No matter how often you return, you’ll always see Lisbon afresh. The Portuguese capital twinkles with exciting new openings – from boutique hotels and restaurants to roof terraces and bars, all with a pinch of historic soul and the wrappings of 21st-century cool. This is a place you sense, not see. Imagining that the medieval Castelo de São Jorge and the stately riverfront Praça do Comércio don’t exist for a moment will open your eyes to its real wonder.
These streets are full of poetry, with light bouncing off the piercing blue Tagus River and azulejo tiles, intricately cobbled calçadas and creamy white Manueline facades carved during the age of great explorers. Go beyond the tourist trail and you’ll soon find neighbourhoods full of life and laughter, fado and street art. It’s in the back alleys, where that unexpected cafe, leafy plaza or sunset miradouro (viewpoint) awaits, that you’ll fall hard Lisbon.
Best time to visit Lisbon
Summers are crowded and hot, with temperatures shooting well above 30C, and Lisbon really has its party groove on now, with headliners like June’s Festas de Santos Populares (Festivals of the Popular Saints) and big-name music and arts festivals like July’s NOS Alive.
The weather can still be warm in spring and autumn, with temperatures hovering between 20C and 25C. Calmer and cheaper, these are better seasons for exploring. In wetter, chillier winter, Lisbon is at its quietest.
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Best things to do
See the city from on-high
Lisbon is a high-rise city – but not because of its skyscrapers. Straddling seven hills, the Portuguese capital requires a lot of puff, with never-ending cobbled stairways, streets sweeping dramatically down to the glinting Tagus River and eyrie-like miradouros with 360-degree views of the castle-crowned cityscape rippling away to the Atlantic.
Elevador da Bica has been dubbed “the most photographed funicular in Lisbon”
(Getty Images)
The city’s vintage elevadores are a brilliant burst of the past and give you a head start to the heights. If you’re going for the most famous one, Elevador de Santa Justa, get there nice and early as queues mount by midday. The neo-Gothic confection was designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard (Gustave Eiffel’s protégé). Elevador da Glória and Elevador da Bica also negotiate the hills.
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