Where to stay in Lisbon

Baixa and Chiado

The Baixa takes up Lisbon’s flat part, Pombal’s grid between the river and the Rossio: you walk it all without a single climb, with the metro and trams at the door. Chiado, just above, is more elegant, with bookshops, historic cafés and shops. In exchange, it’s the most touristy and among the priciest, and at night the Baixa empties somewhat because there’s more retail than housing. For a first visit and two or three nights, it’s the no-fuss choice.

Alfama

This is where the postcard was taken: alleys, hanging laundry, tiles, fado drifting out of the taverns and viewpoints at every corner. Sleeping here is sleeping inside old Lisbon, and at night, once the day-trippers leave, it’s strangely calm.

The catch is serious and physical: it’s stairs and slopes with no vehicle access, so arriving with cases is a workout, and tram 28 and the tour groups pass below the window.

For anyone travelling light who doesn’t mind climbing, there’s nothing like it. For anyone dragging luggage, look twice.

Príncipe Real and Bairro Alto

Right against each other, these two work almost in reverse. The Bairro Alto is a sleepy district by day and the drinking zone par excellence by night: hundreds of tiny bars and people in the street until very late. Great to go out in, hard to sleep in if your window faces the party.

Príncipe Real, just above, is the quiet reverse: nineteenth-century mansions, a garden with an enormous cedar, design shops and good restaurants. It’s one of the most pleasant and gay-friendly districts in the city, and a good base if you want to be near the night without sleeping inside it.

Avenida da Liberdade

The grand avenue climbing from the centre towards Marquês de Pombal is Lisbon’s luxury axis: chain hotels, brand shops and wide pavements with jacarandas. It’s flat, has a metro at each end, and the Baixa is a downhill walk away. It hasn’t the charm of the old quarters (this is nineteenth- and twentieth-century Lisbon, broad and orderly) but it’s comfortable, quiet at night and well linked to the airport. A good choice for anyone putting comfort above the picturesque.

Cais do Sodré and Santos

Cais do Sodré carried the reputation of a disreputable port district and today is one of the liveliest: the Pink Street, a road painted pink that was once brothels and is now bars, holds the nightlife, and the Mercado da Ribeira is beside it. The Cascais trains and the boats across the Tagus leave from here. Santos, a little further west, is more residential and quiet, with design studios and restaurants. The whole area suits anyone wanting the river, transport to the coast and nightlife nearby, accepting some weekend noise.