One week in Lisbon

How to split the week between neighbourhoods

A week is long enough to justify moving once. The best split is three nights in Chiado or Baixa, where you are close to Rossio and Cais do Sodré stations for day trips, then four nights in Alfama, Príncipe Real or Santos, where you sleep in a neighbourhood rather than a transit hub. Central Chiado runs about €160 to €260 a night; Baixa apartments about €110 to €170; Alfama guesthouses about €90 to €150; Príncipe Real boutiques €200 to €320; Cais do Sodré and Santos €120 to €190. Weekly rates on apartments usually knock 10 to 15 per cent off nightly pricing.

If moving hotels sounds like a chore, pick one base and accept its trade-off. Príncipe Real gives you quiet, good breakfasts and a downhill walk to everything, at the cost of an uphill walk home every night. Alfama gives you the most atmospheric mornings in the city and the worst luggage logistics. Baixa is flat, convenient and slightly soulless. Bairro Alto is only sensible if you are out until 3am yourself. Whatever you choose, load a Navegante card with the €40-ish monthly pass equivalent only if you are staying longer; for a week, 24-hour passes at about €7 on the days you actually ride are cheaper.

Days one and two: the historic core

Give the first two days to the walkable centre. Day one: Praça do Comércio at opening light, Rua Augusta, Chiado, the Convento do Carmo ruins at about €7, lunch in a Bairro Alto tasca for €12 to €16, then the Elevador da Glória up for sunset at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara. Day two: São Jorge Castle at 9am for roughly €15, then walk down through Alfama via Portas do Sol, Rua de São Pedro and Largo do Chafariz de Dentro, stopping at the Fado Museum for about €5 and the free-entry Sé cathedral nave.

Book fado for one of these two nights. In Alfama, the small houses on Rua dos Remédios and Beco do Espírito Santo run a €25 to €45 minimum spend that includes a plate of food. Larger venues in Bairro Alto charge more and feel more theatrical. Reserve by phone or in person the day before; the good rooms hold 30 people and fill. Do not applaud between verses and do not photograph during a song — the lights go down for a reason, and locals will tell you off.

Day three: Belém and the western riverfront

Tram 15E from Cais do Sodré takes about 25 minutes to Belém. Be at the Jerónimos cloister for the 9.30am opening, around €12, then the tarts at Pastéis de Belém at €1.40 each. Skip the Belém Tower queue unless towers are your thing; €10 and 45 minutes of waiting buys a view you can approximate from the riverbank. MAAT at about €11 has a free rooftop ramp and the best river photography angle in the city. The Coach Museum, roughly €8, is stranger and better than it sounds — gilded carriages the size of small boats.

Walk or take the tram back east to LX Factory under the 25 de Abril bridge, a converted industrial block of bookshops, design stores and restaurants. The Ler Devagar bookshop is free to wander. Lunch here runs €15 to €22. Then continue along the river to Alcântara and Santos, finishing with drinks at the Docas or a rooftop in Santos. This is a long day on foot — around 12 kilometres if you walk the whole riverside — so use tram 15E liberally with your 24-hour pass.

Day four: Sintra, done the sane way

Take the CP train from Rossio station to Sintra — roughly 40 minutes, about €2.40 each way with a Navegante card. Aim for a departure before 8.30am. Book Pena Palace online in advance with a timed slot, around €20 for palace and park; the walk-up queue in summer can exceed 90 minutes. From Sintra station, the 434 hop-on bus loops to the Moorish Castle and Pena for about €13.50, or you can walk up through the woods in 45 sweaty minutes. Quinta da Regaleira, at around €15, is the one that most people love most, with its initiation well and tunnels.

Two sights is the realistic maximum. Three is a forced march. Lunch in the historic centre near Volta do Duche, where a plate of roast pork and a drink runs €12 to €18, and buy a travesseiro pastry from Piriquita on Rua das Padarias for about €1.60. Return trains run until late evening, so there is no need to rush the last hour. If you want the full Sintra treatment, see the dedicated day-trip guide — it covers timings, the 435 bus and the Monserrate option.

Day five: markets, Graça and the eastern city

Start at Mercado de Campo de Ourique, smaller and less touristed than Time Out, where a plate at a counter runs €8 to €14. Then head to Graça: Miradouro da Senhora do Monte for the highest view in the city, the Feira da Ladra flea market at Campo de Santa Clara on Tuesdays and Saturdays from roughly 9am to 6pm, and the National Pantheon next door at about €8, whose dome terrace is a genuinely great and rarely crowded viewpoint. The Monastery of São Vicente de Fora across the square has cloisters lined with blue azulejo panels for around €8.

In the afternoon, ride the metro red line east to Parque das Nações, the 1998 Expo district — flat, modern and a complete change of scenery. The Oceanário costs about €25 and is one of the best aquariums in Europe; the cable car along the waterfront runs about €7 return. Dinner options here are chain-heavy, so come back to Alfama or Santos for the evening. If you would rather stay in the old city, swap this half-day for the National Tile Museum at about €8, out in Xabregas.

Day six: beach or Arrábida

The Cascais line from Cais do Sodré runs every 20 minutes along the coast, about 35 minutes to Oeiras and 40 to Cascais, roughly €2.40 each way. Get off at Carcavelos for the biggest, most swimmable beach with rentals and beach bars, or continue to Cascais for the town, the Boca do Inferno cliffs and the walk or cycle to Guincho. Water is Atlantic cold — 17 to 20°C in summer — and afternoon wind is standard. Beach umbrella and two loungers rent for about €20 in high season.

For something wilder, take the Fertagus train from Roma-Areeiro across the bridge to Setúbal, about an hour and around €4.75, then a taxi or the summer bus into the Serra da Arrábida for Portinho da Arrábida and Galapos — turquoise, sheltered coves with limestone behind them. Setúbal itself does the best fried cuttlefish in Portugal for around €10 to €14 a plate. Either way, you will be back in Lisbon for dinner by 8pm.

Day seven: slow Lisbon

Use the last day for the things you deferred. The Gulbenkian Museum at around €14 combines a first-rate collection with a garden you can nap in. The Estufa Fria greenhouse in Parque Eduardo VII costs about €3.25 and is empty on weekday mornings. The Ajuda Palace, roughly €8, is the least visited royal interior in the city. Or simply do a viewpoint crawl: Santa Catarina, São Pedro de Alcântara, Graça, Senhora do Monte, all free, all with a kiosk selling €3 beers.

Finish where the week started, on the Tagus. Take the ferry from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas for about €1.55 and eat grilled fish on the far bank looking back at Lisbon, then walk the waterfront to Ponto Final in Almada if you booked ahead — its terrace tables sit right on the water. Last ferries run late. Back in the city, a final glass of ginjinha at a doorway bar in Rossio costs €1.50 and takes thirty seconds, which is exactly the right way to end a week.