Travel Guide to Lisbon and near places

[João Rico]

Hi all,

I am just write over here the places you cant miss when visiting Lisbon and some cities near the Capital. Since i can't put all at once, i will increment, by theme, new replies and make this "Travel Guide" more complete.
For those who are willing to drive, with GPS, i will try to post coordinates of every place.

Places to visit, when staying in Lisbon for more than one day.

Lisbon
Óbidos
Sintra
Cascais
Peniche

[João Rico]

Cultural


Museums, Castles, Monasteries, etc (Lisbon)

Museu Nacional do Coches (http://www.ipmuseus.pt/en/museus/M24396/TA.aspx) ( 38°41'51.04"N, 9°11'57.72"W)

Museu Nacional do Traje (http://www.ipmuseus.pt/en/museus/M24394/TA.aspx)

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery) (38°41'49.43"N, 9°12'25.27"W)

Panteão Nacional (Where Portuguese Kings and Artists like Fado Queen Amália Rodrigues, rest in peace) ( 38°42'52.95"N, 9° 7'31.08"W)

Castelo de São Jorge (http://www.castelosaojorge.egeac.pt/des ... 0&tabid=34)

Museums, Castles, Monasteries, etc (Sintra)

Palácio da Pena (http://www.ippar.pt/english/monumentos/ ... _pena.html) ( 38°47'13.46"N, 9°23'25.15"W)

Palácio Monserrate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monserrate_Palace)

Museums, Castles, Monasteries, etc (Óbidos)

Castelo de Óbidos

Museums, Castles, Monasteries, etc (Palmela)

Castelo de Palmela
BTT in the National Ecologial Reserve (Pinhal Novo - Palmela)
Wal in the historical centre of Palmela's town

[João Rico]

Fado Houses (Lisbon)

Guitarra da Bica (Address: Calçada da Bica, 13) (Fado: 20h-24h)

Arcadas do Faia (Address: Rua Barroca, 54/56)

Parreirinha de Alfama (Address: Beco Espírito Santo, 1)

Severa (Address: Rua Gáveas, 51)

Velho Páteo de Santana (Address: R. D. Almeida Amaral, 6)

Sr. Vinho (Address: R. Meio Lapa, 18) (Great Cellar)

Timpanas (Address: R. Gilberto Rola, 24)

[Roy Hersh]

What ... no Palmela?

My sincere thanks Joao. We have a honeymoon couple coming on our tour during harvest and I told them that you would be someone to seek out for this type of information. Thank you so much for doing this, it is a fantastic service and we at sincerely thank you.

Melhores cumprimentos e muito obrigado!

Um abraco,

Roy

[João Rico]

Roy,

This was triggered by Shannon who sent me a PM.
No need to thank. This is all my pleasure.


Abraço,

João Rico

[João Rico]

Restaurants, Winebars, etc (Lisboa)

Bocca (http://www.bocca.pt/) (Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca, 87D)
This is a brand new restaurant. Great design, great food and wine service.

Sessenta (http://www.sessenta.pt) (Rua Tomás Ribeiro, 60)
Just opened last week. Nice design, not expensive. Good wine service and great food.

O Jacinto (Avenida Ventura Terra, 2)
Nice food, Nice wine service.

Salsa e Coentros (R. Coronel Marques Leitão 12)

Solar dos Presuntos (Rua das Portas de Stº Antão, 150)


Top Restaurants (Some quite expensive, but we are talking about state of the art food and wine service)

Terreiro do Paço (http://www.terreiropaco.com/eng/index_eng.html)
Gemelli (http://www.augustogemelli.com/)
Eleven (http://www.restauranteleven.com/)
Restaurante XL (Calçada da Estrela, 57)

Winebars

Aromas & Sabores Wine Bar (Rua Tomás de Anunciação 44)
Nectar Winebar (Rua dos Douradores, 33)
Solar do Vinho do Porto (Port Wine House) (Rua de S. Pedro de Alcântara, 45)

[João Rico]

Wine Shops (Lisbon)

Garrafeira Nacional (http://www.garrafeiranacional.com) (Rua de Santa Justa, 18)
Garrafeira Campo de Ourique (Rua Tomás da Anunciação nº29 A)
Wine O'Clock (http://www.wineoclock.com.pt)
Garrafeira Lacasta (http://www.lacasta.pt) (Estrada da Luz 148 C)
Adivinho (http://www.adivinho.com) (Travessa do Almada, nº 24)
Delidelux (http://www.delidelux.pt) (Av. Infante D. Henrique Armazém B Loja 8)
Coisas do Arco do Vinho (http://www.coisasdoarcodovinho.pt)(Rua Bartolomeu Dias, lojas 7/8)

[João Rico]

Landscapes, Quality of Life, fresh air and beaches

Peniche

This is a small city that is surrounded by the ocean. Beautiful beaches, great seafood and shellfish.
This town is unique as it has an island called Berlegas, where everybody wants to go to spend a day or more. To go to this island you will have to catch a boat, that will spend 15 to 40 minutes sailing, and go there to spend the day on the small beach, snorkeling or walking through the island.

Some photos here http://berlengas.no.sapo.pt/

Spending a day in peniche, in the beaches or just walking in the city can be great too.

Where to eat?

Tasca do Joel
Probably the best restaurante in the Region. Great food, Nice wine prices, huge wine list and a Gourmet/Wine shop.

Restaurante Nau dos Corvos
Just reopened last week, and its probably the restaurant with the best view ib Portugal. You can see the sea and the island Berlengas. Beautiful.

Restaurante as Estelas

Restaurante o Popular

From Lisbon you will have to catch a bus that will take about 1.30h to get there, from Lisbon.
BTW this is my home town. But trust me, you will love it.

[João Rico]

Óbidos

Really near Peniche, this just a beautiful town. Thae town itself is surrounded by castle walls. You can visit the castle, and walk trough small streets.
You can see all about turism in this town, in http://www.obidos.pt/
To go to Óbidos you'll need to catch a bus that will take about 1.30h on the road.

[Eric Ifune]

Joao,
Thank you for all the interesting and useful information.

[*podvodnic]

This is fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to do this. I know we'll put it all to use very soon!

Shannon

[Roy Hersh]

Shannon,

Why don't you and Dan meet up with Joao for a lunch or dinner while in Lisbon? I find that some of the greatest experiences I ever have when visiting other countries is discovering some commonality with the people I meet there. Just a suggestion.

[João Rico]

Wineries near Lisbon

Estremadura
Quinta do Monte D'Oiro (Freixiais de Cima - Alenquer) (http://www.quintadomontedoiro.com/)
Probably one of the best wines in the Region. Everything here is done with passion by a great man, Engº José Bento dos Santos. A Gourmet man that has a vision for his wines. Mandatory visit

Quinta de Chocapalha (Aldeia Galega da Merceana) (http://www.wonderfulland.com/chocapalha/)
This winery is owned by the parents of the well known winemaker Sandra Tavares Silva (Pintas, Vale Dona Maria) so these wine are made by her with the help of her husband, Jorge Borges (Pintas, Passadouro, Fojo, Maritavora and PV). These are great wines that are in the best wines of the Region.

Quinta dos Loridos (Bombarral)
Quinta de Pancas (Alenquer) (http://www.quintadepancas.pt)
Quinta das Cerejeiras e Sanguinhal (Bombarral) (http://www.vinhos-sanguinhal.pt/)

See here for more information http://www.rt-oeste.pt/. Choose english in simbol and go in Wine Route

Terras do Sado, Palmela e Moscatel de Setúbal

José Maria da Fonseca (Vila Nova de Azeitão) (http://www.jmf.pt)
This is the most well known winery in teh Moscatel Region. Made the Periquita, the Lancers and the most ancient and best of the Moscateis de Setubal. Mandatory Visit.

Quinta da Bacalhõa (Vila Nova de Azeitão) (http://www.bacalhoa.com)
Probably the second house in name. Great wine like Palacio da Bacalhoa, Quinta da Bacalhoa and some great Moscateis. The visit is worthwhile as outside the Quinta you'll have a lot of Buda statues.

Casa Agricola Horácio Simões (Quinta do Anjo, Palmela)(http://www.horaciosimoes.com)
Ancient family owned house of Moscateis. They have been doing great Moscateis that you'll need to taste. Thay have a small Gourmet with regional stuff and where you can seat and drink some of those marvelous moscateis.

Casa Ermelinda Freitas (Fernando Pó) (http://www.casaermelinda.com)
Family owned house of great still wines and moscatel.

[Andy Velebil]

Joao,

A great list, thanks for doing this.

[Roy Hersh]

This keeps getting better and better!

Obidos is a "do not miss" experience that can be fully enjoyed in one long day.

[Mike K.]

What is the best way to tour Sintra and Cascais when staying in Lisbon?
Organized group tour from Lisbon? Catch a bus? Call an Uber?

Also, are any better/worse days of the week to visit, as far as things being open/closed and crowds?

Thanks!

[Eric Menchen]

What is the best way to tour Sintra and Cascais when staying in Lisbon?
Organized group tour from Lisbon? Catch a bus? Call an Uber?
Also, are any better/worse days of the week to visit, as far as things being open/closed and crowds?

I was briefly in Sintra and Cascais last summer, and again in Sintra this December for several days. On the recent trip, we had a car, drove there, and stayed two nights. If you really want to see things and explore (and really compose pictures), I would recommend more than just a day trip. A day trip is still worthwhile, but things like the Palácio da Pena and Quinta da Regaleira can be explored for hours, and there are a few other things to see as well besides just those.

Getting there and around: Sintra is crowded all the time. Even in the low season, parking is difficult. Traffic can be heavy. So having a car isn't ideal. On the flip side, all the sights are not close together. From the main part of town you can walk to Quinta da Regaleira and the National Palace, but the Castelo dos Mouros and Palácio da Pena are far up the hill, and the Palacio de Monserrate is far away on the other side of the hill. You aren't going to walk to all of those. You can take tuk tuk taxis, and I might consider that option next time. I have friends that live in Colares and have done that on occasion. I took an Uber into Sintra once, but can't comment on how plentiful they are. As for just getting there, an option you didn't mention was the train. The Sintra train station isn't too far from the center of town. Sorry, I don't have a perfect answer because I don't think there is a perfect answer. Next time I might take the train there and taxi around. I like more time than a packaged tour bus, but that certainly is better from the transportation perspective since the bus can go right to the sights and drop you off.

As for seasonal timing, I would try to avoid the summer. Winter is much better for avoiding crowds. My friends that live close like to visit in February and other colder months (which are still warmer than Colorado and Boston at that time).

As for daily timing, I don't think it makes much difference. The main sites are open every day. A few restaurants close one day a week, but there are still plenty that are open. There might be a few more tourists on the weekend, but at the big sites, most of the tourists are international, so weekend isn't so much of a factor. Dinner reservations are probably advised. We couldn't get into a number of places the first night we rolled into town, but were able to make a reservation for the next night at one of those places that was fully booked.

[Eric Menchen]

p.s. Don't buy your Port here Sintra, where the prices were 3x - 10x what I would hope to pay.

IMG_20181229_100036_small.jpg (126.09 KiB) Viewed 1251 times

[Mike K.]

I was briefly in Sintra and Cascais last summer, and again in Sintra this December for several days. On the recent trip, we had a car, drove there, and stayed two nights. If you really want to see things and explore (and really compose pictures), I would recommend more than just a day trip. A day trip is still worthwhile ....

Thanks Eric! I appreciate all your thoughts and ideas.

I stumbled across the following article that recommended:
1) Take the train, but buy your tickets the day before so you aren’t waiting in the ticket line the morning of the trip
2) To avoid waiting in long lines for the local buses and be free to go where you want, rent a small two person electric car at the train station from the folks at the second link.
This looks to be a great option for a day (or multiple day) trip.

https://www.jetsetandforget.com/sintra-portugal/

http://www.go2cintra.com/booking

[Eric Menchen]

I can't really comment on the electric car thing. But I can see the wisdom in #1 if you are trying to travel at a busy time. On a different trip when I wanted to take a train from Lisbon to Carcavelos, there was a huge crowd trying to get tickets. Some of the machines weren't working as I recall. And I think I ended up taking the next train 20 or 30 minutes later as a result. I've bought tickets immediately before travel many other times without issue.