I’ve dreamt of visiting Portugal for a long time now. This past summer I begged TD for a beach vacation where we can have fresh yet affordable seafood. We are currently posted to beautiful Switzerland, but we only have lakes here and for an island girl, it’s just not the same without the salty sea. So for my birthday we treated ourselves to a vacation in Portugal. Thankfully the school allowed DiploBaby to be absent for 3 days. This is what we did during our 5 days 4 nights in Portugal.

Feel free to click any of the links in bold below to see my personal review and pictures of the place. If you are coming from anywhere else but Switzerland, feel free to ignore the shopping places. It’s so pricey in Switzerland that we tend to shop when we are in any other country to save.

ARRIVAL

We arrived in Lisbon on a Saturday (DAY 1) but we stayed in Cascais to be by the sea. It’s was only 35mins via Uber for only 20 Euros.

Humberto Delgado Airport Click for tips on where to grab your Uber + how to make sure you don’t miss your departure flight in this airport.

ONE DAY IN LISBON

We decided to spend our second day, Sunday afternoon & evening, in Lisbon because we were watching Cristiano Ronaldo play a football match in Estádio do Benfica. We were happy to find that shops are open even on Sundays. We used Uber to maximize our day. Remember Lisbon is super steep so if you have mobility issues, limited time or don’t want to get too tired, use Uber or their famous trams.

Adidas Originals We arrived a little early for our lunch reservations so we ducked into this interesting lifestyle store. Great for fans of Adidas classics.
Pinóquio Justifiably recommended by a diplofriend based in Lisbon. Highly recommended for seafood. Reservations a must!

After lunch we walked passed Monumento dos Resauradores & Rossio Train Station towards Praça Dom Pedro IV which is a beautiful square with gorg fountains across the shopping/tourist area:

Força Portugal a must visit for football & Cristiano fans. They sell signed Ronaldo gold footballs!
Sketchers where I finally found the most comfortable gold sneakers
Café Nicola est. 1787 where we had traditional dessert and a bathroom break.

We were in search of Nike & also wanted to see the famous elevator, so we walked through the beautiful R. do Carmo where we saw a closed Muji & the stunning Santa Justa Lift featured in Somebody Feed Phil which takes you to a lookout with an amazing view of Lisbon.

All the walking on the gorgeous cobblestones made us hungry so we started walking towards the Time Out Market which is a currated place for all the best food that Portugal has to offer in one roof. On the way we passed by their iconic trams & an amazing busker by the Statue of António Ribeiro. Listen to that sound!

Time Out Market click to see the massive market hall & what to look out for. What we had:
Gelato Davvero real gelato & one of the best I’ve ever had!
Manteigaria Fábrica de Pastéis de Nata these Portuguese egg tarts are good. The line is sometimes long but if you eat something else it can also be short. INSERT PIC!

We then took an Uber and passed the beautiful engineering marvel that is the 25 April Bridge, which has similarities to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge because they had the same contractors. We also passed by the stunning Monument to the Discoveries but ran out of time to walk around it.

Belém Tower Iconic and a must see in Lisbon. We loved just walking around it & enjoying the breeze & sun.

We then took another Uber to Colombo Shopping Centre thinking if we should eat dinner before the game. We were not too hungry so we ended up shopping instead.

Colombo Shopping Centre A good place to eat before/after a game at Estádio do Benfica
- Chili Beans Glasses are so expensive in Switzerland so we got nice frames here.
- ECCO shoes most comfy shoes for wide feet & stylish too.
- KFC We left the game a little early to have dinner in KFC without a line. A guilty pleasure at half the price of KFC in Switzerland.
Estádio do Benfica at 8:30pm we watching Cristiano Ronaldo live! Portugal vs Scotland. Unforgettable!!!

I wasn’t able to go to some places myself, but TD was able to get stuf before we left:

Pastéis de Belém Click this Reel that I made or see my Google Review for photos. They are the makers of the original Portuguese egg tarts that are not copied all over the world. Hubs used Uber Eats to have it delivered because he had not time to go himself.
Conserveira de Lisboa the almost 100 years old seafood canning shop that was featured on Somebody Feed Phil. A must for canned sardine lovers like me but has so much more!

LISBON GOOGLE MAPS FOLDER for your convenience

SEASIDE CASCAIS

We spent the rest of our days just enjoying being by the sea in Cascais. Where we stayed was the perfect location, but there were a lot of imperfections in the hotel itself. It was nice to walk to every place below.

Everything in Cascais Bay is less than 10mins away

Citadel of Cascais a lively area full of art, food & shops in 500year old fortress by the sea
Pestana Cidadela Cascais What an honor to stay in a hotel inside the fortress. Unforgettable location but read review to know what to expect.
Citadel Art District The biggest advantage of staying in the Citadel was to be surrounded by the fabulous art installations & many lovely galleries to explore:
- Allarts Gallery – Decor & Lifestyle my favorite shop in the art district
- Indie not a bookshop even the little one loved this!
- Lu Mourelle Art Galleryfor those who like feminine art
- Gizela N | Artist minimalist art & jewelry
- MAM Jewellery Stories we ran out of time, but I really wanted to visit this store.
Cascais Marina many boats are docked here but also lots of shops & restos
Praia da Ribeira we finally went to the beach!
Baía do Peixe Our favorite seafood restaurant of the trip. It’s affordable & has the best view of the bay! We ate here TWICE!
Santini Gelateria So good that we ate gelati here every single day! Sometimes twice a day LOL!
Chac Mool Taquería Mexicana We love Mexican & this was so good we ate here TWICE!
Cantinho do Avillez An affordable Michelin-listed restaurant (2020 & 2023) of elevated local food. DiploBaby & I had a fab lunch date.
We saw the Farol Museu de Santa Marta from afar. I wish we had time to walk over and visit the museum!