Unsure what area of Lisbon to stay in...

We arrive in Lisbon early afternoon, and only have the rest of that day, and the full next day, to explore before boarding our ship.

Usually, I have had no problem deciding, but I am really having difficulty trying to decide where to stay to make the most of our time.

I am thinking that the first afternoon, we may just walk...and maybe see the sights near Belem, and the 2nd full day, do the HOHO and or explore the main part of the city(Baixa?).

So should we stay near Belem? Near Baixa? Somewhere else? Once I know, I can start looking for hotels!

Many thanks!

Lots of good high end hotels are around Avenida metro on Avenida da Liberdade. I wouldn't stay in Belem (too far out and no good hotels) and Baixa is hilly but great for bar hopping.

Very easy to visit any place in the city on public transit (24hr metro/bus/tram pass is 7 euro). Cheaper and faster than HOHO, Belem is on tram 15, Alfama - tram 28. If you want go to Sintra - 45 min train from Rossio. Also there metro now in LIS airport.

Look at the Avenida Palace. It is centrally located and a charming gem with wonderful service and a delicious breakfast. We have stayed there twice.

I prefer the Alfama district -- it's one of the older districts of Lisbon and very charming, with narrow streets, views overlooking the city and the water, etc. It is up on a hill but transportation via the tram is easy and it's not far from the central area.

I will start researching these 3 areas.

I already know that I wish we had more time there!

We were in Lisbon for the start of a cruise in late May and stayed at the Valverde Hotel on the Avenida da Liberdade. It's a beautiful boutique hotel and has a really nice restaurant, with breakfast included. I highly recommend staying on or near the Avenida da Liberdada. It's so pretty and walkable, with easy access to everything. Here's the link:

http://www.valverdehotel.com/sobre-o-hotel.html

I have two blog posts that might help with planning your time in Lisbon. We spent the first day in Lisbon's three main neighborhoods and the second in Bélem.

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=974

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=1069

Happy Travels!

Mary

Travel Blog: http://www.themodernpostcard.com

If you want to visualise hotels on the map and get prices at the same time use aggregator sites like this one http://goo.gl/NFL2fn and put your own filters. This random example shows 4 and 5* in Rossio neighbourhood for Nov 17-20