Portugal
Why Lisbon Is Europe’s Perfect Weekend Escape
I grew up here and left, which is the standard Lisbon story. What surprises me on every return is how well the city holds up to a weekend — three days is genuinely enough to feel like you have been somewhere.
Skip Tram 28. Not out of snobbery — it is genuinely pleasant at seven in the morning and genuinely unbearable at any other hour. Walk up instead; the hills are the point.
Where to base yourself
Príncipe Real is flat by Lisbon standards, walkable to almost everything, and quiet at night. Alfama is beautiful and steep and loud. Baixa is convenient and has no soul after eight.
Every viewpoint in this city is worth the climb, and every climb is worse than it looks on the map.
One day out
Sintra if you must, but take the first train and be at Pena before the coaches. Otherwise: Cascais by train along the water, or the Costa da Caparica by ferry and bus for a beach that is genuinely a beach.
Eating
Lunch is the main meal and the best value. The tasca with the paper tablecloths and the daily special on a whiteboard is not a cliché; it is the correct choice.
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