Things to do in Lisbon

Lisbon is hills above a river so wide it reads as a bay. The Baixa between them is flat and gridded: the earthquake of 1755 left nothing to keep. Everything else is a climb.

The city by height

• Baixa — Pombal's grid after 1755, running down to the water at Praça do Comércio.
• Alfama — the tangle under the castle, and the quarter the quake mostly spared.
• Chiado and Bairro Alto — theatres and bookshops by day, street drinking by night.
• Belém — six kilometres west: the Jerónimos monastery, the tower, the pastry.
• Parque das Nações — the Expo ground, with an aquarium and a cable car.

Tram 28, and the lifts that are not running

The 28 is a scheduled service that happens to be famous. Treat it as transport.

• Buy before you board. On board it is 3.30 euros; on a Navegante card the same trip is about 1.72, and a whole day is 7.25.
• Get on at an end. It runs Martim Moniz to Campo de Ourique; board in the middle and you stand.
• Check it is running. Stretches go to a replacement bus for weeks while the track is dug up.
• Bags in front. The crush is what pickpockets are there for.
• The lifts are shut. Glória, Bica, Lavra and Santa Justa have been out of service since the Glória derailment of September 2025. Only the small Graça funicular has reopened.

The viewpoints are earned on foot now. Senhora do Monte is the highest. At sunset it is a crowd; at eight in the morning it is yours.

Eating, drinking and fado

• Bica. The Lisbon word for an espresso, about a euro at the counter. Sitting down costs more, the terrace more again.
• Imperial. The 20 cl draught beer; a caneca is 50 cl. Fino is the Porto word, not this one.
• The couvert. Bread, olives and cheese land on the table unasked. Untouched, they go back and you owe nothing; that is the law.
• Hours. Lunch runs one to three, then the kitchens shut until seven. Locals eat at half past eight, bars close at two, and clubs run to four.
• Fado. UNESCO-listed in 2011 and sung in silence; talking gets you asked to leave. The amateur kind lives in small Alfama bars, not in rooms with a coach outside.

Out of the city

Most of what is booked in Lisbon leaves it: by train, by van, or by boat down the Tagus.

• Sintra — 40 minutes by train, and more palaces than a day holds. Book the Pena slot first; the day follows it.
• Cascais and Estoril — the beach line, out of Cais do Sodré.
• Arrábida and Setúbal — wine, and the clearest water within an hour.
• Évora — a Roman temple and a chapel lined with bones, ninety minutes east.
• Óbidos, Nazaré and Fátima — the walled town, the winter waves, the shrine.

Practical

• Weather. Summer highs sit in the high twenties, with an Atlantic wind most afternoons. Rain comes October to March.
• From the airport. The red metro line reaches the centre in twenty minutes for 1.90 euros; a taxi is 15 to 20.
• Free entry is for residents. The national free days need a Portuguese citizen's card, so visitors pay. The Money Museum in old São Julião is free to all.
• Calçada. The pavements are polished limestone, and wet limestone is a skating rink.