The Ultimate 3 Days Itinerary to Experience Lisbon!

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The great city of Lisbon, where history and food meets. This capital city of Portugal is home to amazing food and has very rich culture and history. I spent three amazing days here exploring the old neighbourhoods of the city, ate the most flavourful cuisine, and indulged in the best custard tarts in the world. Everyday was filled with fun activities, you will never get bored of the city as it has so much to offer!

A pretty special trip because it was a trip with the ubae, the boyfriend’s social media nickname because of his love for everything ube haha. It’s also my first time in Portugal so I was pretty excited to put another country on my list. Overall, year of 2022 was a great come back from the travel halt for the past two years. When international travel started again, I went to Indonesia where I met my good far away friends in Bali and explored other places like Yogyakarta.

Casa do Bairro by Shiadu

We stayed at Casa do Bairro by Shiadu in Baixa, literally the downtown of Lisbon. Very good location very close to shops, restaurants, and walkable to other great areas like Bairro Alto and Chiado. They offer free breakfast and the rooms are very traditional and cozy that you’ll definitely feel the Portuguese culture while staying. Very reasonable price of €218.31 for a 3 nights stay.

Day 1 – Barrio Alto-Chiado + Time Out Market

We arrived pretty early morning in Lisbon International Airport from a red eye flight, went straight to the hotel to drop off our luggage then off to explore. We walked along the main street near our hotel Rua do Loreto to get familiar with Lisbon right away.

First stop was breakfast which was none other than pastéis de nata. It had to be the first bite in this trip. One famous shop was a walking distance in the Baixa area named Manteigaria. They have multiple locations but we went to the one close to the hotel at Chiado. Drizzle that custard tart with cinnamon and pair it with coffee. That was enough sugar high to keep me going for some time in the morning after a sleep deprived night before the next stop.

Down the street was the Praça Luís de Camões, a large city square with a big monument in the middle. It looked really nice because it was decorated with a huge ornament you can walk inside and hangout. It was very festive with mini stalls as we were there around Christmas time.

The next food stop was across from it O Trevo to try some bifanas. They are these traditional Portuguese sandwiches made with thin slices of pork marinated with spices and white wine. Simmered for a very long time to achieve that tender juicy softness put inside a bread roll. O Trevo was featured in Bourdain’s No Reservation episode of Lisbon. As big fans, we have to try the restaurant (RIP).

Next destination was the Time Out Market. On the way there, we walked by the famous pink street aka the umbrella street. It is located in Rua Nova do Carvalho on the way to the market. You can’t miss it as you’ll see it if you walk on Rua do Alecrim towards the water where the market is. It’s very cute and instragrammable so I highly recommend checking it out (the featured image above).

Arriving at Time Out Market in the afternoon means a late lunch. Very festive and crowded even if it’s past lunch time. I think it’s just always crowded as it’s a famous destination. Tried many foods here like the croquettes, tuna tartare, duck rice, and octopus salad.

Night time was a stroll at Baixa-Chiado area, paella for dinner, and checked out the big commercial plaza at night. Walked back to Praça Luís de Camões to see it lit up at night then walked a bit more towards dinner. Taverna Alfacinha, a seafood restaurant known for paella. The place is very small and there was waiting time when we arrived for dinner. The prices are good and it’s cash only. It definitely lived up to the hype and the portions are huge!

We walked off the dinner at Praça do Comércio so we can see it at night and there was this tall Christmas tree in the middle. The mild Portuguese winter breeze was great and for me who came from the cold Canada weather, it was comfortable walking around with just a sweater.

Day 2 – Lisbon Walking Tour + Pasteis De Nata + Fado

For day two, we did the Free Walking Tour of Lisbon at 11 AM hosted by Sandemans. It’s a great way to know the city through the local’s eyes, see the attractions, and get tips about the city on where to eat, what to see, and what to do. The tour is about 2 hours walking that started at Praça Luís de Camões and ended at Praça do Comércio. It was honestly very convenient for us to take this tour and be ushered around everywhere while learning the history of the city and the country. Highlights include the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, Santa Justa Lift, and Carmo Convent.

The weather wasn’t so great on the second day as it was raining around lunch time but that didn’t stop us from doing a pastéis de nata tour! We went around the city and tried all the famous pastéis de nata shops known to be.

There are many many egg custard tarts in the city and it’s even the dessert offered in restaurants so it’s important to know where to go. We spent the whole afternoon trying out most of them. I’ll list them down on a different post some time soon. Also went to another highly rated bifana place called As Bifanas do Afonso for some meat sando.

Dinner was at Churrasqueira da Paz for grilled fish and chicken. The fish was so smokey and the chicken was tender from that charcoal bbq grill.

After stuffing ourselves, we walked towards the park again to listen to some Fado, a traditional Portuguese music. We went to Tasca do Chico, a traditional Portuguese bar where you can get drinks while listening to Fado. It’s very popular so be warned there could be a line up going in and if you do get in, there’s a chance you’d have to stand and wait for some seats to be free after. We were there the whole night and saw many Fado singers perform.

Day 3 – Alma + Belem + More Portuguese Food

I experienced culinary heaven on the third day for lunch at Alma. It is a two stars Michelin restaurant that offers food gastronomy utilizing local ingredients and drinks.

You can reserve online and we chose this place as the fine dining meal of the Lisbon trip because besides Bourdain, we are also Phil’s fans and he went here in his LIsbon episode. It was very enjoyable dining here eating all the dishes and being the centre of attention of the restaurant.

They have such pretty presentations and entertaining introductions of the dishes. They were smoking, on fire, and transformed. Definitely a great highlight in the food category.

Next destination was to explore the neighbourhood of Belem. First stop was the Jerónimos Monastery. We weren’t able to get in and see the inside because there was flooding inside the building. The building was still very pretty so we took photos while walking around it.

At last, it was time for the OG pastéis de nata all over the world and it was only a few steps away from the monastery. None other than Pastéis de Belém, where it all started. The monks from the monastery started selling it outside all the back from the 18th century and the business boom since then.

After the yummy snack, we went towards the water to see more of Belem’s famous architecture. First was the Belém Tower, also known as Tower of Saint Vincent where the Portuguese explorers embarked and disembarked from their voyage towards the new world. You can tour inside and skip the line by buying tickets online. Lisbon also offers a city pass for 24, 48, and 72 hours called the Lisbon Card which gives you access to many attractions and public transportation which you can buy online. Like the monastery, there was flooding inside so we couldn’t go in.

There were many more attractions beside the tower like the Farol de Belém (Belém Lighthouse), Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of Discoveries), and Rosa dos Ventos (Rose compass), which shows the map of the world as seen by the Portuguese voyages as they explored the world in the 15th-16th century.

We went back to downtown Baixa after the Belem mini excursion. The last Lisbon dinner was nearby the hotel called Anta Bar, a petiscaria (seafood) restaurant. We also ordered grilled fish and sausages which they lit up on fire, it was so entertaining. We waddled back to the hotel after a great Portuguese meal and called it a night.