It may help to think about how we plan to leave Lisbon, by plane or by train. Planes obviously leave from the airport, which is northeast of the city, located at the end of the red line. The train to Madrid leaves from St. Apalonia station, which is in The Alfama, end of the blue line. Although, you may also be able to catch that train from Oriente, off the red line, near the airport.
Nevertheless, here are a few maps to help orient yourself to Lisbon.
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| City Neighborhoods |
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| Lisbon Metro |
Let's just decide we're not staying in Barrio Alto. I don't know how bad it really is, I'm sure it's not the south side of Chicago, but we can agree to avoid that.
So, aim for Baixa, closer to The Alfama. I think Bairro Alta and The Alfama are located up the hill, while Baixa is in the valley. Both hills are supposedly quite scenic. I have not read things about The Alfama like I've read about Bairro Alta.
Belem is where some of the really historic sites are located. I'm sure it's nice and safe and quiet to stay there, but it's not super close to downtown. You can get there by tram, but not by Metro. It also appears that the commuter train runs right along the bank of the river.
Park of Nations is up near the airport, there could be advantages to staying there if we are popping in and out of Lisbon. However, I don't think there is much restaurant/bar life up that way.
Pombai Square is near the financial district. It's an easy Metro ride from the airport. Eduardo VIII Park is there, which is supposed to be good for jogging. Since it's the financial district, I'm not sure what the night life is like. It may be cheaper than Baixa.
Wanted to help you get familiar with the city so we can discuss hotels/neighborhoods.
I started looking for hotels based on Frommers recommendations. There best bets aren't that great. I'll dig a little deeper.
ReplyDeleteSeems like most hotels are in the city center.
ReplyDeleteI like this one.
http://www.tiara-hotels.com/en/park-atlantic-lisboa
http://www.corinthia.com/en/Lisbon/home/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.neyahotels.com/hotel-overview.html
Sustainable one that's cool. Great rates too.
I would do the sustainable one, out of principle if nothing else. $100/night isn't bad, but no breakfast?
DeleteLocation is fine. Maybe 10 minutes from the Metro station, but we can handle that. I have no problem walking downtown from the hotel. I like walking around the city.
In general, we will have something like 15 nights in hotels, so I think we should aim to stay below $100 night ($1500 total).
I tried to book a room at the Neya Hotel. The online system tells me that those dates are no longer available for online booking. We have to call. But we don't speak Portuguese.
ReplyDeleteMy work travel agent tells me it's $125/night for a room, including breakfast.
Do you want to try calling? Book a different hotel? What do you think?
I can book online through our travel agent for $392. I can try calling, I don't have a problem with it. I'd say we look for a backup as well, just in case.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably the same price I'm getting. That's $133/night, which isn't terrible, but I also feel like we can do better. Might depend how much we value breakfast. If you want to try calling, go for it.
DeleteWe have a few backup options that we found a month ago.
I meant we should confirm the backup options are still backup options.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Novotel is still an option
ReplyDeleteThe Corinthia is running an Autumn special. 78 Euro a night including breakfast.
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty swanky. I'm cool with it. It's a little further from downtown and we need to potentially transfer Metro lines to/from the airport, but that's not a big deal to me.
ReplyDeleteI will miss our sustainable hotel, but I'll live.
$105.38/night including all taxes. Shall I book it?
ReplyDeleteFor $118/night we can get a king sized bed and a kick ass view. But we should probably aim to stay within our $100/night budget.