Seven Days in Lisbon and Sintra
October 12–19, 2025 · Ben, Marta, Ivy (8), Theo (11)
We landed at six in the morning, which was a mistake we'd been warned about and made anyway. The first day is mostly a blur of a hotel lobby and a bakery near the Praça. By the second morning we had our bearings, and by the fourth we'd stopped consulting the map.
Arrival
Nobody slept. Worth knowing for next time: the overnight saves a day on paper and costs you one in practice.
Walkable to everything. The kids could see the Santa Justa lift from the window and never stopped pointing it out.
Custard tarts at 9am because we'd been awake since 3.
Alfama
Packed, slow, exactly as advertised. Worth doing once, early, and not again.
The view everyone photographs. It earns it.
Garlic shrimp, and then more garlic shrimp. The best thing we ate all week. Theo ate an entire crab by himself and talked about it for the rest of the trip.
Belém
We ate six. There is no defence.
Too loud, too crowded, and everyone was tired. Our own fault for going at seven on a Saturday.
Rain
It rained all day. We played cards in the hotel lobby for four hours and it was somehow one of the best days. Ivy learned gin rummy and immediately beat everyone.
Sintra
Quiet, up a hill, a garden the kids disappeared into.
The colours are genuinely absurd. The walk up nearly finished us — take the bus.
The initiation well. Theo went down it three times. Best single hour of the trip.
What stood out
“Garlic shrimp, and then more garlic shrimp. The best thing we ate all week.”Best meal — Cervejaria Ramiro
“It rained all day. We played cards in the hotel lobby for four hours and it was somehow one of the best days.”Favourite day — the rain day
“The initiation well. Theo went down it three times.”Biggest surprise — Quinta da Regaleira
Lisbon and Sintra
Looking back
The plan had far more in it than we did. We dropped about a third of it and the trip was better for it. Next time: fewer things, later flights, and go back to Ramiro on the first night instead of the second.