Lisbon, Portugal

What Lisbon is for is a warm, walkable, good-value city with the coast on its doorstep. Days run vertical — climb through Alfama before the tour groups, claim a miradouro as the light turns amber, eat grilled fish and pastéis de nata — and the hills are relentless, so grippy shoes earn their keep (especially now that most funiculars are out of service). The payoff is a capital that still beats Paris or Barcelona on price while delivering seafood, fado and the famous light.

Come in spring or autumn; August is hot, crowded and dear, and winter is mild, quiet and cheap. If you can, time it for June, when the Santo António festivals turn the old quarters into a street party of grilled sardines, bunting and basil pots — the city at its most joyful.

• you want Lisbon warm but not mobbedSkipAugustGoApril–June or September–October
• you were counting on the famous funicularsSkipbuilding a plan around themGowalking or the Metro — most remain closed after the 2025 accident
• you’re doing SintraSkipturning up without a Pena ticketGobooking a timed slot days ahead on the official Parques de Sintra site

Lisbon sits inside the Schengen area, so visa-exempt visitors (the UK, US, Canada, Australia and most others) get 90 days in any rolling 180, counted across every Schengen country you pass through, not reset in Portugal. Since April 2026 the Entry/Exit System (EES) has been live: non-EU arrivals are now registered biometrically — a facial image and fingerprints — rather than stamped, which can slow the border while it beds in.

The separate ETIAS authorisation is confirmed at €20 but still has no firm launch date, with most reporting pointing to 2027; under-18s and over-70s are exempt from the fee (though they still apply). Until it goes live there is nothing to apply for — and when it does, it’s a quick online step, not a visa.

The euro is the currency and cards work almost everywhere, so you need little cash — a bit for small cafés, markets and the odd ginjinha stall. Decline “pay in your home currency” on any card terminal or ATM (choose euros), use a bank ATM (Multibanco) rather than the Euronet machines, and your money goes further.

Lisbon’s transport reset in 2026: a €1.90 single valid 60 minutes with transfers, loaded onto the renamed “navegante ocasional” card (€0.50), with a 24-hour pass at €7.25 (Carris + Metro) rising to €10.35 with the Cacilhas ferry. For door-to-door, Uber, Bolt and FREE NOW all operate widely and are cheap — often the easiest call from the airport with bags, since the Aerobus no longer exists. If you’ll sightsee hard, the Lisboa Card (24h €31 / 48h €51 / 72h €62) bundles unlimited transport — including the Sintra and Cascais trains — with free or discounted entry to 50-plus sights.

The one ride to approach with care is Tram 28, a pickpocket magnet in the crush (see the FAQ). And the sadder change: most of the historic funiculars are out of service after the 2025 Glória accident, so plan to walk the hills or take the Metro rather than relying on the famous yellow lifts.

The funicular closures are the result of the 3 September 2025 Elevador da Glória derailment, which killed 16 people. As of 2026 the Glória, Bica and Lavra funiculars and the Santa Justa lift remain shut (the Glória is being rebuilt, not expected back before ~2029); only the Graça funicular has reopened. Treat any “must-ride the Bica/Glória” tip as out of date, and check the current status before you go.

The city’s character is in its quarters. Alfama is the old Moorish maze below the castle — fado, washing lines, Tram 28; the Baixa is the elegant downtown grid; Chiado and Bairro Alto are the shopping-and-nightlife slopes; and riverside Belém holds the monuments, while modern Parque das Nações (the Expo ’98 site) has the aquarium. The defining history is the Great Earthquake of 1 November 1755, which flattened the city and killed tens of thousands; the Marquis of Pombal rebuilt the Baixa on a rational grid of wide streets — the Pombaline plan, an early feat of earthquake-resistant urbanism.

Across the Tagus, the 25 de Abril Bridge — a dead ringer for San Francisco’s Golden Gate, and built by the same American firm — carries the eye to the Cristo Rei statue on the Almada shore. It’s a city made for wandering between viewpoints; just remember the hills are steep and, for now, mostly unassisted by the lifts.

The monumental set piece is Belém: the Jerónimos Monastery (cloisters €18; the church itself free) and the riverside Belém Tower (€15), reopened in May 2026 after restoration. Both now run on timed-entry slots with real queues in peak season, so book ahead rather than turning up. In town, the hilltop Castelo de São Jorge (€17, free with the Lisboa Card) owns the view, and out at Parque das Nações the Oceanário (€25) is among Europe’s best aquariums.

For no-ticket wandering, the LX Factory under the 25 de Abril bridge and the Time Out Market food hall at Cais do Sodré are both free to enter (you pay per stall at the market, and it’s heaving at mealtimes). The sight that needs the most planning is a day trip — Sintra — which gets its own section below.

The headline day trip is Sintra — a UNESCO cultural landscape of romantic palaces in misty wooded hills, led by the technicolour Pena Palace (timed entry, sells out — book ahead) and the garden follies and initiation well of Quinta da Regaleira. It wants a whole day, early start included. From the same western line, Cascais is a 40-minute hop to a beach-resort town, and buses run on to Cabo da Roca, the wild cliff-top cape that is the westernmost point of mainland Europe.

South across the Tagus lie the beaches and dolphins of the Setúbal peninsula and the Arrábida hills; north stands the colossal baroque palace-convent of Mafra; and a little further out, the walled medieval town of Óbidos rewards the trip with its ramparts and a ginjinha served in an edible chocolate cup. The Lisboa Card covers the Sintra and Cascais trains if you’re buying one anyway.

Lisbon is the best-value eating in any Western European capital. The savoury heart is bacalhau — salt cod, with a proverbial 365 recipes — plus grilled fish, seafood cataplana, and, in June, charred sardines eaten in the street. Wash it down with crisp vinho verde or a Setúbal Moscatel, and finish with a ginjinha, the sour-cherry liqueur poured from hole-in-the-wall bars. And everywhere, all day, the pastel de nata (see the figure).

The cultural pairing is fado. Book a small casa de fado in Alfama or Mouraria rather than a tourist dinner-show, go late, and let the guitarra portuguesa and a voice full of saudade carry the evening. Eat late generally — kitchens get going after 8pm — and you’ll be on local time, where the city is at its best.

The city’s tourist tax is €4 per person per night (doubled from €2 in September 2024), capped at seven nights, with under-13s exempt; it’s usually collected at the accommodation on checkout, not shown in booking-site prices. Tipping is modest — rounding up or 5–10% for good service, never obligatory. The real risk is petty theft, not violence: it clusters on Tram 28, the 15E tram to Belém, the crowded Metro and the tourist crush at miradouros and the Time Out Market — keep bags zipped and phones away and you’ll be fine.

One honest caveat about the centre: short-term “alojamento local” rentals have hollowed out parts of Alfama and Baixa, so the postcard core can feel staged and emptied of locals. The city has pushed back — a late-2025 containment rule tightened where new licences are granted, and thousands of non-compliant permits were cancelled in 2026 — but the effect lingers. Base yourself a little off the core (Graça, Campo de Ourique, Príncipe Real) and Lisbon feels far more like itself.

A base tip: the prettiest-looking Alfama/Baixa rentals are also the most touristed, noisiest and most pickpocket-prone blocks. Staying one neighbourhood out — Graça for views, Campo de Ourique for a local food market, Príncipe Real for cafés — keeps you ten walkable minutes from the sights while giving you a real Lisbon street to come home to.