Your Ultimate Guide to Lisbon, Portugal

If you’re in Europe even for a week, you simply can’t just do one city or country and leave. Most cities in Europe take about ~3/4 days to explore so you definitely take the opportunity and visit other neighboring countries or cities in the same country. This time around when I was in Europe, I was mainly there for the Tomatina Festival in Valencia but it would be very ignorant of me if I flew into Spain, spent three days in Valencia, and just flew back home.

I had never been to Portugal and for the longest time I wanted to go to a different country, somewhere I’ve never been to and since Portugal is right by Spain, it didn’t hurt to check it out. Since I only have about 2 days, I couldn’t decide between Porto and Lisbon. I decided to go with Lisbon because there is just so much to do there compared to Porto

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1. Airport – Lisbon Portela Airport – LIS

I flew on Portugal’s national airline TAP AIR PORTUGAL and it was an amazing airline. I mean they served lunch on a two-hour flight and checked in my bag for free, so I didn’t have to walk everywhere with the bags. That’s crazy. If you’re from America, you will appreciate that a lot because forget about lunch on American flights, you have to pay for your carry-on bags too. The flight was delayed a little bit because they didn’t have a gate ready for us in Lisbon but otherwise it was a great service. 10/10

• Public transportation is very easy, the biggest thing I really love about Lisbon’s buses and trams is that they offer free wifi and it’s good wifi. Not just some crappy wifi that does not connect.
• I got a 24-hour public transport card for about 10.55 Euros ($12.07)
  • The card is also called “Viva Viagem”. What you will have to do is, once you land at the airport, at a kiosk, you follow the instructions and buy that pass. There is a one-time activation fee of 0.50 Euros ($0.57)

2. Public Transportation

No matter where you’re staying, you want to make sure that you’re staying in the city center. That way, you don’t have to pay for public transportation too much and other sorts of carpooling services such as Uber and Lyft.

• If you take bus 783 Terreiro do Paço from the airport terminal, after 18 stops, you will be in the center. From there, you can actually walk to a lot of the places. One thing I will really recommend right off the bat is that try the small dessert shops while you’re walking somewhere. You will not regret it.
  • Get off at the stop Picosas

3. Hotel – Holiday Inn Express (Part of the package)

I normally stay at the hostel when I’m in another country unless I’m traveling with someone or a group of friends. When I was visiting Lisbon, my girlfriend was with me as well so we decided that we’ll stay at a hotel. We got a room that was $100/night and since we were splitting all our costs, $50pp/night was actually not a bad deal.

• This was actually one of the most amazing hotels I’ve stayed at. It wasn’t anything fancy but it had everything you would look in for a hotel. Great staff, clean rooms, free breakfast, and airport shuttle at a cheap rate.
• If you would like to check out the hotel, click here: Link

4. Three things you HAVE to see

Lisbon is honestly one of those cities that has it all. Great food, people, culture, history, and architecture. On my first day, I went to Sintra. It’s a small town about 30 mins. from the actual city of Lisbon and it’s got this scenic colorful castle at the top of a mountain. I didn’t have much time until the castle closing so I was looking for a faster way up there and since there were a lot of tuk-tuks, I decided to take one of those. A MISTAKE. Those tuk-tuk drivers drive very recklessly, our tuk-tuk almost flipped over once because he would take the turn on the mountain roads very fast. The tuk-tuk driver charged me $5 and that was after I had already hiked a bit up. I didn’t realize that the hike was long, and the castle was closing for the visiting hours soon. Some of the visitors that were walking down, told me that. Once I got up there, a group of people told me that they took an Uber up to the top and I was shocked that there was uber in Lisbon. A lot of the European countries have banned Uber because they’re taking away taxi driver’s business but soon after I realized there was uber, I called it to go down to the train station and it charged me $3 to take me all the way to the front gate of the train station. Once I got back, I changed and made plans for the next day and went to have some dessert. Besides that, I pretty much went to bed a bit early the first day because I was tired from the flight and it was a lot of walking to the castle and all.

– NOTE: Once you get off the Sintra train station, it’s quite a hike up to the top and if you’ve got time, I would really recommend the hike.

1. Belém Tower

6 Euros ($6.87)

Back in the day, this tower served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon and it’s also part of the UNESCO world heritage since 1983.

Please do me a huge favor and buy your tickets online and then go. Please! There is a huge line to get your tickets there but you will waste so much time.

You can purchase your tickets here: Link

2. National Palace of Pena

13.30 Euros ($15.21)

This is the colorful palace that I’ve been talking about. I bought a daily public transportation pass that included trains to Sintra, beware: there are multiple options including the ones without the Sintra trains so, if you’re not planning on visiting the colorful castle, it would be a little cheaper for you.

It’s a 30-minute train ride and if you got on the right train then Sintra should be your last stop. That’s the furthest the train goes. There are no physical tracks after that station for any trains to go.

3. Santa Justa Lift

Public Transportation Fee

The reason why I said public transportation fee is because you can actually buy a bus ticket and go here. It’s owned by the Lisbon government and they use the same ticket system.

Once you get up the lift, the views are beyond amazing. European city and red house roofs. What else do you need?

Get your tickets here: Link

5. Currency Exchange

Currency Exchange. Local Currency: Euros (EUR). 1 USD = 0.88 EUR

You have 3 options, I recommend option 3:

1) Open a prepaid card. This is the method I used and it had its ups and downs. I used Travelex Money Card that you can find here. It’s pretty much like a debit card. What you will have to do is, open the card for $10 and you will be able to link it to your bank account. Every time you feel like you want to convert some money onto your Travelex Money Card, you can use their app to say what currency you want to convert it in and with in seconds, that money will be on your card and you can use it right away. It’s also contactless, so you can use it on the public transportation and you can set a 4-digit pin so you’re safe as well. I did a lot of research when I went to open this card and I couldn’t find a better exchange rate than Travelex. So if you are planning on picking this option, you’ll get a good rate out of its competitors.

2) You can also carry around cash but I DO NOT recommend this option. When you’re exchanging cash, you won’t get a good exchange rate and there is change of it getting stolen or lost.

3) Open a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. I recommend this option because when I left for my backpacking trip for the first time, I did not know such credit cards existed and so I never did my research. My personal favorite is United Explorer Visa Card that you can apply for here. I use this card pretty much anywhere I go abroad and since it’s a Visa card, it works almost everywhere. Another reason why I really like a credit card is that no one will give you a better exchange rate than a bank. It’s also very easy to use, simply use it as if you were to use it in the US and when prompted to choose between USD or EUR, pick EUR. It’s also contactless, no foreign transaction fees and you 2 lounge passes for United. So, if you’re in a place to open a credit card, I really recommend this option.

6. Food

1. Madpizza Saldanhna

• Margarita Pizza
• This place was really close to where I was staying and thus I decided to check it out. If you’re a vegetarian and want to play it safe, this is a great option. Really great margarita pizza, sitting space inside, and great service as well.
• The restaurant is more like MOD pizza or Blaze in Chicago. You go in a line and say what you want on your pizza and they cook it in a brick oven.

2. Pastéis de Belém

• When you’re in Portugal and you don’t have custards, there is something wrong
• It’s the most famous dessert in Portugal and specifically at this restaurant. It’s so famous that there is a huge line around the block to even get into the store to get an order to go.
• It’s close to the Belem tower so make sure to get it when you’re around that area.
• Be ready to wait in line around the block but it goes by faster.

3. Davito (CASH ONLY)

• Pesto penne pasta
• Margarita Pizza

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Below are some of the pictures I took while I was visiting Lisbon. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @mrshutterup to follow my journey and for some more amazing pictures. Lastly, feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions!