Come explore the beautiful country of Portugal with us!
We had a short trip in Portugal with only 4 full days! People thought we were a bit crazy for going to Europe for such a short time, but we actually felt like it ended up being perfect. Although – who wouldn’t want to stay longer! I didn’t have a lot of time off work, so we had to make the most of it. We left on a Tuesday night, arriving Wednesday morning and then left for home on Sunday. Below is all of the detail of what we got up to while we were there. Check out some of our other Portugal pages for some of our top things to do and our tips for planning this trip!
- Day 1: Wander near our hotel
- Day 2: Day trip to Sintra
- Day 3: Belem and Beach
- Day 4: Alfama district
Day 1
We arrived at the airport around 9:30 local time. We were exhausted and did not sleep at all on the plane and our bodies felt like it was 3:30am. 😐 We navigated through the airport and purchased our 3 day Lisboa card (I think it was $88). We found this when we were almost outside at a yellow info booth. Had to ask around a bunch to find this, but just keep going until you can see outside – there will be a bunch of booths for food and stuff. We then called an uber to go to our hotel which was quick and cheap. We dropped our luggage at our hotel, the FLH Tempo right next door to the Lift. This hotel was awesome! More to come on that later.
We decided to first head out to get some breakfast. We walked to A Brasileria café which was only probably an 8 minute walk but it was uphill and we were beyond exhausted. We got a table outside and ordered our first of many Pasteis De Nada, along with some coffee and a ham and cheese croissant. All were wonderful. After that, we took a short walk to the Carmo Convent. We opted to not use our Lisboa card for the discount because we only had it for 3 days and knew we would use it more the next 3. It was only $5 to get in. The convent was beautiful and we enjoyed walking around it. Didn’t read as much as we should because our brains were so tired. 🙂
Next we headed back to our hotel to get something from our bags and we were thrilled we could check in early. We dropped our bags, showered (which helped to wake us up!) then got another uber up to the top of Parque Eduardo VII. We basically just took a few pictures and then walked down the park back towards our hotel (20-25 min). This was a nice, downhill walk. The park was nice. I’m not sure I’d highly recommend this stop as it was just OK but it kept us from falling asleep I guess.
Finally, we ended the day walking around Rossio square looking for a place to eat. We both weren’t feeling super wonderful after not sleeping and did not want anything with fish so we ended up at an Italian restaurant called Il Mulino. I got the spinach ravioli and my husband got the lasagna. We also shared bruschetta. It was a great meal and nice to sit outside. Also to note – there are so many restaurants to choose from. Any every single one of them appears to have wonderful little café seating outside. It was awesome. We didn’t eat inside even once.
Once dinner was done it was all we could do to wander back to our hotel and fall asleep. We were asleep by 6:30 and it was awesome. We slept until about 7:30 and mostly cured the jet lag. Right outside our hotel they had some musicians playing, 1 per hour from 7pm – 11pm. You could certainly hear it. I woke up, kind of, to each one at some point but we were so tired it wasn’t a bother. Later in the week they played again but we were up until about 10, so not a huge deal. We were remarking though, if we had had our kids with us we probably would have been annoyed being right in the center of the action. But since it was just us, we really enjoyed it as part of the experience. Our hotel had a window you could open so it felt like we were right in the action. You could also watch the lift go up and down all day and watch the long line of tourists!
Day 2
This day we took a day trip to Sintra. We got up and out of the hotel by 7:00 to catch the 7:11 train from Rossio station. It was only about a 5 min or less walk from our hotel. Note that nothing opens up early in Portugal – I was thinking I’d grab a coffee from a shop or at least from Starbucks in the train station and they were all closed! Even stuff in Sintra when we arrived were mostly closed. Anyway, the trains run every half hour. With our Lisboa card, we could have just walked onto the train (scan the card as we walk through gates) but we didn’t quite understand so waited in line to ask. Our Lisboa card got us a free ride. We enjoyed the train- super fun for us because we just don’t have transportation like that anywhere near us. I’m sure it’s not really that exciting though. When we arrived we headed up to the historic center, there are signs and it took about 10-15 min. We planned to wander around then catch a tuk-tuk up to Pena Palace. Mixed reviews from people on Trip Advisor, mostly saying to catch the tourist bus which looked fine as well. However, our plan was only to get transportation one time (up to Pena) and walk the rest. So we opted for the experience of a tuk-tuk instead, after a friend had said it was fun. And – it was. It cost us $15 after we negotiated but it was a fun experience and nice not to be crammed on a bus. But before that, we just wandered around. Nothing was open but we got some great pics of the beautiful historic city and the national palace without anyone around. However, around 8:30 we started wondering where all the tuk-tuks were. We figured maybe because the palace didn’t open until 10, they didn’t come out until 9. But then 9 rolled around and we still didn’t know. Started to panic, checked for ubers but no one picked our ride. Just as we were going to walk back towards the train station we saw a tuk-tuk and we flagged him down. I still don’t quite understand what we did wrong, so maybe check that out. We wondered if we should have gone somewhere closer to the train station to catch the rides and I misunderstood? But either way we enjoyed the historic center basically to ourselves for a while.
When we arrived up at Pena though we were greeted with a long line. We had purchased our tickets ahead of time so we got to skip some of that line. The ticket line moved pretty quick though. Once we got through tickets, we then walked up to the top – it’s quite the hike – probably only 0.25mi but it was very steep. Others seemed to catch a small bus of some kind but I wasn’t sure what that was and it seemed to take longer (and was packed with people), so we opted to walk. Then we were greeted with an even longer line. So – in hindsight, taking the 7:11 train was the right idea, but find transportation up to top way earlier than 10am. We had a timed ticket for 10am and got up there about 9:30. We waited, probably almost an hour to get in. The line was outside though and had nice views throughout so it was ok. Once we got in, we did the inside tour first. It was really nice and interesting, but it was kind of annoying to do it in a small line of tourists moving slowly. You couldn’t just wander around. Afterwards we went and toured the terraces. We were unfortunately caught in an extremely cloudy day and couldn’t see anything! You couldn’t tell if you were 2 feet off the ground or the reality of being on a mountain. We stayed here until about 11.45 or so. We had packed a croissant with us and snacked while we made our way to our next stop.
Next stop was about a 7 min walk mostly downhill to the Moorish Castle. This was probably our favorite. We purchased tickets ahead of time here too so we skipped the line and basically walked right in. The only downside is that we didn’t get the discount from the Lisboa card, but we did get a discount for buying ahead of time. It was probably still the right decision to buy ahead of time. Likely if we got up to Pena about 8:15 it wouldn’t have been an issue, but of course we didn’t. At the Moorish Castle you could wander a bit more on your own and explore. The walls were narrow and a little scary but very cool. Here, being in the clouds almost helped with the views because it made it seem almost kind of spooky. But, we didn’t get the views of the city. We stayed here about an hour.
We opted to hike down to the historic center for lunch. This was a long walk – and we considered getting transportation down but decided against it. It was very steep but at least it was all downhill. And, the path down was actually very beautiful. We enjoyed it but our legs were tired! We found an old fountain at the bottom we could fill our water bottles with which was cool. We also spotted the cherry liquor in the chocolate cups, ginjinha. Yum! Then we walked into the town to find food. Lots of places to eat. We picked Paco Real which is right near the National Palace and had a nice outdoor patio. Looking at reviews now – not super great, but we were pleased! I got the margarita pizza and it was really delicious. My husband got the carbonara and enjoyed it as well. We got a glass of sangria and one cod cake to split.
After lunch we decided to go to Quinta da Regaleira first, in case we ran out of time, we would skip the National Palace. We walked about maybe 10-15 minutes to get there and the majority of it was very flat (the last, short part up to the mansion was a hill and I was not thrilled because we were tired of walking up hill!). We stopped in a few stores on the way there too and probably arrived close to 2:30pm. We did not buy tickets in advance – I didn’t see a place to but maybe I missed it. Either way, since the latter half of the day varies a lot based on how long you spend at places, buying ahead might not be a great idea in that case, just in case you have to cut something short. When we got there, there is a long ticket line and then another, shorter line for people who purchased online. There is a QR code to scan to buy online so we quickly just did that – no idea why others did not! We even finished our purchase while waiting in line and we got in there in about 10 minutes. We walked towards the direction of the Initiation Well, the most famous attraction here. We made a few stops along the way at some towers and lookouts. You’ll know when you get there because you’ll see a line! It looks long but we waited maybe 10 minutes or so. You get to walk down through this inverted tower and it’s really amazing. At the bottom you can walk through some underground caves. After that, we toured the mansion which was pretty neat as well. I really enjoyed this castle a lot – don’t miss it!
Lastly we made the walk back to the National Palace. Our lisboa card got us $1 off, and there was no line for tickets. This was really nice also and almost no crowds which was nice. Not sure if that’s because it was 3:30 in afternoon or just because it’s not as popular. Either way, the palace was really nice. We went through here super fast though because we had checked the train times back to Rossio and they were at 4:10, 5:10 etc so we decided we were really close to the 4:10 and should just make a run for it rather than waiting another hour. We certainly rushed but we did get to see everything and with no crowds we could enjoy it!
One note for the train – there were two types of trains heading back – one of which, the longer one, made a stop where you needed to switch train cars. When you look at the schedule you can tell because the one you want should be about 39 minutes long. The one where you switch train cars is about 55 minutes. I’m sure that’s not super tricky but we wanted the direct one (it made lots of stops, but we didn’t have to change trains). Anyway, we finished the palace around 3:55 and made the super fast walk to the train. It was mostly downhill and we made it in less than 10 minutes but we were hustling, passing everyone. By the time we made it we were winded 😀 There isn’t a wait (at least we never saw one) so we just scanned our Lisboa card really quick and then ran onto the train. It was very full by the time we got there, and the people arriving after us, some had to stand. We had a nice trip home and I fell asleep on the train! (holding tightly to my bag of course).
After arriving at the train station we walked back to change for dinner then headed out for a (late – in our minds), dinner around 7. We were tired and having trouble deciding what to eat, plus still full from lunch, so we wandered around and couldn’t make up our minds. We were recommended Pinoquio by two people so we did go check that out and it actually had a line (something I didn’t notice other restaurants having), so we opted to come back another day instead. We wandered around for a long time up R. Augusta and people were all trying to get us to sit at their restaurant. We almost did a few times but the reviews online were all really terrible and we didn’t like the pushyness of it. After wandering a bit more, we stumbled upon another Italian place (don’t judge us!) called Dama E Vagabundo. It was perfect because I wasn’t hungry so I ordered the bread with the crème fraiche which was only $4.25 and it was incredible. My husband ordered a pizza, something with balsamic on it. The pizza took a really long time to get, but we ordered a pitcher of sangria and relaxed listening to the street music and enjoying the evening. No one ever rushes you here either. In the US we are so conditioned to have people rush you out of your table, but that never happened. In fact almost every time we had to request a check because they would let us sit for as long as we wanted. After dinner we headed back down R. Augusta to get gelato and ended up at Amorino. It was really crowded, and for good reason. The gelato was amazing and they let you pick as many flavors as you want and they shape it into a flower. I got a some kind of caramel, and chocolate, but do yourself a favor and just get the pistachio – it was amazing.
Day 3
On Friday we finally got to sit down and really enjoy our hotel breakfast! This hotel was such an amazing location, right in the heart of everything, the staff was so nice, and it felt like a bed and breakfast. We opted for the early breakfast time (8am) and there were people bringing out fresh bread, fruit etc. They had amazing yogurt with so many toppings (jam, honey, granola, fruit, chia seeds etc). Plus cheese, meat, egg, breads, croissants and nutella, pasteis de nada. And, coffee and juice of course.
After breakfast, we were heading towards Belem. Lots of ways to get here, and most recommended the train from Cais do Sodre which is the fastest. However, that would require a walk there plus figuring out the via card. So we found that we could take the 15 train from Praca da Figueira, only a minute from our hotel with our Lisboa card. We headed up there and found the train right away, scanned our card and we were on our way. Super easy. We got off at the stop for Jeronimos Monastery.
Once we arrived, it was about 8:45 or so, and the tower of Belem, and the Monastery didn’t open until 10. But, we were right next to Pasteis de Belem and it was open with NO LINE. There were lines all day long but at 9am, nothing 🙂 My advice for any trip we ever take is get up early. We had heard that during busy times, getting table service was faster than takeout, so we started there but the line wasn’t moving and we saw the takeout line was short so we grabbed a few to go. Worth the hype. They were incredible and our favorite of the trip. We wanted more but we were stuffed! Next – we opted to head towards Belem tower, with plans just to look from outside before heading back since we were a bit early and we wanted to go to the monastery. It was about a 15 minute walk there but when we arrived, they seemed to be letting people in, so we decided to go. You have to go get a ticket from this little ticket office near the park right outside of it. We handed them our Lisboa card and got a free ticket. It only took us maybe 15 minutes to walk around the tower but it was really neat.
Since we were a bit short on time (wanted to get to beach this afternoon), we decided to take bird scooters towards the monument of the discoveries, since it was about a 15 min walk. Took a few pictures there, then headed through the underground tunnel right on that plaza towards the monastery.
Lots of lines for the monastery also, so I’ll save you some of the confusion we had. One line (shorter likely) is for the church. You can actually see the church from above while touring the monastery. We skipped the church. The longer line is for the monastery but we also saw a ticket office. We didn’t have tickets, just the Lisboa card, and we were worried that you had to get the actual ticket like at the Belem Tower. So my husband ran over there to find out, but turns out, nope! Just need the Lisboa card. So you’ll wait in the line, which looks insane but moves fast, and just scan the Lisboa card when you get in. Super easy. The monastery was beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around. We arrived there around 10.30 and maybe stayed an hour or less.
After that, we were debating what to do – 1) get uber to beach (we had worn our swim stuff under clothes) 2) take 15 back to Lisbon at timeout market … we decided to go with our initial plan to get lunch at the timeout market. We were waiting for the 15 tram to go back when we saw a bus that said Cais do Sodre and we just hopped on and scanned our Lisboa card. (side note – all public transportation required a mask. We brought some in case, but just FYI for US folks who aren’t used to that at this time). We got off right outside the timeout market and walked around. Super trendy and the food looked good. But again, we were full from breakfast and couldn’t find something small to eat. We instead grabbed a few drinks from a little convenience store and called the uber. Hindsight we should have just called uber from Belem and saved time.
OK – so onto the beach. Lots of options here. We did look at doing Cascais and Carcavelos, which are right past Belem. We decided against this because they were known to be really crowded. We went to Praida da Bela Vista. The beach was really beautiful, pretty easy drive to get there and not crowded at all. The water was cold but not terrible. There was a little restaurant there too. Note – this is a nude beach. Not like what we have in the US. It was optional though of course and was an interesting experience I’ll say. We stayed there for about 3 hours, then called an uber to head home. We were worried we wouldn’t catch an uber from there but it came right away. We wanted to head back early to make sure we beat traffic (heard it was bad around rush hour).
After a quick shower, we headed back early to Pinocio to try it without the line. Once we got there we noticed the menu and prices – we wanted to try some fish tonight (finally I know), but they pretty much only had fish and it was really expensive. It looked good, but since we were not totally sure we were going to love the fish (it is different than what we are used to), we didn’t want to pay $50 a plate. Plus – we never pay that much for dinner, we are kind of cheap. So instead we wandered again and ended up at a place we saw the first night, called Solar do Bacalhau. Nice outdoor patio, inexpensive food and nice service. Basically lots of ways to eat cod. My husband got one in olive oil with potatoes and liked it. I got it com nantas which is like a casserole and no bones. I actually really liked it! It tasted kind of like potato soup (has potatoes, cream and onions). After dinner we spent the evening wandering. We went back to the pizza place from the night before for more sangria, got more gelato, then just wandered the streets! It was great.
Day 4
This morning, after another beautiful breakfast, we decided to attempt Tram 28. We almost were not going to do this because the tram is SO crowded. But we thought, we can grab the tram early and beat the crowds. Turned out we were right! We caught it about 8:45 or so from Martim Moniz plaza. You’ll see it at the Praca da Figueira but you can’t catch it there for some reason. You have to catch it from the ‘start’ or one of the other stops. Catching from the start means you’re the first on it. When we got on there most of the seats were already filled. We rode it until the end which is about 40 minutes and ends at Campo Ourique. We picked up some people but also dropped some off and it wasn’t that crowded. At the end you had to get off, then walk about 10 feet to the next stop where you get on another Tram 28 to go back. We again got a seat and headed back. This time we were getting off at Portas do Sol which is the stop for the Sao Jorge Castle. My thoughts on Tram 28 – it was really fun. The trip there was better because no one was standing. By the end where we got off at the castle, it was getting slammed and we were really ready to get off. If you aren’t able to catch it early, I probably wouldn’t recommend riding it. You can get on the Tram 12 which runs the same line. You just scan your Lisboa card so that’s great. Also – it was nice to see the various neighborhoods along the way. Great experience if you can do it before you’re crammed in there too tight.
Once we got to the castle stop we followed the signs up there. By the time we got there, it was about 10:30 or so and it had opened at 9. So – here’s a good tip. I thought that the Lisboa card got us in for free. It didn’t. So we waited in the ticket line to get a ticket, thinking it was free but turns out since it wasn’t we unnecessarily just waited in a line. Thankfully at 10:30 it wasn’t crowded and we only waited probably 10 minutes. However, later in the day when we left around 12:30, there was a HUGE line. I couldn’t believe it. Plus – I felt bad because all of the people waiting in line for tickets could have just purchased online and then just walked to the gates to scan their pass. Do not wait in the line! Just buy the ticket online and walk up to the gate. That line probably was an hour long. Anyway, back to the castle. Great, sweeping views of the city, you could walk the walls of the castle, wander around and enjoy! There were also lots of places to sit and watch the city. Really neat.
After we were done, our plan was to just wander around Alfama with no plans (very unusual for us!). We checked out a few viewpoints and some shops, then headed in the general direction of ‘downhill’. We got lunch at a place called Checkpoint which had burgers and tacos. Not very authentic but it was inexpensive (ish) and sounded good and we were tired of walking. We then went on a hunt for this old lady we saw on a video selling ginjinha from her house. We didn’t find the exact lady but we did find lots of others! It’s so fun to see people essentially running a bar from a card table outside their door steps. This district is so charming, and we loved just wandering the streets. The last few things we saw here were the Lisbon Cathedral which we got a discount from our Lisboa card. It was really pretty and only took us about 30 minutes or less. Then right next door is St. Anthony’s church, which is nice also. Finally, we headed to Commerce Square. In the heat of the afternoon it was hot! We didn’t stay long because by this point it was about 3:30. We went up in the arch though which didn’t have a wait and was free with our Lisboa card. Then we walked back towards our hotel, stopping at a few more shops along the way.
After getting ready for dinner, we headed to a restaurant we had picked out the night before. It looked so beautiful in the lights and was kind of hidden off a main street. We were there around 5:30 so not quite as charming 🙂 It was called Pizzeria Mezzogiorno. We split a pizza and canteloni and shared a few drinks. It was inexpensive, and great service and nice outdoor seating. We then made our way back to Commerce Square for the evening, but made a quick stop at Pink Street first just to check it out. Kind of interesting.
Once at Commerce Square (much nicer in evening!) we got a table outside at Nosolo Italia and enjoyed another pitcher of Sangria! (becoming a theme for sure). Around sunset we walked down to the river, but you couldn’t quite get a good view. Then headed back to our hotel. We stopped at the Portugal soccer shop to look for some souvenirs and found some stuff for our kids and even got a jacket monogramed with their names! Finally, we enjoyed opening our window and enjoying the sounds of the city and the music before heading off to bed.
Final Thoughts
We have so many amazing memories from Portugal. Being our first time in Europe, we were hooked! The food, the people, the vibes! It was so nice to be in a place where we could walk everywhere. So much history and beautiful architecture. We cannot wait to explore more of Portugal.
