How to Spend Saturday in Lisbon like the Portuguese

How to Spend Saturday in Lisbon like the Portuguese

In Portugal, there are a lot of things to do and Lisbon is not an exception. Families and groups of friends like to spend their free time enjoying activities out of the house.  Portugal has a good temperature all year long and because of that, we enjoy spending our time outside. From a simple walk, ride a bike or even a car trip, we are always opened to do anything.

Here’s a map with the itinerary to help you navigate your Saturday!

Map of the itinerary

Morning

Wake up in the morning and you don’t want to trouble about making a good breakfast for your family? No problem! Nicolau can take good care of you. Nicolau is a coffee shop in Lisbon which is known for its delicious breakfasts and for the relaxing environment it has. Nicolau has the “brunch at any time of the day” concept which attracts most of the people there.

The suggestions of Nicolau for you to eat are “Pancake Nicolau for the more greedy ones”, “Green Juice of Nicolau to give a boost to your day” and “Açaí with a wonderful granola without sugar but plenty of flavour”.

Just like Nicolau exists in Baixa, there’s also Amélia, another coffee shop in Campo de Ourique.

Opening times: 8:30-20:00 everyday

Address: Rua de São Nicolau, 17, Baixa, Lisboa

Metro station: Baixa-Chiado

Prices: for the suggestions I made, the prices are between 4€ and 6,90€

After breakfast, my advice is to go to the zoo. There we learn about the most varied species that exist around the world. The zoo in Portugal was founded in 1884, and its mission is to develop and promote a zoological and botanical park in order to maintain the endangered species.

At the zoo, there are many things to do like watch the dolphin show or travelling by cable car to watch the whole zoo. You can spend a whole day having fun at the zoo because there are many animals to observe and many things to learn!

Zoological Garden Lisbon- by Pedro Ribeiro Simões – by Wikimedia commons

Tickets: 22€ per adult

Website: https://www.zoo.pt/pt/

Metro station: Jardim zoológico

With a good morning filled with good and healthy food and spent with the different animals at the zoo, it’s time for lunch!

Midday

As you already may have an idea, Portugal has a special taste for food. There are some various typical Portuguese dishes that you should try. Cozido à Portuguesa, Francesinha, Feijoada, Bacalhau à Braz, Polvo à Lagareiro, Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato, and many more. And I didn’t even talk about the Portuguese sweets! Pão de Ló, Salame, Pastel de Nata, Torta de Azeitão, Queijadinha, Ovos moles,… In Portugal, you’ll find pastries in every single road because we are used to going there and drink a coffee along with a sweet.

Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato by Ricardo – by Wikimedia commons

Mercado da Ribeira is the perfect place for you to try out most of the Portuguese specialities. My advice is for you to go to Croquetaria. Croquetaria makes the most varied croquettes.

There are many flavours! The traditional beef and pork, Game sausage and rapini, Chicken curry, Goat cheese with caramelized red onion, Tuna with dried tomatoes, Cuttlefish with ink, Codfish with chorizo. If you haven’t noticed, these croquettes have the most traditional Portuguese foods. The chorizo and the codfish are two of them.

For the meat lovers to the vegetarians, this little restaurant has the most varied and flavoured croquettes.

Price: 1 croquette is 1,60€

Metro station: Cais do Sodré

There are many restaurants at Mercado da Ribeira which you can experiment: from fishburgers to sushi and different kinds of meat dishes here you’ll find.

Mercado da Ribeira by Anual by Wikimedia commons

Since you’re at Cais do Sodré, after lunch, my advice is for you to go cycling! There are many bike stores but also the Lisbon city hall has spread throughout the city many bikes. You can rent these bikes for a day, a month or even a year! You can choose between the conventional or the electrical bikes.

In downtown Lisbon is really easy to ride a bike because the land is flat, near the river. Ride and enjoy the breeze of the river!

Evening

With the day filled with great activities and a smile on your face, there’s just missing the evening.

Depending on the musical taste of each person, I’d advice different things.

1. Go to Bairro Alto and hang around some of the bars…

It’s a fun place to be because you’ll find diversity and the most original people there.

2. Go to a live music bar, like a jazz bar…

Hot Club de Portugal is the oldest jazz club in Europe. In only one night at the bar, you can discover plenty of jazz artists and enjoy your time.

People like Salvador Sobral gave a concert at the Hot Club de Portugal some time ago. Salvador Sobral became an important image of the country because he won the European song contest in 2017. He has a sister who’s also a Portuguese singer and also sings in the jazz genre. Both are cherished for the Portuguese, also because they are the few who represent this genre in our country.

Opening times: Tuesdays – Saturdays 10 p.m. – 2 a.m

Price: approximately 10€ per person

Address: Praça da Alegria 48, 1250-004 Lisboa

Transports: take the metro to Avenida

Portugal has more well-known singers and bands in the pop and rock genres. Rui Veloso, Jorge Palma, Miguel Araújo, António Zambujo are some of the singers. The Gift, Amor Electro, Xutos e Pontapés are some examples of the best bands in Portugal. They perform on some fairs throughout the country and on the biggest showrooms. If you prefer a concert than a live music bar, you can always check out their concerts at the Ticketline site.