Your guide will pick you up at your Lisbon hotel to start the tour, setting off for a half-day’s walk around the city’s most interesting districts. En route, you’ll learn about Lisbon’s history, from its establishment as a Phoenician trading hub 3,000 years ago to its time as part of the Roman and Moorish empires. Your exact route depends on your starting point, but will include a visit to the grand riverfront Praça do Comércio. Here, your guide will explain the strategic importance of the settlement at the mouth of the Tagus.
The city has a distinct Moorish aura, despite falling to the Christian Reconquista in the 12th century. As you walk through the streets, you’ll see evidence of this in the hilltop fortress and in the elaborate tilework and stone arches. Although Lisbon blossomed during the Age of Discovery, the city was nearly completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1755.
You’ll stroll through central Baixa, an area completely rebuilt by the Marquês de Pombal after the earthquake, where you’ll find wide boulevards flanked by tile-covered townhouses. You also get a chance to explore fashionable and lively Chiado, where the streets are lined with shops, cafés and museums.
In the Bairro Alto, you’ll get sweeping views of the city and coast, pass through streets full of cafés, bars and restaurants, and get a sense of Lisbon’s diversity and lively atmosphere. En route, you’ll stop at various shops or bars to taste some local Portuguese delicacies and traditional snacks, including the city’s ginjinha cherry liqueur.
Once you’ve had a good overview of the city, your guide will take you back to your hotel or can suggest further areas for you to explore independently.
Please note this tour is designed to be a walking tour, commencing from your hotel. If your hotel is farther out of Lisbon, your guide will meet you there and then arrange for a taxi to take you into the heart of the city to then continue on foot.
Start planning your tailor-made trip by contacting one of our Portugal specialists
These activities are designed to give you the most authentic experiences around where you're staying. We work with local guides, who use their knowledge and often a resident's eye to show you the main sights and more out-of-the-way attractions. Our specialists can suggest tours and activities that will introduce you to the local ways of life.
Arrábida panoramic tasting tour
Explore some of Portugal’s most dramatic coastal scenery on this full-day private tour through the Arrábida region south of Lisbon. En route you’ll get to visit a local winery, coastal cliffs and quaint towns with medieval castles.
Évora and the Alentejo: wine and gourmet tour
Explore the Alentejo, Portugal’s most significant food and wine region, on a full-day private tour. You’ll see Roman remains and medieval streets in historic Évora, sample local wines in a family-run winery, and drive through rolling countryside in-between.
Mafra, Óbidos and Batalha
Get to grips with Portuguese history with the help of a private guide on this full-day tour from Lisbon that takes in the 14th-century Monastery of Batalha, a medieval hilltop village and the flamboyant Palácio Nacional de Mafra.
You can enjoy this activity as part of the suggested tours below, or we can weave it into a trip shaped entirely around you.
