28 Hours in Lisbon: What to Do When You Have Just Enough Time to Fall in Love
Lisbon does not take long. That is both its best quality and its most irritating one, because the moment you understand it, you also understand that 28 hours is not going to be enough and you will have to come back.
Fly in on an early morning flight and you land by ten. Take the metro to Cais do Sodre and walk to LX Factory for coffee among the weekend market stalls. This used to be a textile factory. Now it is all independent bookshops and brunch plates and people looking approximately 40 percent more interesting than you feel at this hour. Buy pasteis de nata from the nearest bakery counter. Eat two.
The view from the castle walls at dusk is precisely the kind of thing that makes you forget what you came here for.
Spend the morning in Alfama, which is the oldest neighbourhood in the city and stubbornly refuses to be made entirely smooth by tourism.
Fly in on an early morning flight and you land by ten. Take the metro to Cais do Sodre and walk to LX Factory for coffee among the weekend market stalls. This used to be a textile factory. Now it is all independent bookshops and brunch plates and people looking approximately 40 percent more interesting than you feel at this hour. Buy pasteis de nata from the nearest bakery counter. Eat two.
The view from the castle walls at dusk is precisely the kind of thing that makes you forget what you came here for.
Spend the morning in Alfama, which is the oldest neighbourhood in the city and stubbornly refuses to be made entirely smooth by tourism.
The streets are too narrow and too steep and too irregular for that. Get lost in them deliberately. You will find a tiled building you did not expect, a cat on a step, a woman hanging washing above you. Follow the sound of fado if you hear it. It will not sound like the recordings.
Lunch at Cervejaria Ramiro, which has been serving the same magnificent seafood since 1956 and sees no reason to stop. Order gambas al ajillo and clams in white wine and the steak sandwiches they bring you at the end as a matter of tradition. The queue is worth it. The beer is very cold.
Afternoon is for the castle and then the viewpoints. The view from the castle walls at dusk is precisely the kind of thing that makes you forget what you came here for. Below you is the whole city, terracotta and white, falling towards the Tagus. The light does something different here to the light everywhere else.
Lunch at Cervejaria Ramiro, which has been serving the same magnificent seafood since 1956 and sees no reason to stop. Order gambas al ajillo and clams in white wine and the steak sandwiches they bring you at the end as a matter of tradition. The queue is worth it. The beer is very cold.
Afternoon is for the castle and then the viewpoints. The view from the castle walls at dusk is precisely the kind of thing that makes you forget what you came here for. Below you is the whole city, terracotta and white, falling towards the Tagus. The light does something different here to the light everywhere else.
Dinner in Principe Real at O Corvo, which is small and perfect and consistently underrated. Book in advance. Walk back through the Bairro Alto afterwards and let the evening take whatever shape it takes. Lisbon's bars are reliably open late and reliably not intimidating.
Morning two: Belem. The pasteis de nata at Pasteis de Belem are worth the taxi, the queue and the argument about whether they are different from all the others. They are. Go early, before the coaches arrive. Walk along the river afterwards. The Jeronimos Monastery, if you are the sort of person who goes to monasteries, will make you the sort of person who goes to monasteries.
Morning two: Belem. The pasteis de nata at Pasteis de Belem are worth the taxi, the queue and the argument about whether they are different from all the others. They are. Go early, before the coaches arrive. Walk along the river afterwards. The Jeronimos Monastery, if you are the sort of person who goes to monasteries, will make you the sort of person who goes to monasteries.
Members have access to exclusive hotel rates in Lisbon, including partnerships with some of the city's finest boutique properties. Check the travel portal before you book. Lisbon is one of those cities that repays the better room considerably.
LISBON MEMBER RATES AVAILABLE NOW
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LISBON MEMBER RATES AVAILABLE NOW
Exclusive hotel discounts and experience packages in Lisbon are bookable through the your members hub or sign up for a membership at https://elevaterewards.worldprivilegeplus.com/
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