Príncipe Real

Lisbon's most liveable central district: a garden with a famous cedar, good food, independent shops and gay nightlife.

Príncipe Real sits on the ridge above Bairro Alto, one long block of 19th-century townhouses either side of a garden with a 150-year-old cedar trained flat into a green umbrella over a kiosk. This is where Lisboetas who can afford it want to live, and where a lot of the city's design shops, natural wine bars and gay nightlife ended up. The main axis is Rua Dom Pedro V running into Rua da Escola Politécnica; Praça das Flores two streets downhill is the quieter twin, a small square with cafés, a church and children on scooters after school.

Food here is the best per-square-metre in central Lisbon. A Cevicheria on Rua Dom Pedro V does not take reservations, so people queue outside from 6.30pm for tiger's-milk ceviche at €16-22; Tapisco a few doors down runs Portuguese-Spanish small plates at €7-14 apiece. Around the garden there are pastelarias where a coffee and pastry is still €2.50, and on Saturday mornings an organic market sets up under the trees selling bread, cheese and vegetables at prices that are not cheap but are honest.

At 9pm it is civilised rather than wild: full restaurant terraces on Rua da Rosa's upper end, people drinking at the garden kiosk, the Embaixada palace shopping arcade lit up in the square. The gay bars around Rua da Imprensa Nacional and the side streets get going at 11pm and mostly stay indoors, so the noise footprint is far smaller than Bairro Alto's five minutes downhill. Rooms above Rua Dom Pedro V will catch some traffic and bus noise; the back streets are quiet by midnight.

Stay here if you want a week rather than three days — a neighbourhood you can settle into, with a laundry, a fruit shop, a good bakery, and Bairro Alto and Chiado close enough to walk to and far enough to walk away from. Skip it if you need to be next to the metro (Rato is eight minutes' walk and the nearest station), or if the €15-25 nightly premium over Baixa matters to your budget.

Where to sleep

The best streets are Rua da Escola Politécnica, Rua do Século, Rua da Imprensa Nacional and anything on Praça das Flores or Travessa do Sacramento — leafy, residential and quiet after 11pm. Expect €110-170 in January and €200-340 from April to October; the restored palacetes with pools and gardens go well past €400. Rua Dom Pedro V is the busy one, with buses, tram 24E and a permanent taxi flow, so take an interior room there. Rua da Rosa's lower end slides into Bairro Alto territory and gets the overspill noise. Check the walk from your door: this ridge is flat along the top but drops sharply to Chiado and to Rato, so a listing that says ten minutes to Chiado means ten minutes down and eighteen back up.

The essentials

Garden ridge to Rato (3 km)

Start at the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, walk north up Rua Dom Pedro V past the antique dealers to the Jardim do Príncipe Real and its cedar, cross to Embaixada, then along Rua da Escola Politécnica past the Jardim Botânico gate to Rato. Return downhill by Rua da Imprensa Nacional to Praça das Flores, then Rua do Século and Travessa do Sacramento back towards Chiado.

Getting there & around

Rato, on the yellow metro line, is eight minutes' walk along Rua da Escola Politécnica and is the only station properly serving the district; from the airport take the red line to Saldanha, change to the yellow line and ride to Rato, about 30 minutes for €1.80. A taxi from the airport is €14-20. Tram 24E runs from Praça Luís de Camões through Príncipe Real to Rato and Campolide, roughly every 15 minutes. Walking, it is 8 minutes down to Bairro Alto, 12 to Chiado, 18 to Baixa, and 15 to Avenida da Liberdade via Rua da Alegria. Coming home, remember every route back is uphill.