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Portugal Trip (March/April 2026)

06 April 2026

My latest family vacation was to Portugal where we visited Lisbon and Porto.

Recommendations

We stayed at the Marriott Lisbon and the Renaissance Lapa in Porto. The Marriott was a good place to stay if you are willing to walk a bit to the metro. The Renaissance was in a good location beside the tram and the rooftop pool was nice.

We managed to walk 56 km in Lisbon and 38 km in Porto. The tracks we took each day are in different colours, which are mentioned in the titles for each day.

Lisbon walking map

Porto walking map

Day 0 (March 24)

Our plane was only slightly delayed coming into Montreal, so we ended up leaving about an hour late. It was a smooth flight.

Day 1 (March 25, black on Lisbon map)

Our flight parked at a remote stand and we were bussed into the terminal. Once in the terminal we waited for more than an hour in the immigration line since the kiosks were not working and with a child we couldn’t use the e-gates. However, after we got through immigration, the trip to the hotel was quick, and we had a nap.

We walked from our hotel to the centre and stopped for sandwiches, beers and natas along the way. We met up with Doris’s sister and walked further. Eventually, we stopped for dinner at Cascais Remo (Praça da Alegria 13, 1250-117 Lisboa, Portugal - cash only) which was delicious.

Day 2 (March 26, green on Lisbon map)

After a good night’s rest, we took a Uber to meet Doris’s sister for breakfast at a random cafe. We took the metro down to the centre and explored until it was time for lunch at Cervejaria Ramiro (Av. Alm. Reis 1 H, 1150-007 Lisboa, Portugal). It was a tasty lunch of seafood.

We then took a bus down to the river and walked up through Alfama before stopping for happy hour to get out of the sun for a bit. Afterward, we took the historic tram 28 to the end of the line at Campo de Ourique where we found a playground for Fernanda. We walked the neighbourhood, visited a market and continued our walk. For dinner, we ended up at A Valenciana (Rua Marquês de Fronteira 157 163A, 1070-294 Lisboa, Portugal) and it was an excellent meal with fast friendly service and wonderful chicken.

Day 3 (March 27, orange on Lisbon map)

This morning started with us walking the other way from our hotel to a small neighbourhood above the zoo. We ate eggs for breakfast at Cantinho da Avó (Calçada de Palma de Baixo 37, 1600-275 Lisboa, Portugal - cash only) then headed off to Belém on the Metro and bus. We got a day transit pass so we could make our way back from Belém slowly. Over there, we ate natas and visited Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Praça do Império 1400-206 Lisboa, Portugal). Tram 15 took us away from this busy area and we got off the tram at a random stop outside a tram yard.

We ate lunch at A Padaria Portuguesa (R. Luís de Camões 3 B, 1300-355 Lisboa, Portugal) before visiting Museu da Carris (R. 1º de Maio 101 103, 1300-472 Lisboa, Portugal - 4.50€/person). This was a neat museum of the Lisbon transit system that includes a ride of a tram in this active yard and examples of all their tram models and several buses.

Inside an artsy/craftsy area called LX Factory, we enjoyed happy hours at Patio (LX Factory, R. Rodrigues de Faria 103, E.0 01, 1300-501 Lisboa, Portugal) and explored the shops. After we got on tram 18 to head to Time Out Market for dinner. The transit day was full as we even got our fares inspected on this tram.

At Time Out Market, we each ate from different restaurants and randomly spoke with the people sitting beside us since two of us had on t-shirts that said “Newfoundland”. The day was complete with more wandering through this part of the city and the metro back to our hotel.

Day 4 (March 28, purple on Lisbon map)

Saturday was a busy day that started with breakfast at a small shop near the hotel for bifana sandwiches at Tosca do Fonseca (R. Direita de Palma 11, 1600-081 Lisboa - cash only). We then took a bus to Rato, using the last few hours of yesterday’s transit passes, for a wander and to eat pastries and gelato.

We found two different playgrounds before lunch at Sol e Pesca (R. Nova do Carvalho 44, 1200-019 Lisboa). The tinned fish options at this place are extensive and the staff are friendly and helpful. We wandered around most of the afternoon through various neighbourhoods.

Finally, the time came for our tuk tuk tour that Fernanda really wanted to do. Our driver was friendly and took us up to Castello de São Jorge. On the way down, we passed the place we’d have dinner. It was BREW Chiado (R. Nova do Almada 14, 1200-289 Lisboa) where they had a good selection of craft beers from all over (including one from Quebec City) and pizza. I did have one very strange tomato sour beer that was only really ok with a side of pizza.

Day 5 (March 29, black on Porto map)

On Sunday, we lost another hour to daylight savings time before getting up early to catch the train to Porto. We had delicious Brazilian snacks for breakfast in the station. We watched the pickpockets congregate on the platform while waiting for the train and then we were off.

It was easy to get to our hotel from the train station by hopping on any tram. After putting our laundry on near the hotel, we had lunch at Bake Coffee (R. da Constituição 1365, 4200-196 Porto). Then picked up our dry laundry before a Sunday afternoon walk in Porto’s centre. We braved the outdoor rooftop pool at the hotel, which was colder than we expected for a “heated pool”. Finally, for dinner we went to Tábua Rasa (Rua da Picaria 68, 4050-477 Porto), which had a good tasting menu and was quite a lot of food.

Day 6 (March 30, green on Porto map)

Before breakfast, we got on the tram to João de deus to start our day on the south side of the river. We ate breakfast in the food court of El Corte Inglés along with fruit from its supermarket. We then wandered around the neighbourhood and found ourselves at World of Wine and walked along the river for a bit. After trekking up hills and stairs, we sat in Jardim do Morro for a rest then crossed the iron bridge (Ponte Luís I).

Our lunch was excellent at Barrette Encarnado (Tv. da Bainharia, 4050-085 Porto) and the service was so friendly even though we snuck in as the last lunch customers. At Peninsular (Concelho PT, R. de Mouzinho da Silveira 67 71, 4050-420 Porto), we picked up some neat postcards, filled them in and got to the post office for stamps just before closing time.

We found a bench along the river and hung out there until sunset, which was beautiful. To end the day, we walked along the boardwalk and back up and up and up to the hotel.

Day 7 (March 31, orange on Porto map)

We had breakfast in our hotel room then got an Uber to Capela do Senhor da Pedra (Alameda do Sr. da Pedra, 4410 Vila Nova de Gaia). It was a beautiful sunny day, so we walked along the beach and boardwalk. At a certain point, it suddenly got cool and we stopped at Restaurante Estalaçido (Av. Infante Sagres 781, 4405-565 Valadares).

After lunch, we took an Uber to Jardins do Palacio del Cristal (R. de D Manuel II, 4050-346 Porto) where we again walked around park to see roosters, ducks and peacocks. In the park, there are also the Galeria municipal de Porto and Biblioteca municipal Almeida Garrett. These were both very nice places to visit, and we read a few kids books in Portuguese.

Another wander to the centre of Porto, and a much warmer swim at our hotel before a choose your own adventure dinner at Mercado Bom Successo (Praça do Bom Sucesso 74-90, 4150-145 Porto) where I opted for Okonomiyaki fried rice.

Day 8 (April 1, pink on both maps)

Wednesday morning, we finished getting organized and headed to the train station on the tram. We were early, so we stopped for breakfast at Cafeteria Golden Ice (R. do Freixo 1754, 4300-215 Porto). The woman behind the counter seemed to really be enjoying her job and chatting with random people coming in, which was nice compared to the other cafe that we considered stopping at. After taking a long detour loop to get back to the station, we got on the train back to Lisbon.

In Lisbon, we had a filling lunch at Páteo Restaurante (Edifício Adamastor, Av. Dom João II 11B, 1990-077 Lisboa) and went to check in again at the Marriott. We walked and shopped our way to the centre where we ended up picking a random small cafe for dinner because it was not tourist priced. It was Crossroad10 (R. do Crucifixo 10, 1100-183 Lisboa) and the cooks, who also served, were friendly and the food was good.

Day 9 (April 2, red on Lisbon map)

Our last full day in Portugal. We found Restaurante Snack Bar mourense (Calçada de Palma de Baixo, 1600-275 Lisboa - cash only) close to the hotel and it is too bad that we didn’t find it earlier because it was exactly the breakfast we were looking for.

We took the metro to the river front to see Praça do commercio, followed by a walk up to Graça. We had a bakery lunch at Milorde (Rua da Graça 62, 1170-270 Lisboa - cash only) with table service in the park across the street. Our afternoon continued, with more walks in parks, resting and drawing in a park and dinner at Restaurante Sangiovese (R. Dr. António Cândido 14, 1050-076 Lisboa). The restaurant was quite good with friendly service and good dessert.

Day 10 (April 3, no map)

Straight to the airport in the morning. Everything was smooth (bag drop, security and emigration). The flight seemed long, but the trop home on the 747 bus was fast.