3 DAYS IN LISBON

Earlier this year I had a fabulous city break in Lisbon, Portugal's capital so I had to write about it and tell you what we got up to. I went with Joe and our friends Maddie and Cormac and this is how it went ... SPOILER ALERT: we had an amazing time.

Day 1

Day 1 consisted of traveling early in the morning from Luton to Lisbon Airport and we arrived at around 11am. The flight lasted around 2 hours and 45 minutes which would have gone quite quickly had we not sat on the plane for an hour before taking off.

Upon arrival at Lisbon, we checked out the location of our Airbnb and realised we could go there on the metro from the airport, so we bought our travel cards at the airport metro station and went on our way.

The travel cards are quite good as you can put as much money as you want on them and use them on most of the types of transport around Lisbon such as buses, trams, and metro.

We then checked into our Airbnb which was in the perfect location. Lisbon is known for being quite hilly and steep but we managed to stay in a relatively flat area right by the sea and we were within walking distance of the main tourist attractions.

After checking in and a quick change, we headed out for some lunch and ended up picking somewhere by the sea, in the sun, and shared a few jugs of sangria. It was actually the first time I'd seen the sun in ages as we went in March and the UK had been freezing for months, so it was just perfect.

After a few drinks and a wander around our area of Lisbon, we went back to our Airbnb for some chill time as we had a VERY early start and chilled out for a bit before dinner.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant quite near to our Airbnb called Lugar Marcado where we were greeted with great service and enjoyed some lovely wine and seafood. I had the cod which was unlike any cod I'd had before. I enjoyed the taste but just couldn't eat a lot of it, I think because I was so tired from getting up early and traveling.

Day 2

After a good night's sleep in our Airbnb, we went for an alfresco breakfast ready for a day of exploring.

We got the train to Belem, where you can find the Belem Tower (Torre de Belem) and the famous home of the Pastel de Nata at Pasteis de Belem. This is a foodie must for Lisbon!

After that, we took the train again further away from Lisbon and went to the beautiful seaside town of Cascais. I'd really recommend giving yourself a day to explore this town if you are planning to visit Lisbon as it was so beautiful and had much more of a quiet vibe than Lisbon, so you get the best of the city and somewhere quieter.

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Cascais also has beaches where you can swim in the sea, whereas there isn't really a beach in the centre of Lisbon although it is on the sea.

When we arrived at Cascais we found a nice outdoor bar right by the beach and of course, had a couple of glasses of sangria. The sun was shining and it was one of those moments where you think "ah, life is good."

We then had a wander around Cascais, followed by some Portuguese sparkling wine and some tapas at a wine bar. The name of the bar escapes me now which is a shame because it was amazing and you need to go there! It was on a road called Rua Frederico Arouca and the tapas was 10/10. Foodie pictures below if you don't believe me...

We then headed back to Lisbon and went out for the evening in the Bairro Alto area. There were a lot of stag and hen parties around there and seemed to be where the main clubs and bars were, so head there if you want a piece of the Lisbon nightlife.

My advice to you would be if you are a heel-wearer, forget them in Lisbon, don't even pack them. There are so many hills and everywhere you walked was cobbled. The cobbles are also quite slippy too so comfortable shoes only. I was wearing my comfiest trainers and nearly stacked it a couple of times in the rain.

Day 3

On our final day in Lisbon, we headed for another alfresco breakfast (great way to start a day, especially if it includes a pastel de nata).

The main thing we wanted to do on the last day was to go to Timeout market, a world-famous food market in the centre of Lisbon. It was too close after having breakfast though when we went there, so we decided to go on the iconic 28 tram to see the city that way.

We traveled a little bit to ensure we got on the tram at the start of the line instead of getting on somewhere central which would have been super busy. I'd recommend doing this because it means you'll definitely get a seat.

After seeing the city by tram, it made me so thankful I wasn't walking up and down all those hills and that we were staying in a flat area!

We got off the tram back at the Timeout market for some lunch and I was overwhelmed by choice. I tend to go into sensory overload at foodie markets like this as there are so many people, and there's so much choice of food so I quite often end up making rash decisions so I can get it over and done with.

I had a surf and turf ciabatta sandwich with steak and prawns which was good but a little small for the price. One thing I will say about the Timeout market is that you have to go but be prepared to spend a lot. I don't think it was a bad thing that the portions were a little small because it meant I could try a few things, but you have to be prepared for the cost.

My steak sandwich was 12 Euros so not too bad but it is quite a lot for a small sandwich. When in Rome...

I then had some fried squid and an Aperol Spritz; they had a whole stand dedicated to it so it would have been rude not to! Then, I had a pastel de nata and I have to say, I actually preferred the one at the Timeout Market to the one I had as Pasteis de Belem which is controversial.

We then had a bit of a chill before heading out again in the evening for some drinks. As we had quite a late lunch, we got ready and had a few drinks first before dinner.

For dinner, we went to a tapas restaurant we'd been eyeing up the whole time called Tapas n' Friends. It was fitting because we were indeed wanting to eat tapas with friends. There are a few of these restaurants in Lisbon but the one we went to was kind of like a rooftop bar, although it wasn't on a roof, you did have to go up some stairs to sit there.

 

We ordered quite a lot of different tapas dishes to try and everything was amazing. It was giving me a kind of last supper vibe because we had such a lovely couple of days and it was being finished off with great food, drinks, and of course company. Both my heart and belly were full once we'd left there.

Do you need to add Lisbon to your travel list?

Absolutely. There's no doubt about it. You can quite often bag cheap flights to Lisbon and the weather is beautiful for most of the year, starting in March. We paid around £220 for flights and our AirBnB all in which is an absolute bargain.

I also think it's up there in my top 3 favourite European cities that I've traveled to so far. There's so much to do and although we did a lot, I feel like we could go again and still have more to see and do.

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Have you visited Lisbon before? If not, are you adding it to your travel list?