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We've compiled the best of the best in Portugal - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Local foodies flocking to this tiny restaurant for freshly prepared ramen, wonton, and a mapo tofu with a real chili kick. Service is speedy and friendly, and the dishes are beautifully presented. Save room for the matcha cheesecake for dessert.
Run by a father-and-daughter team, this snack bar near the top of one of the city's main shopping streets has just two things on the menu: the simple prego (a steak sandwich) and the belly-busting francesinha (a sandwich featuring cheese, cured ham, sausage, and steak, all drenched in a spicy beer-based sauce). Many locals swear they are the best in town.
Sample the very best ingredients from local producers and farmers all from the humble digs of this locally celebrated food truck—there are goods like honey, mushrooms, pork, chestnuts, and chorizo on the menu. Every so often, the food truck hosts fun events, like touring "mountain picnics" and small parties.
Raise a glass to life's simple pleasures as you nibble on freshly caught shellfish at this feet-in-the-sand bar and restaurant. There are grilled slabs of meat and fish on the menu, alongside a lengthy cocktail list.
A café by day and bar by night, Barreirinha is popular with the locals no matter what time of day you visit. This is partly thanks to its menu of easy-to-eat items like burgers, sandwiches, burritos, and salads, and partly due to its location on a hillside with small outside tables on the terrace overlooking the ocean. Huge white parasols shade you from the Madeiran sun while local musicians keep the atmosphere lively.
Dating from 1905, Lisbon’s most famous café maintains its dazzling Art Deco interior, though you'll probably prefer to take a quick peek and then settle in at one of the tables outside to watch the lively street scenes unfold. The coffee no longer comes exclusively from the former colony that gave the place its name, but it's some of the best in town (it even features in the sauce on the house steak) alongside tasty cakes, pastries, and artfully presented seafood dishes. A few doors down, Pastelaria Bénard is an even longer-established example of Chiado's old-world cafés.
Until its conversion in 1923, the space housing Café Santa Cruz was an auxiliary chapel for the monastery. Now its high-vaulted Manueline ceiling and stained-glass windows make it an enticing spot for a cup of coffee or a leisurely lunch with a glass of wine. Despite all the grandeur, prices are extremely reasonable.
Fresh produce is the hero at this modern neighborhood bistro. Portuguese chef João Rodrigues swapped his Michelin-star kitchen for this modest diner where top-quality seafood and seasonal ingredients shine. There are no fancy foams, just fuss-free dining and an ever-changing menu with Portuguese roots and daily specials. Bookings recommended.
A standout on the pedestrianized Rua Amarela strip, Cantina Clandestina serves delicious tapas, light meals, and cocktails (try the Clandestino, which combines gin with lemon, basil, and ginger beer) to a relaxed crowd. You can take a seat in the cozy confines of Cantina Clandestina itself, at sister restaurant-bar Taberna Clandestina across the road, or arrive early to grab one of the much-coveted tables on the famous yellow-painted street itself.
Once a staff canteen serving hearty Portuguese dishes to factory workers, Cantina LX has incorporated elements of its original 1870s incarnation into today’s industrial-chic space. Adventurous eaters enjoy the grilled rabbit, lamb, and octopus dishes, but there are always vegetarian options too, like zingy goats' cheese salads and vegan burgers.
The humble bifana (pork steak), braised in a sauce flavored with garlic, bay leaf, and wine (or beer) and then served in a rustic roll, is a lunch favorite. This bustling eatery on Praça da Figueira, Rossio's smaller twin, is one of the best places to try it—even if they don't bother to put it on the menu! They also offer a great choice of rustic dishes at prices low enough to draw locals, who eat at the counter if they're really scrimping. The terrace out front is a welcome sun trap on chilly winter days, but don't miss the informative historical wall panel inside, which includes reproductions of engravings depicting the Hospital Real de Todos os Santos, whose grounds encompassed what is now Praça da Figueira but which was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.
Without a doubt, one of the most heavenly—and budget-friendly—meals in Porto is the slider filled with roast pork and sheep's cheese from this snack bar. Served in a warm country roll and oozing with pungent Serra da Estrela cheese, it's no wonder there are always lines out the door. Casa Guedes now has three branches in Porto, including a trendy rooftop, but the "traditional" branch remains the most inviting.
This bakery in Sintra’s old town has been dishing out regional pastries to visitors since 1862. It is known for its travesseiros, a pillow-shaped puff pastry filled with almond and egg custard and dusted with sugar. It’s become so popular that they opened another place around the corner called Piriquita II.
From fixed-price lunches to delicious cakes and vegan pastries, everything is prepared with love and served with a smile at this welcoming little cafe in the heart of Coimbra's historic center. There are plenty of tables in the cozy interior, but the tables and chairs set out on the flagstones outside are the best bet in the summer months. Prices are extremely reasonable given the prime location.
This excellent coffee shop has a few branches across Funchal, including one in the Mercado dos Lavradores. After browsing the market's fruit, vegetable, fish, and flower stalls, take a seat at one of the cafe's small wooden tables and enjoy a bica (espresso) and a pastel de nata (custard tart). Step inside and you'll see row upon row of neatly presented cakes and tarts laid out in the chilled counters like gems in a jewelry box.
Serving pastéis de nata and other sweetly delicious treats since 1829, Confeitaira Nacional is the oldest pastelaria in Lisbon. The handsome antique decor competes for attention with the glass cabinets packed with mouthwatering cakes, pastries, and chocolates.
At the restaurant in the chic AlmaLusa boutique hotel, guests and nonguests can enjoy small plates such as peixinhos da horta (crispy tempura green beans, served with ginger-and-lemon tartare) or mains such as a magnificently creamy house bacalhau (salted codfish). The cut-price à la carte lunch menu draws locals, but dinner is a good value, too. As well as homemade iced tea and juices, there is a representative selection of Portuguese wines; if you're too full for dessert, consider ordering a Moscatel Roxo—a fine sweet tipple from Setúbal, south of the capital.
Creativity and chemistry combine at this Italian-style gelato shop on Sesimbra’s waterfront. Choose from 18 traditional and fun flavors, including many that make use of fresh fruits. Two brothers—a pharmacist and a pastry chef—returned from a Bologna gelato course to create ECHO.
A fragrant, flower-filled terrace and a colorful multi-room interior complete with board games, roaring fire, and resident cat make this a lovely spot for a drink and a light meal whatever the weather. Home-baked cakes and pastries vary daily, while cheese and charcuterie boards are among the enduringly popular sharing plates.
A tourist attraction in its own right, this tiny bar just off Rossio square is the best place in Baixa to sample Lisbon's famous ginjinha. Open since 1840, when the Galician Francisco Espinheira became the first purveyor of the spirit in Lisbon, the bar serves the sweet drink with or without cherries (opt for the version with fruit if you want to convince yourself you're getting some vitamins).
Portugal is a nation obsessed with seafood, but more often than not, fish is simply grilled over charcoal with salt. Guelra is changing the game with a fish-focused eatery where you can sit down for creative seafood snacks and wine at the bar, or venture upstairs for a chic meal with Portuguese-influenced dishes. Be sure to try the amphora wines.
Enjoy colorful salads, seafood, and other light meals with a view over Cascais Bay at this laid-back restaurant-bar in the center of town. Sharing plates and a lively musical backdrop make for a sociable atmosphere, and the sea breezes blowing through the open windows keep things fresh on hot days. For the best views, book a table on the terrace.
A classic spot to sit back and relax, this quaint tea shop specializes in various herbal and fruit teas, as well as coffees, cakes, and light lunches, that you can enjoy at outdoor tables facing a pretty square. You can pick up teas to take home, too.
The terrace at the chic Memmo Alfama Hotel has some of the neighborhood's best views. The menu centers around tapas-style small plates—the selection of Portuguese cheeses and meats, served with a basket of fresh-baked bread, is a good place to start.
If you'd like to grab a sandwich, cup of tea, or glass of wine between museum visits, there's no place better than Gadanha. You'll likely end up leaving with more than what you ate, as this deli and restaurant also sells gift-wrapped gourmet treats like local ham, cheese, and chocolates. The café and shop are superb, and the restaurant in an old barn annex, with exposed wood beams and an antique hearth—is even better. Specialties include lamb croquettes with mushroom mayonnaise and platters of local Alentejan cheeses. You can dine on a smattering of petiscos (tapas) or settle in for the larger main courses.
In the middle of gorgeous gardens, this unusual restaurant occupies a lovingly restored traditional windmill perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The outdoor seating area has different seating areas tumbling down the cliff and shaded by pines and flowering cacti. The food has Mexican and Middle Eastern accents, with excellent vegetarian options along with the fresh fish synonymous with the Portuguese coast.
This laid-back beach bar on the sandy shores of Praia da Fontinha is one of the best places on Porto Santo to soak up the island spirit. Parasols made of dried grass shade the tables, which sit directly on the sand; kick off your shoes, grab a cold beer, and watch the waves lap gently on the shore.
The 18th-century Quintela Palace—once taken over by one of Napoléon's generals—now welcomes diners to a gastronomic experience in a space like no other in the city. Climb the grand staircase to dine in one of four airy elegant rooms, where you can enjoy Portuguese and international cuisine (and where there are well-priced lunch menus). Or stop for drinks and snacks from 6 pm onwards at the buzzy downstairs bar, where a DJ gets the crowd dancing as the night wears on.
