Travel Tips

If your main destination in Portugal is the city of Lisbon, you should consider exploring the surrounding areas. There are many interesting places to visit but you would need a week to explore all of them, at least.

If you have a few days to spend in Lisbon area, choose weekends to stay in Lisbon and weekdays to explore the surroundings. Because in weekdays everybod is working and living in Lisbon, and in weekends everybody is traveling to the surrounding areas. So, you'll have more space for you if you swap ;-)

If you cross the famous bridge "25 de Abril" (in the picture) in Lisbon you'll be in Almada - a nice town. The best part of Almada is the old town. It's not too big but it's ncie for a walk and from there you have the best views to the city of Lisbon.

There are also some gardens and one, in special, by the river, is very nice.

It's in Almada that you'll find an enjoyable place to dinner (or to lunch). It's called "Atira-te ao rio" and is placed really close to the river. From there you'll see a beautiful city scape of Lisbon. The food is also good but not traditional portuguese - it's more like brazilian.

In this region, I also suggest you to visit King Christo monument (in the picture). It's a must on for everyone.

There's a lot of information in VT about Sintra. I think it's a place you should visit if you'll come to Lisbon.

In Sintra you can spend an entire day enjoying nature, culture, history, gastronomy and sports.

Sintra is a village surrounded by a large forest. There are plenty of vegetal species there. You may spend a few hours walking in the middle of the forest and enjoying the true fresh air. You may also do mountain climbing. It's gorgeous! You'll see beautiful landscapes and feel to be in the top of the world. If you like this activity, bring your own material or contact any sports club beofre you go to Sintra.

There are some must places you should visit. Many of them are refered in many VT pages. The ones I recomend are Palácio da Pena (on the top of the mountain) where you can enjoy a great view if you go on a sunny day. There's also a beautiful palace to explore but half of the beauty of this visit is, for sure, the magnific view you have from the top. So, if the day is not sunny, you may skip it. Another place I recomend is Quinta da Regaleira. For the architecture of the palaces, for the beautiful gardens, for the caves and the lakes... there are plenty of things to explore in Quinta da Regaleira. This is my favourite place in Sintra. If you pretend to go there, bring a light with you to explore the caves.

If you pretend to lunch in Sintra, there are some nice restaurants. Althought they are quite expensive for a young portuguese student like me, they are not so expensive for a tourist who come here for the first time. Prices may start in 10 EUR and go to 30 EUR or more. But it will be an agradable meal, for sure.

On the way from Lisbon to Sintra there's a beautiful and very interesting palace you should visit - Palácio Nacional de Queluz. When Napoleon invaded Portugal, this palace was choosen by him to be his official residence because of its beauty. Fortunately, England helped us to move French troops just in time! Don't miss this important palace and its surrounding gardens.

Around Sintra, there are also some good beaches. Don't go there only on summer. If there's a sunny day, visit them anytime.

A good place to end your day is in Cascais. I suggest you to do the train trip from Lisbon to Cascais at the end of the day so you can see the beautiful sunset by the river/ocean. Very beautiful. In Cascais, you may find some nice places to dinner and a nice old town to walk at night. Also nightlife in Cascais is quite nice.

A very beautiful walk on a sunny day is by the coast of Lisbon District. You may start your trip by moving to Cascais. From there you would pass in Cabo da Roca - the western part of European Continent - and go in direction of Ericeira, a typical fishermen village. In the way, you should also visit Mafra and its monastaire - Convento de Mafra.

Between these two villages there's another interesting place - Sobreiro. This is a small "monument village" with typical houses and stores. Very interesting if you want to know a bit more about the typical customs of the old Portugal.

Move again to the coast and enjoy the beautiful seashore. There are beautiful beaches and blue water waiting for you. Water temperature is really low but the best thing is to relax and observe such beautiful waters.

Lourinhã is another small town you should stop for a short visit. There, you'll find dinossaurus footsteps and many windmills. Some of them are still working and you can visit them.

Your final stop will be in Peniche - a very little peninsula where is set a lighthouse. From there you can catch the daily boat to Berlengas - the small and beautiful islands just in front of Peniche. You should catch it in the morning and come back in the afternoon.