Travel Tips: Lisbon and Porto
Where to eat, drink, and play in some of Europe's oldest cities
Portugal has everything from great beaches to wine country and lots of history. The country is pretty small and a great destination for a road trip. You can see most everything in 2-3 weeks. I even know people who drove the entire length of the country in 1 week. The food is great (lots of fish, especially cod) and the wine, ham, olive oil, and cheese are cheap. With that said, Lisbon and Portugal’s second largest city Porto are ideal destinations for a long weekend getaway.
In this guide, I will give you my recommendations for Lisbon and Porto including where to eat, places to stay, and some cool things to do. If you’d like to learn more about my style and how I like to travel, check out this post. I explain my way of navigating new places so you can see how much it matches your preferences.
If you are looking for a travel agent to help book your trip or would like to do a group tour, I can highly recommend Rani Cheema who specializes in culinary travel and Danny Adler who specializes in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. I met both of them through the El Camino Clubhouse, which is a network for travel lovers.
Lisbon
Lisbon is basically San Francisco, but much older and with better weather. Prepare to walk A LOT and for it to be very slippery. Lisbon is covered with gorgeous old tiles, but these walkways can be very steep and hard to navigate so be sure to pack your comfortable walking shoes with good traction.
Eat
There are lots of good places in Lisbon and every time I go, I realize the city is bigger than I thought and there are many more neighborhoods to explore (I guess that’s a good problem to have, right?).
Here are some good places to bookmark:
Magnolia Winebar & Bistro: This wine bar serves brunch everyday and is bopping at night. It sits on a beautiful square that has a lot to offer in terms of people watching, greenery, and little shops. If you go during the day, you’re right next to some epic coffee bars like Marquise Bakery, which is also a concept store. Foxtrot is right there as well as along with Copenhagen Coffee Labs. If you go at night, you are close to Imprensa Oyster and Cocktail bar, a cute hole in the wall for a nightcap.