Things to do in Lisbon: Ultimate 3-day Itinerary

Lisbon: Portugal’s beautiful hilly coastal capital and largest city. One of Europe’s oldest western cities, its origins are with the indigenous Iberians, the Celts, its status as a Phoenician and Greek trading post. Successive occupations by the Carthaginians, Romans, Suebi, Visigoths, and Moors have all left their mark. While much of the city was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the rebuild brought us beautiful areas like the Praça do Comércio and Rua Augusta. 

In this 3-day itinerary, you’ll find the must-visit sites and things to do to make the most of your trip. When planning your trip, please be aware that many of the main monuments and museums are closed on Mondays.

Day One: Exploring the heart of the city

Start your adventure with a short but steep climb to the top of the hill in Lisbon’s oldest district, Aflama, towards São Jorge Castle. 

Halfway up the hill, you’ll find the amazing Pastelaria Santo António, 2019 winner of the prestigious “Melhor Pastel de Nata” award. There’s a large seating area upstairs with great views of the surrounding buildings, and the pastel de nata were fresh, warm, and their pastry shell was the flakiest I’ve experienced. They were my personal favourite of the trip, if a little on the sweet side. 

Once you’ve had your fill, complete your trek up to the castle. I’d recommend buying tickets in advance on the São Jorge Castle website, as this allows you to skip the ticket booth and go straight to the turnstile entrance. I do recommend getting there earlier in the day. We arrived around 10am and just walked in, but by the time we left around noon there was a long line down the street. 

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the castle walls is the view. As the peak of Lisbon’s highest hill, you’ll get a magnificent panorama of the city below you and beyond. This hilltop has an incredible history as it’s the most fortifiable point, and artifacts have been found dating back to Lisbon’s first settlers around the 8th century BC. There’s a great little museum showcasing some of these artifacts and it’s well worth a stop in. 

Wandering past the roaming white speckled peacocks towards the main castle keep, and you’ll find numerous staircases and pathways along the castle walls, offering endless opportunities to take in the views and appreciate the scale of the structure. 

On your way back down to the valley, you’ll find the Lisbon Cathedral. There’s no need to buy tickets in advance, you just walk in and pay at the ticket desk. If you’d just like to see the main nave, you can do this for free by walking to the left of the ticket desk, though you won’t get very far and you’ll be missing out on the full experience including the amazing church treasures in the museum upstairs and the opportunity to walk the full corridor and see the individual chapels and stained glass windows.

If you walk through the city towards Mercado da Ribeira, you’ll find a massive indoor market with produce stalls and the Time Out Market inside. Well worth the chaos of finding a place to sit, there are more restaurant stands than initially appears. Be sure to go down the alley on the right side of the market to make sure you see all the options available. 

Depending on your route, you may pass the Elevador da Bica, the iconic yellow tram that brings tourists up one of the steeper hills. Walking north, you’ll find the second of my pastel de nata recommendations, the small chain of Mateigaria (there’s also a stand in the Time Out Market). Also excellent, these were most of my group’s favourite of the trip. Conveniently if you’re vegan or have dairy or egg allergies, there’s also Vegan Natas around the corner. 

Heading back towards Aflama, along the way you’ll find the Elevador de Santa Justa, connecting the city street to Carmo Square above. It’s a bit pricy, cash-only, and has a long line to gain access. If you’re up for it, there’s a much better way to get the same views for free by going along the street, through the archway, and up some stairs to reach the square. See the beautiful Carmo Convent ruins, destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, and make your way towards the Elevador from the top and admire the view back across the city, looking up at the castle on the hill.

Walking towards the riverfront along Rua Augusta, you’ll reach the Arco da Rua Augusta and the Praça do Comércio square. Lined with pastel yellow buildings and the river, there’s also a lovely walk you can take along the riverside, offering perfect views of the sunset behind the bridge.

Day Two: Discover Belém

As a preface, I recommend purchasing a Lisboa Card for this day if you plan on doing both the Jerónimo’s Monastery and Belém Tower, as this will allow you to skip the ticket lines and save a couple euro. 

Be advised that a Lisboa Card will only allow you to skip the ticket line, not the entry line, and the church doesn’t require a ticket. The entry line was very long, even in February! But it does move quickly. If you haven’t pre-purchased a ticket to the monastery, you’ll need to visit the ticket office before joining the entry line. You’ll see big signs on your way from where the bus or tram drops you off. 

The Jerónimos Monastery, a National Monument and UNESCO World Heritage site,  is a magnificent example of 16th century architecture and the detail is beautiful. You’ll follow a well-signposted path through the cloister and chapels.

Once you’ve completed your monastery journey, walk to Pastéis de Belém, the claimed inventor of pastel de nata, or pastel de Belém as they are referred to at this bakery. Legend goes that the pastry has its origins at the Jerónimos Monastery itself, after Portugal’s monasteries closed in 1834. An enterprising former monk began offering these sweet, flaky pastries for sale at the sugar refinery shop next door. The current bakery Pastéis de Belém was founded a few years later in 1837 following the secret recipe of the monastery, and remains unchanged. Deemed well worth the journey to Belém by tourists for nearly 200 years, I wholeheartedly agree.

Once full of sweet pastries, walk towards the water and admire the Monument to the Discoverers. A more recent addition, this enormous statue was built in 1940 for the world expo.  Take a stroll along the Tagus towards the sea and Belém Tower. The tower itself was unfortunately closed on our visit due to safety concerns over an impending storm so I can’t attest to the interior, however even just walking around the structure is well worth the time. 

Another UNESCO World Heritage site, Belém Tower was built in 1514 to defend the newly bustling trade hub of Lisbon against enemy ships, and stood as a monument to Portugal’s maritime and colonial power. Spy the rhino amongst the base turrets’ various beasts. This is considered to be the first sculpture of a rhino in Western European Art, and is thought to depict the rhinoceros sent to Pope Leo X by Manuel I in 1515.

On your way back to the city, stop off at the LX Factory and explore the funky shops and restaurants in this former industrial complex. If you’re looking for a unique local souvenir of your trip, this is the place to find it. 

Day Three: Climb Sintra

The general advise I saw when researching for my trip was to get to Sintra, and specifically Pena Palace, as early as possible, and I concur. There will be queues, and the earlier you are the less you’ll be standing in them. 

The trains, while comfortable and relatively frequent, aren’t as reliable as you might wish. On our journey the actual train times and those listed online were quite different, and our train was shorted a few stops away from Sintra and we had to wait for the next one to come through. I advise giving yourself extra time to get there.

Our original plan was to walk from the train station up to Pena Palace. While entirely doable, this will take you much longer than Google Maps suggests – these scenic hills are steep! If you choose this route, be sure to wear appropriate footwear and be confident in your fitness ability, as there aren’t many opportunities to change your mind once you begin the hike. 

As we were later arriving than expected due to the train short, we opted to take one of the many taxis waiting right by the station. Don’t be fooled into joining the long queue for the tour bus that goes to all the sites – this is a 14 euro per person ticket, whereas a full 5-person taxi will only set you back 10-13 euro total. 

Another factor to build into your timing schedule, is that your taxi-drop off is at the Pena Palace gates, not the entry to the Pena Palace itself. Once you’ve queued for entry to the palace park at the gates, it’s another 15-30min walk to your timed-entry palace entry. These timed entry slots are strictly adhered to. You’ll see a line forming ahead of your timed entry slot, and once the sign by the entrance is switched to the next time slot, you’ll no longer be permitted entry – we saw several groups turned away. I highly recommend purchasing your Sintra tickets well ahead of time. Direct purchases on the Sintra Parks website will also give you a discount if you are looking to visit multiple sites. 

Once you’ve completed your tour of the palace interior, the cafe is located right at the exit and is very reasonably priced. There’s also a restaurant downstairs from the cafe. Make sure you don’t miss the wall walk and views from the terrace through the archways. These sections of the palace are also accessible with the gardens-only ticket, so if you aren’t interested in seeing the interior of the palace then you can save some money there and still explore the outdoor sections of the palace. 

The gardens are beautifully landscaped and well worth exploring. We opted for the route to the lakes in the valley, which were lovely. A tip here is if your next stop is the Moorish Castle, go to the very bottom of the lakes and there’s a much quieter exit from the gardens. If you cross the street through the parking lot you’ll find the pathway that will take you directly up to the Moorish Castle avoiding all the roads. It’s a very picturesque trail, with great views of the castle on the hill. 

The Moorish Castle, while much quieter than Pena, is in my opinion even more impressive. It’s a spectacular site and probably my favourite part of the whole trip. There are lots of stairs, but you can explore the entire site and walk along the walls admiring the incredible architecture and skill it took to build on the top of the mountain, while also admiring the amazing views across the valley. 

Depending on how tired you are at this point, and your chosen footwear, you can either take a cab or tuktuk back down, or you can hike down to the town. We opted to hike, as we’d missed the opportunity on the way up, and it was beautiful! Follow the signs for the historic centre and then walk to the train station from there. Be aware that there is a degree of scrambling over rocks and ducking under trees, and many stairs, so make sure everyone in your group is physically up for the task. 

You can take a break in the historic centre for a quick refreshment, and it’s not too far to the train station from there.