An insider’s guide to Lisbon, featuring the city’s best hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, attractions and things to do, including how to travel there and around. By Guyan Mitra, Telegraph Travel’s Lisbon expert. Click on the tabs below for the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop, including the best things to do and what to do on a short break.<\/p>\n
For the simple charm and maritime magic of a vintage-era Southern European capital.<\/p>\n
In the summer months, Lisbon swelters under a cerulean blue dome. \u2018A praia\u2019 (to the beach) sings out from the city\u2019s sun-kissed, begonia blossomed streets as surf boards are stacked on top of cars and everyone makes for the beachy \u2018burbs of Cascais and Estoril \u2013\u00a020 minutes drive from the city-centre. The aim being to cool off in the frosty Atlantic, get some sand between their toes, and tuck into the seaside classic of a plate of garlicky ameijoas (clams) washed down with a tumbler of brain-freeze cold lager. Set against the ever-present backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, this dainty sun-kissed city lives in a Latin fairytale of timeworn manners and traditions.<\/p>\n
Just check out the century-old wooden trams and iron funiculars that still lurch and rumble their way among the seven steep hills over which this city lies. Or witness the best of this bygone heritage by wandering through the Baixa district, where age-old herbalists, haberdashers and tailors rub shoulders in the baroque streets of the ornate city centre.<\/p>\n
Meander up one of Lisbon\u2019s loftiest hills to the Moorish Alfama neighbour\u00adhood, where sunset-amber walls and dusty lanes orbit the Arabic-cum-medieval castle that looms, omnipresent, over the terracotta rooftops of the city below. At the imperial Bel\u00e9m waterfront, Portugal\u2019s \u201cAge of Discoveries\u201d is celebrated in the form of a lavish monastery and dazzling river-facing statues, built with the coin of one of the most ostentatious colonial empires in history.<\/p>\n
For Lisboetas (natives of Lisbon) today, excess is largely channelled into nocturnal activities, making the city a libertine\u2019s dream. A night on the (azulejo) tiles always starts in the bar-filled cobbled lanes of boho Bairro Alto. It inevitably peaks to the dawn chorus of Euro house on the sundeck of one of the city\u2019s immense river-facing warehouse clubs. Should sore heads make sightseeing a chore, skip it and laze away the day on the nearby Atlantic-battered beaches. Just 30 minutes drive from the city centre, wild stretches such as Guincho, Adraga and Grande curl out around the surrounding coast, making Lisbon one of the best city\/beach-combo destinations in Europe.<\/p>\n
Rarely too hot or cold, Lisbon is a year-round destination. The first buds of spring usually appear around late February while the last puffs of the Sahara-warmed winds keep the mercury high well into November. Much of the city shuts down in August, when many restaurants and bars close and locals escape the steamy city for the cooler Atlantic shores.<\/p>\n
Essential contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n British Embassy: 00 351 21 392 4000; Rua de S\u00e3o Bernardo 33. Open Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm and 2.30pm-5.30pm The basics<\/strong><\/p>\n Currency: Euro. Local laws and etiquette<\/strong><\/p>\n If driving, you must have a fluorescent bib in the car. It\u2019s to be put on should you break down on a busy road and need to be visible to other motorists \u2013 and it\u2019s a legal requirement.<\/p>\n
\nEmergency services: dial 112
\nLisbon Tourist Office: 00 351 21 031 2819;\u00a0visitlisboa.com<\/a>, Pra\u00e7a do Com\u00e9rcio.<\/p>\n
\nTelephone code: dial 00 351 for Portugal, then 21 for Lisbon, when telephoning from the UK
\nTime difference: None.
\nFlight time: London to Lisbon is just over two hours.<\/p>\n