Natalia’s Travel Tips

I’m starting with my most recent trip, while it’s still fresh in my mind. Lisbon was BEAUTIFUL. Everything about it was so aesthetically pleasing, the saying “as pretty as a picture” has never been so fitting. We stayed a total of 3 nights & 4 full days, I would have loved to stay one more, I wasn’t ready to go home!

Where we stayed 

We stayed in the Epic Sana Lisboa. The hotel was reasonably priced considering it was a 5 star hotel (we didn’t realise this when we booked it). It was very well decorated and had great facilities. The spa was amazing, I got a massage and it was sooooo relaxing, like seriously, 10/10 would recommend to a friend. The rooftop pool was also a nice area to relax and chill out, but you had to join a waitlist to get any sort of a pool bed which was slightly annoying. We had a couple of bumps along the road during our stay but the staff responded with excellent customer service so it was all forgotten about before we left. The location was pretty good and Ubers are so cheap there, it’s ridiculous! But, if I was to go back again I would probably opt for somewhere bang smack in the middle of everything. 

Things to do  

We tried to be the ultimate tourists. On our first day, we went to see São Jorge castle, tried one of the codfish cakes outside it (its the place right outside the castle), as it’s a traditional food there and let’s just say I was happy we didn’t get one each… then we just roamed around the pretty streets. 

On our second day we took a ride on the famous tram 28, we got on at the first stop Campo de Ourique to make sure we got a seat, it’s €3 per person and we went all the way to the last stop, taking in the scenery along the way. Then we got a tuk tuk tour to see all of Lisbon’s main attractions we did a tour that lasted an hour and a half and it was €70, they all give you different prices so just shop around. They will also give you suggestions of places to go which is really helpful if you’ve no idea what you want to see on your tour.

We took an Uber over to Cascais on our third day. Boca do Inferno is a cliff formation along the coast and there’s great views from it. The Santa Marta lighthouse is so cute, we didn’t go inside it as you had to pay and the view of it from slightly down the road was great and was more that enough lighthouse action for us.  We strolled around the town, it was a slightly different vibe to Lisbon, more relaxed, but just as beautiful. 

We decided (I decided..) I wanted to have a little browse around the shops on our last day. There’s everything from little local stores to big shopping centres, you won’t be stuck for anything while you’re there. We also popped in to have a look at the time out market, I found it a bit overwhelming. There was just so many different places to choose from and it was so busy, not to mention I forgot my glasses and I’m as blind as a bat.

Places to Eat

I cannot emphasise enough how amazing the food was in Lisbon, I was in awe. My mouth is literally still watering thinking about it. Im not going to bore you with naming every dish I had (they’ll be on my trip advisor) so I’ll just name the special few. We tried to stick to Portuguese cuisine to have the true Lisbon experience.

For dinner; We ate in a place called Cantiho do Allivez which was a small intimate restaurant, it was very busy and that doesn’t surprise me as the food and service were both wonderful. The hazelnut dessert truly is “life changing” – it’s a must! 

The Decadente restaurant has a very cool vibe to it and was very reasonably priced. It’s in the Bairro Alto area. Four words, PORTUGAL IN A POT. The dish was honestly out of this world, I’d go back just to have it alone! the coconut cheesecake was also to die for.

Meson Andaluz was a cute little tapas place, we ordered 4 dishes, then we ordered 2 more… and dessert. Possibly the yummiest patatas bravas I’ve ever had – an explosion of flavour. The staff were very helpful when it came to narrowing down what dishes to pick, which was honestly so tough. 

For lunch; we went to the Tasting Room in Cascais, we sat outside and people watched (one of my favourite activities). We got 4 tapas to share and it was a pretty cool experience as they flame grilled the chorizo out in front of you. 

A taberna da Rua da Flores was a quaint little restaurant, a hole in the wall, you’d easily pass it. They are a cash only restaurant and very small so you need to go about 30 minutes before you want to eat and get your name on the waitlist. It was definitely worth the wait though, don’t let that put you off! I tasted sardines for the first time – delicious!!

Boa bao – this was the only time we ventured away from Portuguese cuisine because my friend (shoutout to Megan) insisted we went and we were happy we did! The baos were super tasty and the curries were to die for. We wanted a good filling meal before we headed to the airport so we thought, why not!

Everywhere we ate was really good value, we were shocked at some of the prices. Especially since some of the places seemed so high end.

I hand on heart can’t pick a favourite restaurant they were all that good, it’s far too hard to choose! 

Places for Drinks

Park bar – it’s a very cool bar at the top of a car park, it has great views of the city and you should definitely go for sunset! Although, if you’re looking to get a good seat you’d want to go early as it’s busy all day. 

Lost In – very cute hidden gem with an outside area, more great views of the city. We thought it was empty when we arrived,  but that’s just because everyone sits out the back in the outside area. It’s very close to the decadente restaurant so we went before our dinner there and then walked down. 

Foxtrot – A very cool speak easy bar with great cocktails! I would recommend the “foxtrot” I could have had several, they also look just as good as they taste which is always a plus. 

So overall, Lisbon gets a solid 10 from me. I’ll definitely be planning a return trip and I can’t wait for it! 

Thanks for reading,

Natalia x