Our highlights were where we stayed, Villa Baixa, our walking food tour with Kika and the dinners we ate each night with seafood and ending with a pastry. Please see our full itinerary with a day by day listing of things to do and places to eat.
Here is more information about where we stayed.
There are five central regions where people generally stay. There are two hills of the older city called Barro Alto on one side and Alfama on the other with a flatter area of city streets called Baixa in the middle. There is a trendy area of shopping and eating called Chiado near Baixa which is in the hilly section as you head towards Barro Alto, also. We stayed in Baixa at a central, lovely clean apartment in a great location, with nice views of the castle out of our balcony at Villa Baixa. Our apartment, 5B was on the fifth floor, so the elevator was a plus. We liked being central, on flat streets with a variety of transportation around and easy to find at night.
Our apartment on the fifth floor of the building had a super view of the castle, Castelo de St Jorge.
From the small balcony we could see down one of the main Baixa streets to the sea and in the other direction to one of the main plazas, Plac du Figueria. Although our cross street was busy (and lead to the well-known Elevator de Santa Justa), the bedroom was not noisy for sleep. The location was excellent with easy access into all of the main tourist areas of the old parts of the city. We also booked airport rides to and from the apartment (in advance), which was very convenient.
In terms of feedback, having a few condiments, such as salt and pepper and also a map of Lisbon in the apartment would have been nice. Also, the woman who checked us in upon our arrival did not provide any information about the apartment. We did not understand how the lights worked with our key card, how to turn on the stove-top, how to open the safe (which was locked closed), and how best to operate the heating units. We arrived tired at night and she left shortly after we arrived. It would have been friendly and helpful to either have information about those special items in the apartment, to walk us to our apartment and tell us about those items or to tell us about them at the front desk upon check-in. But, the cleanliness of our apartment, the openness and light, having a secure front door with a mostly manned front desk and the central location made up for these issues. We would rent this apartment again.
We loved our Baixa/Chaido neighborhood near the Santa Justa Elevator and would recommend it as an area to stay. We would have a lovely early dinner each night and then walk back to our active and lively area along Rua Garrett. There was shopping and pastry shops open until 10 or up to 12 Midnight around us. We would have a pastry or gelato and walk around. It was active near us, but our apartment was quiet for sleep. A perfect combination!
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