12 Essential Travel Tips when Visiting Lisbon, Portugal Guide
Tips include: Transport around Lisbon, Best areas to stay in a Hotel, how to beat the wait for Tram 28, Sintra and the Santa Justa Lift, best food to look out for, what month is best to visit, how expensive is Lisbon, and loads of tips for visiting Sintra itself and getting the most from your trip in 2023.
00:00 What to Expect
00:26 Lisbon Transport Getting Around
2:06 Santa Justa Queue Skip
3:05 Tram 28 Tips
4:19 Best Area to Stay in Lisbon
5:36 How Many Days in Lisbon?
6:18 Best Months to Visit Lisbon?
6:55 Best Lisbon Food
7:43 Pastel De Nata Best Tips
8:13 Super Tasty Try One!
8:45 How Expensive is Lisbon?
9:15 Sintra Best Tips
11:23 Is Pena Palace Worth It?
If a trip to the beautiful city of Lisbon might
be on your radar, then we’ll most certainly have You covered here. We’ll be looking at navigating
around the city, saving some time by skipping all Those queues, how to get the most from the local
cuisine, where’s the best location for your hotel, And a bunch of suggestions for visiting the
popular day trip to Sintra. I’ve ordered Everything into chapters so feel free to jump
to the section, that’s most useful for you. So number 1, let’s talk about the 2 best ways of
getting around the city. There’s the Viva card Which acts like a pre paid top up travel pass.
And the Lisbon Card which offers unlimited travel But also includes many of the most popular
attractions that you might be visiting. You can purchase the Viva card from the
machines at the airport or subsequent stations, For just 50 cents. Here you can decide how
many up front journeys you want to pay for, Or you can simply add a 24 hour pass. They
can then be used on metro lines, buses, Funiculars, trams, ferrys and some train routes. This is a great way to keep on top of what
you’re spending and each journey works out As half price when compared to just paying
in cash. But it may mean sometimes waiting In line for top ups whenever you
run out of your pre paid journeys. The only other downside I saw, was
this massive queue at the airport When everyone was trying to buy the card for
the first time and top it up. But overall, It’s usually the most affordable
way to get around Lisbon. The other option is the Lisbon Card, which
we opted for. This can be used over a 24, 48 or 72 hour duration. It can be
purchased before arrival and then Activated at the airport, which for us at
least, had much less of a line for pickup. The best thing about this ticket,
was the convenience of never having To think about topping up or waiting to top
up during our entire stay. It also included Entry for Lisbon’s most popular attractions,
which we were planning on visiting anyway, So worked out cheaper than buying everything
separately. I’ve linked the Lisbon Card in The description below and it should be
appearing in the top right of your screen now. One of Lisbons most popular and uniques sites
is the Santa Justa Lift. But whilst it Might give you wonderful views of the city,
I’m not so sure they’re worth the up to 45 Minute wait time. So I wanted to share a
way you can actually a skip all of this. Simply search and follow the directions for Carmo
Convent, which is 5 minute walk from the Lift, And you’ll end up here. Then, this alley to
the right hand side will lead you onto the Same viewing platform but without wasting
your time in the queue. I almost wanted to Yell at everyone below to help them but I
feared they would just assume I was insane. I did read online that you need to pay €1.50
to access the platform this way, but for us,
That wasn’t the case and everything was
totally open and free. It also has the Bonus that if you still want to experience the
lift, taking a trip down is a lot less crowded Than when it leaves full from the bottom, so
it’s a win for all your lift enthusiasts also. Another popular attraction is Tram 28,
which allows you to experience the city As if you’ve been transported back in
time. It’s certainly a unique journey But here’s a couple of tips that
should make it a little smoother. The first is that it can get really busy, even
in the shoulder month we visited. A few times When it passed us by, it was standing room
only, which, at that point, it becomes less Of an attraction, and just really, holding
onto a handrail and trying not to fall over. So the easiest way to avoid the crowds is just
to visit early in the morning or after 9pm. This was 8am, and it meant we had a mostly
empty carriage, and was a more relaxing, Enjoyable trip than if we were in commuter mode.
In terms of where to join the route, It’s best And therefore longest queues is from the first
stop, which then allows you to grab a window seat. Our hotel was only a 5 minute walk away so it was
a no brainer to begin here. But, if you’re near The end of the line, I’ve read that it’s a much
quieter journey going in the opposite direction So should be easier to get a seat from there.
I’ve linked the official transport page in the Description if you want to see every stop along
the route, so you can see what’s best for you. As for where to stay in Lisbon, most of my
saved places on Google Maps were in Baixa Chiado. So anywhere between these points
is going to be super central and walkable. So because of that, I ended up really
loving the location of our hotel, As it was central but still on a quiet street. It
was a simple 30 minutes from the airport via the Metro. It was a 5 minutes walk from the Santa
Justa Lift which is where most of the shops And touristy places are. As mentioned, it was 5
minutes from Tram 28, and also Rossio Station, Which is the main train line that takes you
into Sintra, a popular day trip location. I’ve linked where we stayed in the card
popping up now and in the description, Which helps the channel if you
book ANY hotel after visiting. Despite looking fancy, the hotel itself was
somehow cheaper than the nearby ones, but overall, It just had a really good polish to it. For
example, the mirror here doubled as a TV, there Was a plug inside the safe so you could charge
your stuff whilst keeping it secure. The curtains Were automatic, we had super fast wifi, the door
handles lit up green when you turned off do no Disturb, it was just a generally well thought
out, modern hotel and we had zero complaints. As for how much time to spend
in Lisbon, we had 4 full days, Which for us was perfect so that’s my personal
suggestion. But we totally could have spent A week here to be honest as there were still a
few day trips and places we didn’t get to visit.
For visiting mainland Portugal itself, you
could easily spend 2 weeks in this country, Travelling north and south. As mentioned
at the end of the Lisbon travel vlog we Next took a domestic flight to Madeira,
which is a beautiful Portuguese island. That video will be shared here soon
so please keep an eye out for it once it’s ready. But this combination of city break and island Escape was a great pairing and something
I’d suggest as an option when visiting. Weather wise, since its one of the most southern
cities in Europe, Lisbons average temperature Fares pretty well year round, but November
to March are the wettest times to visit. April to September are great in general but
May, June and September stand out as winners, Without it being too hot, rainy or during
peak season. We visited in October, And when the sun was out, it was a perfect
temperature, but it did rain about a third Of the time, which was in keeping with
this chart, and makes me feel vindicated. Now, I covered a bunch of great food in the main
travel vlog, so check that out for the complete List but one of our favourite restaurants I didn’t
show, was Da Prata 52. This is a Portuguese tapas Style eatery and to give you a bit of flavour, we
ordered the cottage cheese pastries with pumpkin, Octopus risotto, goat meat croquettes with sweet
chilli sauce which worked really well together, Diced beef, and shrimps in coconut milk, with
the sauce here being particularly amazing. We ended up reserving this restaurant a day or two
in advance, as we noticed they were booking up, But you can also wait for a table if
it’s busy. We booked using The Fork app, Which we found was how most restaurants
had set up their online reservations. The App also seems to regularly offer discounts
of up to 50% so is worth keeping an eye on. Whilst we’re on the subject of food, if you’re
in Belem, you simply have to eat at least one Pastel de nata at the famous Pasteis de
Belem. My main tip here is just to be Aware that there are two queues on arrival.
The instinct is to join the big long line, On the right hand side but this is actually just
for takeaway. There’s also an entrance to the left That surprisingly acts like a Tardis, in that it
opens up and goes on far longer than you assume. The other popular Portuguese appetiser I wasn’t
able to showcase in the main vlog was the pastel De bacalhau. This Codfish cake, sprinkled in
salt, mixed with eggs, parsley and surrounded By hot baked potato was exactly to my taste.
Especially when the particular chain we visited, Adds a dollop of runny cheese into the mix,
and then neatly serves it up with a glass of Sweet Port, another Portuguese staple which
as you can see here, I certainly enjoyed. In terms of the overall costs of visiting Lisbon,
when compared to other similar European capitals, I found it to be average to below average in
price. For example, transport was average or cheap To use. Attractions within Lisbon, mostly ranged
from 3 to 10 Euros and the city itself is lovely
Enough to just walk around and experience for free
if you’re on a budget. For the evening meals, do Keep in mind that we went to top rated restaurants
on Google Maps and they ranged from €55 to €80. The number one day trip from Lisbon is to the town
of Sintra and its impressive Pena Palace. And yes, Even though weather wise, we were let down a lot,
I’d say Sintra is worth the trip when the sky Behaves. Again, have a watch of the main travel
vlog on the Suitcase Monkey channel for what we Got up to on the day. Again, have a watch of the
main travel vlog for what we got up to on the day. So, to get to this charming town, the easiest
means is by train and the Rossio Station to Be specific. The journey takes about 45
minutes and was included with our Lisbon Card. After pulling into Sintra Station,
you just need to take the 434 bus which Departs from just outside. The 434 runs a
circulate route in one direction and takes About 20 minutes to get to Pena Palace.
The buses runs 4 times an hour and you Can buy your ticket as you board. We bought
the 24 hour bus pass for €11.50, which gave Us unlimited travel on all local routes, but
there is also a return ticket for around €7. The first stop is the Castle walk
and we spent about an hour here. From There we returned back to the
bus to take us to the palace Or we could have just walked about
10 minutes up the steady incline. Now, I would definitely recommend to pre
book your tickets for Pena Palace. The Queues here were crazy but we literally
just walked to the front of the entrance And had our tickets scanned. I’ll link the
pre booked tickets in the pop up appearing Now in the top right and in the description
below to check them if you’re interested. If you’re ever given the option to add on a
shuttle bus to “skip the 30 minute walk from the Entrance to the Palace”. Definitely skip this this
option unless you have difficulties walking. The 30 minute walk wasn’t that steep and was easily
done in 7 minutes so it’s quite the exaggeration. Everything here is time slotted
so if you have the 12:30 ticket, You can join the line 30 minutes
before and then you’ll be in by 12:30. But it was really busy when we were here.
I’m not sure if it was super extra crowded Because it was literally at peak time of the
day, or if this is just what’s it’s like to Get inside. Arriving for the opening at 9:30
or mid afternoon seems to be less crowded but Please let me know how your experiences
have gone as I’d be interested to hear. For us though, the inside of the palace was
certainly not the highlight, especially if the Weather had been better outside. Maybe it’s
because we live in a country where there’s A bunch of palaces and castles already,
and so the interior was a bit more of what We’ve seen already in England. So if there is
a massive wait and you’re not feeling up to it, I don’t think you’d be missing out if
you instead spent you time marvelling
At the beautiful exterior, views and acres of
surrounding parks. When the weather is good, That is where this place truly
shines and stands out as unique. Taking a tour guided trip here is another good
option. Having someone delve into its history And detail would have given us a valuable
perspective. There’s also the convenience of Being taken straight from one attraction to
the next, instead of having to wait for the Buses. We only had time for the castle walk, Pena
Palace and then the main town of Sintra, which we Absolutely loved walking around by the way. But
there are heaps of other attractions in the area That seem worth a trip and the guided tours do
allow for that with their efficiency. Again, I’ll link those trips in the description and card
popping up in the top right of your screen now. Thank you for making it this far, you are
literally the best. I’ll link the main Lisbon travel vlog here as it covers more
what we got up to and keep an eye out for The Madeira follow up video which will
be coming soon. Please do let me know Any thoughts in the comments as it’s always so
lovely to hear from you all.
