Hello Lovelies,
I hope you're all well.
If you follow my journey on Instagram, then you'll know that I went on a trip in early December to Lisbon. Lisbon was a destination suggested to me by my boyfriend because it was high on his bucket list. At the time, I wanted to go to more traditionally Christmas destinations like Brugges or Munich. However, Lisbon ended up surprising me a lot and I fell in love with it. Today's post is going to go through the highs and lows of this fantastic destination and will give you some things to consider when you're planning a trip to this beautiful Portuguese destination.
What we did
Our first day in Lisbon was very tiresome. Starting our day at 2am to get to the airport in time for a 6am flight resulted in exhaustion by 3pm. It is at that time that we decided we were better off heading back to our Air BnB and getting a nap in a refuelling. In our short first day, we ended up getting lunch at the Time Out market which ended up being fairly expensive and not worth it in my opinion. We were just so ravenous that we didn't want to go through the effort to find somewhere more budget friendly. After eating, we had a general wander and found the famous pink street that I'd seen scattered on my Instagram feed in the weeks preceding this trip. Once we'd taken a few snaps (none of which I ended up liking), we went to the Praca de Commercio which is where a lot of the trams pass. There were some trams which were decorated to the nines for Christmas and the conductors were dressed up as Santa Clause. We did some more walking under the arch at this plaza (which reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe) until we reached Rossio Square. We returned to the same area after our nap (and dinner which we had across the way from our Air BnB) to see the Christmas lights at night!
Day 2 came fairly swiftly. We slept well after our first tiresome day. We got up early and headed to the hipster LXFactory for some breakfast. LXFactory is a bit of a hipster area which has a host of art work and cafés. We ended up going to the first café we saw for our breakfast which had a limited selection of food for breakfast. After that, we headed on a walk past the 25th of April Bridge (which was made by the same people who made the Golden Gate Bridge) and the Santa Maria de Belém until we reached the Belem tower. I remember sitting outside the tower, getting a few pictures and hearing "A million Dreams" from the greatest showman being played by a violinist. We then headed inside to explore a bit more. After that, we headed to Jeronimo's Monastery which was one of my favourite places we visited. Somehow you'd feel transported to a fairytale when you went here. We decided to try the famous Belem Pastries after exploring the beautiful tourist attractions. Later on we went to the Roof Top bar called Park which was a lot busier and more expensive than we'd hoped but at least we got to see the sunset and lovely views of Lisbon.
On our third day, we headed on a day trip to Sintra. Unfortunately, we missed the train we were hoping to get on because we hadn't anticipated how large of a crowd there would be at the station. We got on a train 30 minutes later and arrived in Sintra shortly. On that day we visited two of the many castles in Sintra - Pena Palace and Monserrate Palace. Pena Palace is easily one of the most popular castles, so be prepared for crowds if you're visiting this castle. Monserrate palace was much more quiet and serene and I think I even preferred that to Pena. It was 7 euro to visit the outside of Pena Palace and around the same price to visit inside and outside of Monserrate Palace. Monseratte Palace also has beautiful gardens and is the perfect place to enjoy a small picnic or pick-me-up!
Our final day mainly consisted of exploring the Alfama area, seeing the many viewpoints scattered across Lisbon and seeing the Cathedral. We started our day with Brunch in Nicolau Lisboa which I have to say was absolutely delicious and a very Instagram-able brunch place. We then headed to the Alfama area to see the various views or Miradouros as the Portuguese would call them. Some of the viewpoints we went to included Miraduoro das Portas do Sol, Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and Miradoro da Nossa Senhora do Monte. If you don't have the time to see all these viewpoints, your best option is to head to Castello De San Jorge which is where you'll get to see Lisbon from the best angel. We spent around two hours in this castle admiring the scenery and with a 4 euro concession price for student it really is a good deal!
What we didn't do
When you go on trips you never manage to get everything done, and although we did get a lot done, the following are things I would like to do next time!
See more Castles in Sintra- Missing our intial train, coupled with the fact that we visited in the height of winter, we definitely missed out on seeing many of the castles in Sintra. In many of the guides I read, most said that you could probably see three castles in a day. One of the castles which I would have loved to see is the Quinta de Regaleira castle in Sintra which is most well known for its stunning gardens.
Visit the Mercado de Santa Clara - Lisbon is home to this flea market which I would have loved to go to. Most guides say that it is a place to find some great bargains and get haggling with sellers.
Visited Ground Burger for the best burgers in town - Apparently, Ground Burger does very good burgers but it is very out of the way and wasn't close enough for us to justify going.
Paláciodos Marqueses da Fronteira - This is a 17th-century palace which looks absolutely stunning in pictures. I would have loved to visit but it was too far of a journey that it would have taken time out of our other days.
The Positives
I absolutely adored Lisbon, but the following would be the main positive points I took from our trip!
Warm Weather (Even in December) - If you're looking for an escape from the cold, Lisbon is an ideal destination to get some winter snow! We got temperatures of 18 or 19 degrees celsius and it was very pleasant most of the time. Just be prepared with extra layers for the evening!
Beautiful Castles and tourist attractions - Lisbon and the nearby Sintra, both home some extremely stunning tourist destinations. The Monastery, Belem Tower and the castles in Sintra were probably the most stunning.
Warm Weather (Even in December) - If you're looking for an escape from the cold, Lisbon is an ideal destination to get some winter snow! We got temperatures of 18 or 19 degrees celsius and it was very pleasant most of the time. Just be prepared with extra layers for the evening!
Beautiful Castles and tourist attractions - Lisbon and the nearby Sintra, both home some extremely stunning tourist destinations. The Monastery, Belem Tower and the castles in Sintra were probably the most stunning.
Variety of View Points - If you love seeing viewpoints from above, Lisbon is a great holiday option for you. There are many "miradouros" scattered around the city, with the best views coming from St George's Castle.
The Negatives
Honestly there aren't many bad things I can say about Lisbon. The only thing I can think of is that it is not as cheap as what people say. I remember when I went I had this idea that things in Lisbon were super cheap, but it ended up being about average prices. Also when we were in Sintra, I felt like we spent a lot of money that day merely on transport and entry to places. I guess you just need to be prepared to spend money when you're travelling.
Have you ever been to Portugal? What did you think of it?
The Negatives
Honestly there aren't many bad things I can say about Lisbon. The only thing I can think of is that it is not as cheap as what people say. I remember when I went I had this idea that things in Lisbon were super cheap, but it ended up being about average prices. Also when we were in Sintra, I felt like we spent a lot of money that day merely on transport and entry to places. I guess you just need to be prepared to spend money when you're travelling.
Have you ever been to Portugal? What did you think of it?
