Lisbon: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
On 1 November 1755, All Saints’ morning, an earthquake destroyed Lisbon, and a tsunami and a five-day fire followed. A third of the city died. One quarter survived — Alfama, because it is built on rock. The lanes you walk today are the lanes that were here before the earthquake, and they are steep. Wear real shoes.
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A short history of Lisbon
The Romans called it Olisipo. In 711 the Muslims captured it, and in 1147 it was taken by Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. In 1497 Vasco da Gama set out from here on the voyage that reached India, and in the same year the Jews of Portugal were forced to convert. On 1 November 1755 an earthquake, a tsunami and fire destroyed most of the city, and the Marquis of Pombal rebuilt the Baixa district with straight streets. On 25 April 1974 the Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship almost without a shot being fired. In 1998 the city hosted the world exhibition.
The ten best sights in Lisbon
1Praça do ComércioOpen to the river, where the royal palace stood until 1755
2RossioWave-patterned paving that makes people seasick
3Santa Justa LiftA wrought-iron lift between two streets, 1902
4AlfamaThe only quarter the earthquake left standing
5Castelo de São JorgeMoorish walls on the highest hill, and peacocks
6Miradouro da Senhora do MonteThe highest viewpoint, and the quietest
7Miradouro de Santa LuziaTiled terrace over the roofs of Alfama
8Belém TowerThe last thing the ships saw leaving, 1519
9Padrão dos DescobrimentosFifty-two figures on a stone prow facing the sea
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10LX Factory
A textile works under the bridge, now shops and food
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Lisbon →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Lisbon:
Free walking tours in Lisbon
Alfama
On 1 November 1755, All Saints’ morning, an earthquake destroyed Lisbon, and a tsunami and a five-day fire followed. A third of the city died. One quarter survived — Alfama, because it is built on rock. The lanes you walk today are the lanes that were here before the earthquake, and they are steep. Wear real shoes.
- Castelo de São Jorge · Moorish walls on the highest of the seven hills. In 1147 a Portuguese king took it with the help of a passing fleet of English crusaders who had stopped for water on their way to Jerusalem.
- Miradouro da Senhora do Monte · The highest viewpoint in the city and the one the tour groups do not reach. The whole of Lisbon is below you and the bridge closes the frame.
- Miradouro de Santa Luzia · A tiled terrace over the roofs of Alfama with blue azulejo panels showing the city as it was before 1755 — the only picture of the Lisbon that no longer exists.
- Lisbon Cathedral · Built in 1147 as much a fortress as a church, with two bell towers that are really watchtowers. It survived the earthquake because it was built to survive a siege.
- Feira da Ladra · A flea market held on this ground since 1272. The name means "thieves’ market" and nobody has ever tried to change it. Tuesdays and Saturdays only.
- Panteão Nacional · Begun in 1682 and finished in 1966 — two hundred and eighty-four years. "A job like Santa Engrácia" is still Portuguese for something that will never be done.
Baixa and Chiado
After the earthquake the Marquis of Pombal ordered the centre rebuilt in three years — on a straight grid, with identical buildings and an internal timber cage designed to survive the next quake. It is the first anti-seismic town plan in the world. You walk it from the river upward, into Chiado and Bairro Alto.
- Praça do Comércio · The royal palace stood here until the tsunami took it. Pombal left the square open to the river on purpose, so the city would face the water that had destroyed it.
- Rossio · The paving is laid in black and white waves by hand, stone by stone — a Portuguese craft called calçada. Look at it too long and you feel seasick, which is said to be the point.
- Santa Justa Lift · Forty-five metres of wrought iron built in 1902 by a student of Eiffel, simply to carry people from one street up to another. There is a free staircase round the back that reaches the same terrace.
- São Roque Church · The plainest front in Lisbon, and inside it the Chapel of St John the Baptist — built in Rome, blessed by the Pope, dismantled and shipped here in 1747. At the time it was the most expensive chapel in Europe.
- Chiado · The bookshop Bertrand has been open on this street since 1732 and is the oldest in the world still trading. A fire destroyed the quarter in 1988 and Álvaro Siza rebuilt it exactly as it was.
- Time Out Market · Half of a Victorian market hall from 1892. A magazine rented it in 2014 and invited the city’s best cooks to take a counter each; the other half is still a fruit and fish market at dawn.
Belém
The ships left from here. Belém was the harbour Vasco da Gama sailed from to India in 1497, and what he brought back — pepper, cinnamon, gold — you can see in stone: the entire monastery was paid for by a five per cent tax on spices. Three kilometres west of the centre, and it takes half a day.
- Jerónimos Monastery · Built from 1501 in a style that exists nowhere else — Manueline, where the stone carvings are ropes, anchors, coral and seaweed. Vasco da Gama is buried just inside the door.
- Pastéis de Belém · The monks sold custard tarts to survive after the monasteries were dissolved in 1834, and sold the recipe to the sugar refinery next door. Only three people alive know it, and they are not allowed to fly together.
- Padrão dos Descobrimentos · A stone prow fifty-two metres high with Henry the Navigator at its head and thirty-two others behind him. On the pavement in front, a compass rose of marble maps every Portuguese landfall and its date.
- Belém Tower · Finished in 1519 as a fortress in the middle of the river, though the river has since moved and left it on the bank. On one corner is a stone rhinoceros — the first carved in Europe, from an animal the king was sent from India.
- MAAT · A low white wave of fifteen thousand tiles that you can walk over the top of, built beside the brick power station that lit Lisbon until 1972.
- LX Factory · A textile works from 1846 directly under the bridge, empty for decades and now full of shops and food. The bookshop in it has a printing press still standing in the middle of the floor.
Getting to Lisbon and getting around
- Humberto Delgado Airport · Twenty minutes to the centre on the red metro line
- Santa Apolónia · Trains to Porto and into Spain
- Cais do Sodré · The line to Cascais runs along the water
- Oriente · Calatrava’s station, and the bus out of town
- Tram 28 · The one that climbs Alfama. Get on at Martim Moniz
Museums in Lisbon
- Gulbenkian Museum · One man’s collection, and a garden to sit in
- National Tile Museum · Five hundred years of azulejos, in a convent
- Museu de Arte Antiga · Bosch’s Temptation of St Anthony, and nobody there
- MAAT · Walk over the roof — that is the building
Parks and gardens in Lisbon
- Eduardo VII Park · A clipped lawn aimed straight down at the river
- Jardim da Estrela · Ducks, a bandstand, and a basilica across the road
- Jardim Botânico Tropical · Plants brought back from the colonies, in Belém
- Costa da Caparica · Thirty kilometres of Atlantic beach, over the bridge
Things to do in Lisbon with kids
- Oceanário de Lisboa · One enormous central tank, four oceans around it
- Parque das Nações cable car · A kilometre along the river at twenty metres up
- Tram 28 · A 1930s wooden tram climbing Alfama — go at seven
Cheap eats in Lisbon
Eight counters where Lisbon eats standing. A monastery recipe only three living people know, a beer hall where the prawns come by weight and the staff shout your number, and a doorway selling sour cherry liqueur in a chocolate cup since 1840.
- Pastéis de Belém · €1.40, warm, with cinnamon. Queue on the left
- Manteigaria · The other pastel, made in front of you, €1.30
- Cervejaria Ramiro · Prawns by weight, no reservations, take a number
- A Ginjinha · Sour cherry liqueur in a chocolate cup, €1.50, since 1840
- Time Out Market · Thirty-five counters, shared tables, one bill each
- Bifana, Baixa · Pork in a bread roll with mustard, €3.50
- Mercado de Campo de Ourique · The local version of Time Out, with locals in it
- Feira da Ladra food stalls · Grilled sardines beside the flea market, Saturdays
Live music in Lisbon
- Fado in Alfama · Small houses, no talking, book the same day
- Bairro Alto · Every door a bar, and everyone drinks in the street
- Pensão Amor · A former brothel by the docks, kept as it was
- Cais do Sodré · Pink Street — a dock street painted pink
Nature and day trips near Lisbon
- Sintra · Forty minutes by train, and go on a weekday
- Cascais · A fishing town at the end of the coastal line
- Cristo Rei · Across the bridge, and the view back is the point
- Costa da Caparica · Atlantic surf thirty minutes from the centre
Frequently asked questions about Lisbon
What is there to see in Lisbon?
The top sights in Lisbon are Praça do Comércio, Rossio and Santa Justa Lift. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Lisbon?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Lisbon without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Lisbon?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Lisbon, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Alfama.
How do you get to Lisbon and get around?
The main ways are Humberto Delgado Airport, Santa Apolónia and Cais do Sodré. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Lisbon, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Lisbon that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Lisbon for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.