/
There´s one close to Belem, inside the old electricity factory called amo-te Tejo, witch means i love you tejo, it´s really nice too http://www.amote.pt/index2.php...
Don´t forget to go to a house of Fado, a traditional type of music from Lisbon, there´s a restaurant very traditional that also have Fado (amateur - anyone sings, from the waiter, to the old lady next to you...), it´s in Alfama http://www.fadovadioabaiuca.com/index-4.html

Well i could go on...if you need to know any thing else just ask, i love my country...

By the way...there are nice restaurants at Cascais too.
Cascais is a tiny village with a very good ice cream place, it´s called Santini http://www.santini.pt/, the marina is nice too!
cascais have pretty beaches, and a good nightlife..
If you are interested in nightlife you have Bairro Alto for example - awesome, lots of bars and people at the street :)

Oh! btw, [valtor on Apr 11, 11 at 8:08pm], that is a nice itinerary.
and also, the Cervejaria da Trindade is indeed a great place to eat...it´s inside an old monastery at Chiado...i recommend!

We also followed lreynold's walking tour recommended by MFNYC at 10:37 above.

The posts from September 8 to 12 on my loooooonnnnggg London trip report are about our side trip to Lisbon. You might find some interesting stuff here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...going-tale.cfm

Having dinner at Cervejaria da Trindade tomorrow night! a real local favorite.

karencorreia: what's the weather like now?

it´s more or less...you´ll need a light jacket. we´re on the 18ºC...
And may rain...
April is rainy, but when the sun comes out it´s warm and nice...
http://www.meteo.pt/pt/cidadeprev10dias.jsp?days=5 these is the link for the predictions of weather conditions for the next 10 days...
i hope you feel welcome here! :)
have a nice dinner!