Last Minute Planning

We've stayed in Principe Real and Rato and walked into the city centre (around 15-20 minutes) to access the good public transport ststem when we've needed it - rail, bus, tram and Metro.

We'
Have just done four posts on my blog on our week in Lisbon (July 2015). There's a mix of tips about Lisbon plus some names of some decent mid-range eating places and some shots of Lisbon, Sintra and Cascais.

Access www.wisepacking.me and the top post will be part IV - scroll down and you'll soon find part I..

We'd recommend getting hold of Pocket Rough Guide Lisbon as a starting point as to what to see and do - beats LP IMHO

We found our accomodation on www.booking.com and booked into Lisbon Dreams Guest House in the Rato area. We've also stayed in Casa Oliver and Pensao Londres in the nearby Principe Real area.

We stayed in Tavira for a week in March 2016 - one of the quieter towns on the Algarve and a place that gets a few mentions on here from time to time. This was our second visit to Tavrira as we had a couple of nights there in 2013. Some info on wisepacking too.

Cheap flights London to Lisbon may be a big ask given the time frame.

Try www.skyscanner.net as a starting point... But be advised that I've just had a starting price of £209 per person for return flights - out on 6th July, back 16th July and that was with budget airlines and didn't include hold luggage (we fly hand luggage only as have virtually everyone we've met on our travels in Porugal.

Also note that some of the airports marked as London xxx are some distance from either Gatwick or Heathrow airports..

Enjoy - we have, which is why we've made three trips to Portugal over the last year.

Do you want to fly to Lisboa or to Algarve?

For a Mountain Castle Town try Castello de Vide.

Marvao is a short cab ride from Castello. I don't recommend staying there, but it is a great day trip as the town walls and castle are in good condition.

We were planning to fly into Lisbon but we are open. We would like to fly in or out of Lisbon and spend at least three nights there.

Thank you!

Lots of good tips thanks!

Principe Real is a great neighborhood to settle the base in. It is close to everything at walking distance and is the trendy hispter hotspot in Lisbon.

For a mountain town, why not Sintra? Just a 30-min train ride from Rossio in the heart of Lisbon.

We moved to Lisbon two years ago... we're going to open a hotel so we have done an intense research... Graca is by far them most interesting part of town right now. Its quiet and residential with the best restaurants and clubs (Damas is the happening spot now - and FREE) in town and only 10 - 15 minutes walk to Bairo-Alto, Principe-Real, Largo Intendente is 3 minutes walk, etc.

I blog about things that interests me on - mostly music, art, food, beaches and start-up Tings Lisbon (Updates on FB and #TingsLisbon on Twitter)

Another option would be to stay along the commuter train line between downtown Lisbon and Cascais. The train runs every 20 minutes and it is easy to get around. For non-touristy areas with good access to beaches, any place between Orieres and the Lisbon side of Estoril will do. Carcavelos or Parede would be nice. This is real contemporary Portugal. The Graca neighborhood mentioned in an earlier post is more old-fashioned Portugal. Graca still has a bit of the feel of a traditional Lisbon blue collar neighborhood.