We traveled for a week in Portugal and hit the highlights – Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Lisbon, and a day trip to Sintra. I’ll be detailing our journey in the next few blogs, focusing on what we did each day (and sharing what was worth it and what wasn’t), where we stayed, where we ate, and what I would do differently next time!

HUGE THANK YOU to my brother Ryan and his partner Brandon! They visited Portugal a few months before us and laid the foundations for this itinerary. 

This blog will focus on days 4, 5, 7, and 8 of our trip. On day 6, we did a day trip to Sintra, which will get it’s own post! Click the links on the days below to continue reading the other blogs! (as they become available)

Day 1: Arrive in Porto
Day 2: Explore Porto
Day 3: Explore Vila Nova de Gaia
Day 4: Travel to Lisbon
Day 5: Explore Lisbon and Alfalma Neighborhood
Day 6: Sintra Day Trip
Day 7: Explore Lisbon, LX Factory, Castelo de São Jorge, and Belém Tower
Day 8: Travel Home

Let’s jump in!

Day 4: Travel to Lisbon

We departed Porto on the 9:30am train to Lisbon. The trip took just under three hours, then took the metro to our hotel. Super easy!

We splurged on this final hotel and stayed at the Nicola Rossio Hotel. A couple of notes about the hotel…
– The location was excellent. We were within walking distance of a few metro stops, the bus depot, and the train station. We walked to all the attractions we wanted to see, including the Alfalma neighborhood.
– It was the priciest of our hotels and while the room inside was really nice, the street it’s located on isn’t, really. The restaurant entrance is on a main street, but the hotel lobby entrance is on the opposite side in what feels like an alley. There’s lots of trash around, some unhoused people (minding their own business! no problems with them at all), and it just didn’t FEEL like price we paid, if that makes sense.
– But that’s really just outside aesthetics. We were totally safe in the hotel. Walking back at night wasn’t great, but you’re only in the alley for a second before reaching the hotel lobby.
– TLDR; I would stay here again because of the location and nice rooms. You just have to look past the exterior surroundings a bit.

After we dropped our bags, we walked to Bifas do Alfonso. This place is pretty hyped, so be ready to wait in a long line. I want to say we waited maybe 45 minutes? Get the Bifa with cheese! And don’t forget a Super Bock. Because it’s just a walk-up window, there’s no seating. We just sat on the benches by the tree. I would definitely recommend this spot though – the Bifa with cheese was so good!

After we finally had some food and drinks, we made a random loop around city, admiring the architecture and the trolleys.

We ended up at Landeau for a slice of their epic chocolate cake. How funny our walk would take us here! They’re known for their flourless chocolate cake and it was so delicious. I would definitely go back here for another slice next time. It’s also a perfect spot to use the restroom after walking around.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Livraria Bertrand, the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world (since 1732) according to the Guinness Book of World Records. We purchased some books here to add to our collection (we left our trip through Spain and Portugal with like… 14 books in total).

At the hotel, we took a break and booked our Sintra tickets. After that, we went to Buga Ramen. It was such a fun, cool looking spot.

Day 5: Explore Lisbon and Alfalma neighborhood

We started with Confection Nationals for breakfast, which has been in existence for more than 180 years. Honestly, I loved this spot. They have an insanely large pastry menu, along with larger breakfast plates. You can order to go downstairs, or walk upstairs for a sit-down table experience. It does get more crowded as the day goes on! We went several times, always around 9am, and never had to wait. But when we were leaving, we often walked by a line of people waiting for tables.

After breakfast, we Tinned fish at Conservancy Lisbon. This was a much more authentic tinned fish buying experience, compared to The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, haha. I highly recommend stopping in and taking the recommendations from the owner. He was super nice and talked to us all about his supply!

We made an impromptu visit in the cathedral. We paid 7 euros each for tickets and walked around. It only took about 30 minutes to talk through.

Our real destination of the morning was the Alfalma neighborhood! It’s a super cute, very instagrammable spot. We walked a little loop that included the Sao Miguel bakery and our first shot of Ginja. Ginja is a Portuguese liqueur made from brandy or fortified wine that’s been infused with sour cherries, sugar, and cinnamon. There are stands all over and you can get a shot for a euro or two.

From Alfalma, we walked along the waterfront, through the Rua Augusta Arch, and up to Pink Street. I feel like I see Pink Street all over social media (for obvious reasons… it’s a pink street!). Besides taking a photo or two, through, Pink Street isn’t really worth a visit. It mostly has club-ish spots, none of which looked very nice. Most were closed during the day anyway.

However, if you do find yourself on Pink Street, you must visit Menina e Moca. It’s an awesome little bookstore/bar combo. We tried our first glasses of vinho verde here!

After walking for a few hours, we decided to take the funicular from the waterfront back up towards our hotel. While distance wise, it’s not far, the Ascensor da Bica life goes 800 feet up a 12% grade. That’s a lot of stairs avoided! And it feels classically Lisbon. We did have to wait a while for the car, though, because there was kind of a long line.

We had lunch at A Brasileira in Chiado. I would actually recommend trying to eat inside if you can! The building is amazing and it’s beautiful inside! The first time we came, we ate at their outdoor seating area, but the second time we came just for dessert and enjoyed a table inside.

After lunch, we took the metro out of the main downtown area to Estufas Frio, a greenhouse and botanical garden. Tickets are less than 4 Euros per person! The metro isn’t super close to the entrance and we had to walk quite a ways to get there. On the way back, we waited a long time for a bus that never came… and ended up walking back to the metro. If you’re interested in Estufas Frio, I would maybe consider taking an uber or taxi to save some time.

After we made it back downtown, we needed a sweet treat and grabbed a pastel de nata from Castro. It was good, but no quite as good as Manteigaria. We meandered back to our hotel, by the unfinished, roofless Carmo Convent, to drop off the tinned fish we’d be carrying alllllll day.

Finally, after a very long day, we had dinner at Bonjardim. There was a long line to wait for a table, but it moved pretty fast. We probably waited 30 minutes. They’re known for their family-style half chicken and sides. It was SO delicious, one of our best meals in Lisbon.

Unfortunately, I only have two photos from the night. On the menu, we saw a “jarro” of wine for 8 Euros. 8 Euros, how bad could it be? That’s less than a glass of wine in the states. Well, a “jarro” was a huge jug of wine – at least a full bottle, maybe even more? So yeah, only two photos because our night was all downhill from there (in the best way, haha).

Day 6: Sintra

We took a day trip to Sintra! Read that blog HERE (link pending… I’m still working on the blog!)

Day 7: Explore Lisbon, LX Factory, Castelo de São Jorge, and Belém Tower

We did a lot on our last day of exploration! We started at National Confectionary for breakfast again and it did not disappoint. Like I said, their menu is huge and has so many tasty treats to try!

Then, we took a bus to Castelo de Sao Jorge. The views from the top are amazing and it’s fun to climb the towers, but the line for tickets when we arrived as CRAZY LONG. I was confused, actually, because while the castle is cool, it’s certainly not worth waiting an hour (or hours??) in line to get a ticket.

We bought our tickets online in advance, probably just a day or two ahead of time, and walked right on in. Definitely get tickets in advance!

Next, we walked to Luiza Mirador and had a drink nearby. It was a little crowded to get good photos at this popular spot, but that’s what’s awesome about Lisbon – the hills of the city make for beautiful miradors all over! If Luiza is packed, just move on and find another beautiful view. There are hundreds of them!

For lunch, we took a bit of a journey. we took the 28 tram (which was fun in itself!) to the LX Factory. It’s a funky and vibrant collection of restaurants, bars, shops, and artist’s studios inside several repurposed warehouse spaces. We were a bit overwhelmed with options (maybe look in advance?) and just parked ourselves at Beers for lunch. It was tasty for sure, but we probably could have gone somewhere less touristy.

The iconic Ler Devagar bookstore is at LX Factory! So don’t miss it. It’s a bookstore that’s built around a three-story printing press and it is soooo cool inside.

After LX Factory, we took a bus to Jeronimo monestary, admired the outside (it was closed that day), and then walked to the Belem Tower, a UNESCO world heritage site. It was kind of a long walk along a busy street, so I might recommend Ubering instead. We didn’t go inside of this one either, just admired the incredible outside.

From Belem Tower, we bussed back for one last pastel de nata at the birthplace of the pastel de nada – Pastéis de Belém. It’s a very popular spot, so be prepared to wait in line! We waited in the to-go line and it wasn’t bad at all. It moves very fast. It was packed and hectic inside, so, while you CAN sit at a table… it was a bit overstimulating for me, haha. I was happy to get my photos and take my treat on the road back to our hotel for the evening.

Day 8: Travel back home

While traveling, I always take brief notes so that I’m able to write the blogs in more detail later on. Here’s what I wrote in my phone for the airport – “Lisbon airport omg.”

We left the hotel at 7, walked to the metro, took it to the airport, through initial security at 8:15am. Once you get through security, there are places to eat and have coffee and relax before heading to your gate. So we ate breakfast and sipped our coffee while we waited for the departures board to update with our gate number.

In addition to a gate number, you also have a terminal letter. The terminals branch out from this central food court area. While eating breakfast, I saw a LONG line of people coming out of one of the terminal areas. It wasn’t our terminal, but I thought it was weird… what were all these people lined up for?

I convinced Brian to go to our terminal early because I was feeling uneasy. We walked to ours and found the same thing. A crazy long line of people. SO long. I couldn’t even see what was at the end of it for a while, then we realized – it was a passport check. Yep, that’s right, there’s a passport check AFTER security, AFTER the food court area. It took us nearly an hour to get through the line and OMG was it chaos. Basically everyone in line was freaking out about missing through flights, security was pulling people out of line for cutting… it was madness.

We made it through and luckily our flight was actually delayed 30 minutes, which gave us a bit of breathing room. We used the restroom and walked to our gate, where we encountered yet another security check at our gate! Like, the chairs around the gate to the aircraft were blocked in and we had to go through another passport and ticket check to get into the gate corral. I’ve never seen that.

Once in the corral, it was basically standing room only. Everyone was packed in for 30ish minutes while we waited, with only about 40 seats. Once it was shoulder to shoulder standing room, they stopped letting more people into the corral. So if you were group A, but didn’t make it into the corral in time before it filled up, you were basically out of luck and wouldn’t get to board until the later groups.

I decided to type all that out because that was the most insane airport experience I’ve had, and it was truly because I didn’t know! Hopefully, you can avoid this stress because now, you know!