How to spend few days in Lisbon without rushing but enjoying the city and working a bit
I visited Lisbon a few days ago. I wasn’t planning much beforehand, went to places as I felt for it. I read few blog posts about Lisbon and Portugal in general but did not had much expectations other than it’s cool city and I will have fun for sure. I knew a few friends that were in Lisbon whom I wanted to meet with otherwise had not much of a plans. I got recommendations for a very few spots to see but I used google maps for the most of the things.
I met some crypto people at The Block Cafe which is hosting networking event every Friday from 6pm, search for it on meetup.com for more info.
Transportation
I bought the first day metro card at the machine at subway and used it pretty lot during the day. Metro is super clean and safe although I didn’t felt for riding it in night as the taxi is pretty cheap. For taxi I was using Bolt which is European version of Uber and it works great, the taxi is cheap and it was usually around 5€ for like 2–3km ride which is not that bad. Even taxi to the airport was around 10€ which is amazing.
Places to go
I wasn’t really aiming to go to places but I wanted to have fun. I havent been to many places as I was working in the morning and spend some time hanging out at friends places. Here’s list of places that I’ve been to:
- Beach in Costa da Caparica— take uber, it’s cheap and relatively fast. It takes like 20ish mins drive and you will end up in paradise. Don’t forget to take sunscreen and beach towel. I was at Praia da Rainha beach if you want exact location
- Riviera — I don’t have exact spot but its nice to walk in downtown by the water and eat pastel de nata you bought in Timeout Market
- Botanic garden Estufa Fria — nice to visit when you want to relax, it’s pretty big but no need to block off more than 30 mins for it. On Sunday its free otherwise it’s like 4€.
- Belem tower — a bit out of the main town but super nice to spend some time there, take scooter and ride along the ocean side, visit park
- Padrao dos descombrimentos — near belem tower just scooter or walk there, very nice monument
- Praca do imperio garden — garden on another side of the road of monument mentioned above, its nice to walk around. Recommending to block like an hour or two and just walk around the belem or scooter
- Lx Factory — very hipstery district, lot of cool artsy shops, cafes, axie throwing. Nice to visit when you will be coming back from belem or just go there for dinner.
Restaurants
It’s Portugal and so food experience is very unique, in terms of there’s so many pretty bad restaurants or just super basic ones that are okay but you want to get the experience. I’ve been always eating out but here’s my list of fav places that I kept coming back to or I visited and was just blown away. I did not eat at many places as I was eating lot of pastel de nata.
- Prado — fine dinning like Michelin style but pretty cheap, pick food randomly and just enjoy the experience. Super delicious food and bread, I went there for brunch with friends we tried like 80% of their menu and it was so worth it! Make sure to try mushroom ice cream- it was super delicious, promise me
- Hygge kaffe — amazing brunch spot with matcha, cakes, lunch menu serves brunch all day. I do recommend you to book spot ahead on weekends around lunch time
- Time out market — super famous food market with variety of foods. I had there amazing poke that I had few times as I was lazy to research for other options
- Casa Indiana — amazing indian food, must visit if you love indian food
Pastel de nata
I just love them and last days I was eating like 6–8 a day just because it’s love (don’t judge me plz). My rank of pastel de nata based on how much i liked them. Here is my rank:
- Pastéis de Belém
- A Brasileira
- Manteigaria at Timeout Market
- Fabrica da Nata
I think I will just keep coming back to Brasileira as its in a great location.
Rooftops
Lisbon has some nice rooftop restaurants and bars. Here are the ones that I visited and loved them!
- Java — my fav bar with great atmosphere, nice drinks but more on the pricey side and not recommend to visit on Friday when they close the main bar after 10pm
- Noobai — great food and super nice view on the bridge, perfect for sunset time
- Terraco Editorial — you walk to the restaurant through some weird glassware store, it was nice and had great wine
- Lumi rooftop bar restaurant — nice and fancy restaurant with a view, recommend for a fancier dinner if you want some very nice restaurant
Conclusion
I had nice time in Lisbon and I hope you will have too, just be ready for slow down. Lisbon is very slow city and everything takes for ever. You will experience it in restaurants, be patient. If you want just quick food fast ask for takeout and pay immediately.
I did not added links to the places as you can just google them using google maps. I also created Lisbon must visit highlight on my Instagram profile with pictures from these places. Follow me on Instagram for more adventures @anett.rolikova
