4 days in Lisbon: The Most Complete Experience
If we had to choose a city near Spain to spend a weekend, either alone, as a couple or with friends, one option would be Lisbon for sure. For this reason, we would like to bring you our experience of 4 days in Lisbon so that you can have a reference of the things that the city offers and that you can do.
We were in Lisbon as the last stop of a route by car from Oporto and we spent 9 days there. The truth is that Portugal is a delight in every way: gastronomy, history, people…. Lisbon, its capital, is probably also its most lively and lively city, so it is a great option to go with friends. In Chris’s case, he was able to repeat Lisbon in the same year for a bachelor party and the experience was also unbeatable.
It also has a very top excursion in the surrounding area, Sintra, so we also included it in these 4 days as we think it is highly recommended to do it if you have enough time.
If you want more information about Lisbon and Portugal, we leave you these other interesting posts in our blog:
- 9 days in Portugal: From Porto to Lisbon.
- The Must-Sees of Lisbon: The 7-Hills City
- Where to Stay in Lisbon: Best Areas And Accomodation
- 15 Must-visit places in Porto
- 3 days in Porto: Best Detailed Guide
That said, here are our recommendations for 4 days in Lisbon.
Day 1: Sintra, 4 days in Lisbon
It may surprise you that we start our 4 days in Lisbon here, but as we have mentioned, our experience was coming from Oporto by car, so we first passed through this destination. You can put this day wherever you want in your itinerary, but we prefer to put it in the order we did it.
Sintra is a town located 1 hour away from Lisbon and is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its architectural and cultural richness. It is a place with several points of interest to visit. We had a very bad day as you can see in the pictures, a lot of rain and fog that did not allow us to see it in all its splendour (that’s why we don’t have pictures), but it is still beautiful.
To visit this place, you can do it in several ways:
- One recommendation is to stay overnight. In that case, we would recommend you to sleep in the place where we did, as it is very good and very complete. It is Casa do Vinho, a super cool guesthouse in the centre of Sintra.
- You can visit it on your own by train from Lisbon. It costs €4.5 and departs from Rossio station.
- Take a full day tour to Sintra.
The main recommendation in Sintra is the Da Pena Palace, its most emblematic place and a must-see in 4 days in Lisbon. It is a palace of spectacular architecture that looks like something out of a fairy tale. Obviously, it was built by kings in the 19th century as a summer residence. Nowadays, you can stroll around its exterior courtyards, admire its façade (the most spectacular feature) and take a tour inside, where the different rooms of the palace are explained to you.
To visit the palace, you have to walk quite a long way, which is normally done by the transport at the entrances (you have to pay in cash) and then you are dropped off at the entrance to the gardens, from which it is a 30-minute walk to the palace entrance itself. Due to the bad weather, we didn’t want to walk and we took a bus that takes you up to the palace (cash also), but if the weather is nice it is advisable to walk, at least one of the two journeys. You can get tickets at this link GetYourGuide and you must select the time of entry (there are 4 hours to visit the palace).
After the visit, we headed to another of Sintra’s key sites, the Quinta da Regaleira. It is a very large estate with gardens, palaces and curious places. It was built by a Portuguese millionaire in the early 20th century to create this place. I think, if we had to define it in one word, it would be mysterious. Inside the enclosure, you must follow the map to visit all its places. The key and coolest point for us is the Initiatory Well.
In case you have time, another place nearby that you could visit and that we did because we were in our rented car is Cascais. This city has a very famous place called Boca do Inferno, which is a cavity in the rocks where the sea water comes in with force. We were quite disappointed, so we wouldn’t recommend it.
Day 2 of 4 days in Lisbon
Now, let’s move on to the 2nd day of these 4 days in Lisbon and the first day in the city as such. Those of you who have read us before, will know that we love to start our visits to a city we don’t know by taking a free tour, which will situate us historically and culturally.
In this case, we decided to take a free tour that explained and took us to the following places:
- Praça do Comércio
- Praça dos Restauradores
- Statue of the Calceteiro monument
- Casa do Alentejo
- Jewish Memory
- Santo Domingo Church
- Rossio Square
- Converto do Carmo
- Santa Justa Elevator
- Chiado Quarter
- Comercio Bertand outside
- Walk along Rua Augusta
- Monumental Arch
As you can see, it is really very complete in terms of the city centre. We would especially highlight the Plaza del Comercio as one of the main places in the city, the Jewish Memorial and the Church of Santo Domingo, places with a horrific history that should be known, the Elevador de Santa Justa, a curious “lift” in the middle of the city (do not take it, it is a tourist trap, it can be accessed from above) and the Convento do Carmo and its square, also with a great history.
Next, we visited the place of the typical photo of the yellow tram in the small alley. The place is called Ascensor da Bica.
After visiting all these places, we decided to take a Bolt (it is one of the best ways to move around the city), and go to see a super cool viewpoint in the city, the viewpoint of Señora del Monte and walking we went to another one called viewpoint of Gracia. Lisbon is a city between mountains, so you’ll find a multitude of super interesting viewpoints to the city, we’ll let you put in comments your favourites 🙂
Day 3, 4 days in Lisbon
You can’t say you’ve been to Lisbon if you haven’t visited Belem, one of the top areas in 4 days in Lisbon and Portugal in general.
There are many things to see near this area. Our recommendation is to get there by Bolt or public transport and then walk around them all, as it’s well worth the walk.
Key places to see during the walk would be:
- Belem Tower, an interesting and historic place to see.
- Padrao dos Descubrimientos Monument, which is a memorial to the discoveries made by Portuguese navigators. It is impressive as it is very tall and imposing. You can enter and see exhibitions of Portuguese culture and history.
- 25 de Abril Bridge, an imposing bridge that allows you to cross the Tagus from one side to the other and replicates the famous bridge of San Francisco.
- Jeronimos Monastery, an architecturally impressive monastery with a super interesting cloister and one of the most touristic places in Lisbon, so it is advisable to get a ticket in advance. We didn’t and there was no availability. You can buy tickets for the Jerónimos Monastery here.
- Eat the famous pastel de Belem, an incredible cream tartlet made with a secret recipe. One of the best places is in the Chiado neighbourhood, called Pastry Castro (it’s not Belém, but we think we’re right to recommend a good place to try them).
We spent a whole morning visiting all this as in the afternoon we had a free tour of one of the city’s top neighbourhoods, the Alfama district. We would define the Alfama neighbourhood as one of the most authentic places in the city, inhabited by many older locals and maintaining the traditions and way of life of ancient times. In our opinion, it is the best place in the city and a must-see in 4 days in Lisbon.
There are multiple tours around the area, but we recommend ours, this free tour of Alfama. We were able to visit
- Casa dos Bicos
- Stairs of Sao Cristovao
- Fado Wall
- Chao do Loureiro viewpoint
- Santa Luzia Viewpoint
- Sé Cathedral
We are also left with the essence of the neighbourhood, the things they told us, the smiles and hospitality of the elderly people who have lived in Alfama all their lives and who are finding it increasingly difficult to do so due to tourist flats that increase the costs of the area. It is the great treasure of this place and a heritage that must be preserved over the years.
To end the day, you can go for dinner and a drink in the uptown area, with a multitude of terraces and bars with a good atmosphere for a few drinks.
Day 4
As the last day of these 4 days in Lisbon, we would recommend visiting some of the places that caught your attention on the free tours and that you didn’t have time to visit in depth. In our case, we wanted to revisit the Alfama area on our own, seeing the Pantheon, the Santa Luzia viewpoint and going to the Feira da Ladra market, the oldest market in Portugal, which is only open on Saturdays.
Another recommendation would be to go to the Chiados neighbourhood and stroll through its streets. It is another very typical and interesting neighbourhood.
To finish our route and go to the airport, we would highlight two more things to do. In front of our hotel, there was a very nice viewpoint also called Mirador de Sao Pedro de Alcántara, which we would recommend to visit as it is next to the area of Barrio Alto, the main nightlife area. Finally, you can’t leave Lisbon without trying the Bifana sandwich, a delicious meat in sauce. Below are some recommendations of where to try it 🙂
Where to stay in Lisbon?
Soon we will bring you a post with more detailed information about the best areas and places to stay in Lisbon, but I will leave you here the place where we stayed during our 4 days in Lisbon as it is very worthwhile and we think you will love it.
It is a hostel with private rooms that has a brutal viewpoint in front, a very top restaurant, high quality breakfast and a beautiful and very neat decoration. Unbeatable value for money even though it’s in Barrio Alto, one of the trendiest neighbourhoods.
Where to eat in Lisbon?
Portugal is one of the places in our travels where we have eaten the best. That is why we bring you a series of recommendations of where to eat in Lisbon that we are sure you will love:
- Timeout Market: It is a market with lots of food stalls and tables in the centre. This allows you to eat food from different places and taste Portuguese gastronomy and wine.
- O Arco Restaurant: This is a great place to try the arroz caldoso. Quite cheap (about 25€p.p).
- Casa das Bifanas: the best known place to try the Bifana sandwich.
- As Bifanas do Afonso: For me, the best bifanas I’ve ever tasted. It’s crazy how good they were.
- Agua Pela Barba: Modern Portuguese food restaurant. Very good.
Map of 4 days in Lisbon
As you may have seen, Lisbon is a perfect place for a weekend getaway as it combines a city full of places to see, a great atmosphere at all hours, one of the best gastronomy in the world and very friendly people.
If you have any questions about our 4 days in Lisbon, don’t hesitate to write us on social media or in the comments of this post and we will be happy to answer you.
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