For those of you that need to rent a car, here is some info about the dealers you can find at the airport :

Budget

Open from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Phone : +351 210 32 36 05

Europcar

Open from 6:30 a.m to 12 p.m. Open from 12 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. for an extra cost.

Phone : +351 21 8401176  Fax : +351 21 8473180

Guérin

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 848 61 91 Fax : 351 21 019 27 14

Auto Jardim

Phone : +351 21 8462916 Email : lisboadesk@auto-jardim.com

Hertz

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 8438660

Sixt

Open from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Phone : +351 21 8407927 Fax : +351 21 8407923

Avis

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 8435550

First, you can check this hotel prices here.

Location

Novotel Lisboa is an  hotel located in the José Malhoa street, between the Sete Rios area (where you can find the city Zoo) and the Praça de Espanha. This area has a lot of hotels of bank headquarters, and it’s a quite modern part of the city, with high and modern buildings. Still it’s a nice place to stay, with great transportation to get to and from the airport, to Sintra or to Lisbon downtown area.

You can check it’s location on Google Maps.

From and To The Airport

The AeroShuttle has two bus stops at Av. José Malhoa, which is the street where the hotel is located.

Transportation

The hotel has a good access to public transportation. The street where the hotel is located is only served by buses (Carris), but you have a train station close by (Sete Rios) and two subway stations at the each end on the street (Jardim Zoologico and Praça de Espanha). The Sete Rios train station provides direct trains to Sintra, the south margin of the Tagus river or Oriente, from where you can take long course trains to the North of the country.

Getting To…

• Downtown – You can get to downtown using the subway. Take the blue line in Jardim Zoologico or Praça de Espanha, taking the Baixa-Chiado direction and exiting the subway in the station with the same name. If you share my opinion and prefer to avoid subways (sorry but dirty underground walls are not my scene), you can take the 205 bus (Cais do Sodré direction)  and exit on the Rossio square.You have to take that bus on Av. Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, which is a parallel to the José Malhoa one.
• Belém Area – The quickest way should be to take the train in Sete Rios to Alcantara-Terra, and from there take another train to Belém. Using the same line you can also reach Cascais and Estoril.
• Sintra – You have direct trains from the Sete Rios train station.

Surroundings

It’s an office and hotel street, but still with a lot of commerce. Don’t expect to find here souvenirs or postcards, since this is not a tourist district.

On a short walking distance you can find the Twin Tower shopping center, which is not a big place to shop but it’s close by. Also very close, you can find the El Corte Ingles shopping. Close by you also have the Zoo (Sete Rios direction) and the Caloust Gulbenkian museum, one of Lisbon finest art collections (close to Praça de Espanha). On the José Malhoa street you can also find the Mesquita de Lisboa, the principal muslim temple in Lisbon.

This is a safe neighborhood, so security shouldn’t be a problem.

Would I Stay There?

Yes. The only downside of this location is that it is not on the downtown area, which is more touristic and has a more lively nightlife, specially after dinner time. Still, using the bus, subway or even a taxi can take you from a place to the other in less than 20 minutes.

You can check this hotel prices here.

Location

VIP Zurique is a big hotel located in the Entrecampos area. This area is one of the most active parts of the city during the daytime, being the close-by Avenida da Républica and Avenida 5 de Outubro two of most lively streets in town, filled with office and government buildings. This is Lisbon “second downtown” area, providing it with a lot of transportation and a nice sense of safety.

You can check it’s location on Google Maps.

From and To The Airport

The AeroBus bus stops at Av. Da Républica, which is close to the hotel.

Transportation

This is one great location in terms of public transportation. The hotel is close to the Entrecampos train station (too close?), that provides direct trains to Sintra, the south margin of the Tagus river or Oriente, from where you can take long course trains to the North of the country.

There are two main subway stations, Entrecampos (entrance on the train station) and Campo Pequeno. Avenida da Républica is well served with Carris buses.

Getting To…

• Downtown – You can get to downtown using the subway. Take the yellow line to Marques de Pombal and there change to the blue line, taking the Baixa-Chiado direction and exiting the subway in the station with the same name. If you share my opinion and prefer to avoid subways (sorry but dirty underground walls are not my scene), you can take the 745 bus (Est. Sta. Apolonia direction)  and exit on the Rossio square.
• Belém Area – The quickest way should be to take the train to Alcantara-Terra, and from there take another train to Belém. Using the same line you can also reach Cascais and Estoril. If you are a bus guy, take the 727 bus (Restelo direction) and exit on the Belém area.
• Sintra – You have direct trains from the Entrecampos train station.

Surroundings

Being a busy area means that you can find a lot of commerce in this surroundings. Still don’t expect to find here souvenirs or postcards, since this is not a tourist district.

On a short walking distance you can find the Campo Pequeno building, Lisbon bullfighting area and now also a shopping center where you can find shops and fast food restaurants. Close by you also have the Nossa de Senhora de Fátima church and the Caloust Gulbenkian museum, one of Lisbon finest art collections.

As stated before this is a safe neighborhood, so security shouldn’t be a problem.

Would I Stay There?

Yes. The only downside of this location is that it is not on the downtown area, which is more touristic and has a more lively nightlife, specially after dinner time. Still, using the bus, subway or even a taxi can take you from a place to the other in less than 20 minutes.

I made my choice, based on a couple of user reviews, but even tough, I as totally insecure about my decision. What a shot in the dark! I ended up booking a small hotel in a distant Amsterdam suburb. In the end, it was not a bad experience after all, but it could have been. As this is always a risk you travel to a country that you don’t know and of which none of your contacts has an well informed opinion.

So, I’ll start a new topic in this blog, where I will try to produce some hotel reviews, not as if it is seen from the inside, but seeing it from the outside, analyzing it’s location, surroundings and transportation available. So if you are visiting Lisbon and feel like choosing an hotel will be a shot in the dark, search the blog, maybe I’ve talked about it. If I didn’t, well, just leave a comment and I’ll try to make a post of it as soon as it is possible.

One of the easier places to cut your expenses it’s the food. I always try to eat something traditional of the area I’m visiting, but I don’t do it everyday. And since my days are spent in historical neighborhoods, it’s kind of hard to find cheap places to eat. It then that fast-food comes to my mind, as a safe and inexpensive solution.

On this year vacation I found myself in a situation where I had to have dinner and had no idea where could I eat : it was late, and I didn’t want to go around searching for a place to spend my money. I wanted a McDonald’s, and I want it fast. So, to avoid that you have this same problem, I leave you a collection of McDonalds addresses in Lisbon!

• Allegro Alfragide – Ok, this is not really Lisbon, but it’s located in a big shopping mall close to Lisboa Camping, so it may be handy if you are staying there.
  Schedule : Everyday from 10 am to 11 pm.
• Chiado and Rossio – Both are located in the downtown area and are easy to find.
  Chiado : Rua do Carmo, 2
  Rossio : Praca D. Pedro V, 83
  Schedule : Everyday from 10 am to 11 pm (Chiado) and 10 am to 02 am (Rossio).
• Belém – Between Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem Palace, close to the Pasteis de Belem shop.
  Schedule : Everyday from 10 am to 12 pm.
• Colombo, Vasco da Gama and Amoreiras – Located in the shopping malls with the same names.
  Schedule : Everyday from 10 am to 12 pm.
• Airport – If you think that airplane food isn’t lousy enough.
  Schedule : Everyday from 06:30 am to 11 pm.
• Av. Padre Cruz – Good if you are traveling by car, it is open 24h a day.
  Schedule : Everyday, all day.
• Saldanha – In the uptown part of the city, the economic center.
  Av. Republica, 10F
  Schedule : Everyday, from 11 am to 23 pm
• D. Carlos I – Close to the river, in the Santos area.
  Av. D. Carlos I, 17
  Schedule : Everyday from 11am to 12 pm (02 am from thurday to saturday)

• Black – Black follows the same construction form that the color white uses, that I’ve talked about in the previous post, changing it’s form with the gender and with it’s plural. So you can have a “carro preto” (black car, male) or a “camisa preta” (black shirt, female). In the plural form, you just have to add the “s” letter at the end of it. So you can have “carros pretos” (black cars) or camisas pretas (black shirts).
• Red – This can be a tricky one, as there are two distinct words that have the same meaning, but are used more frequently on some parts of the country than on others. So, for red, you can have the word “vermelho” (more used in the south of the country) or the word “encarnado” (more used in the north). Like, with the previous colors it follows the same rules of construction, so you can have the “autocarro vermelho” (red bus, male) or the “luz vermelha” (red light, female). In the plural form we would have the “autocarros vermelhos” (red buses) and the “luzes vermelhas” (red lights). Using the “encarnado” word, we would have the “autocarro encarnado” (red bus, male) and the “luz encarnada” (red light, female).
• Brown – Again the same construction. You can have an “envelope castanho” (brown envelope, male) or “madeira castanha” (brown wood, female). In the plural form we would have “envelopes castanhos” and “madeiras castanhas“.
• Gray – You can have a “chapéu cinzento” (gray hat, male) or a “manhã cinzenta” (gray morning, female) or, in it’s plural form “chapéus cinzentos” and “manhãs cinzentas“.
• Yellow – Since we had to go through some pretty dull colors today, I’ll end up with yellow, to lighten things up and give you the true feeling of the current weather in Lisbon : Sunny, bright and warm. Guess who’s going for a ride on this Sunday afternoon . The yellow colors is said through the word “amarelo“. So you can have a “passaro amarelo” (yellow bird, male) or a “caneta amarela” (yellow pen, female). In the plural form, “passaros amarelos” and “canetas amarelas“.

Although being far away from Algarve, Lisbon also has some nice coastlines in it’s surroundings, where the it’s citizens spend their free time over the summer weekends. In this post I will talk about the closest ones, the Cascais/Estoril and the Costa da Caparica. If, while spending your time in Lisbon, you decided to rent a car and travel a little bit further, you can also try the beaches at the north of Sintra (Ericeira, Santa Cruz, Nazaré) or further down on the south side of the river (Portinho da Arrabida or Troia), than can be more quiet and relaxing.

• The Cascais / Estoril Coastline (Green) - It is the most easy beach area to access to someone traveling from abroad. First, because of the Cascais train line, take starts in Lisbon at Cais do Sodré (close to downtown), goes through Belém area and goes straight to Cascais always close to the ocean. The most known beach on this shore is Carcavelos. On second place it’s easy to get to this beaches, because of the Estoril and Cascais areas, that are worth visiting even if you are not enjoying the beach. I would recomend visiting the various defensive forts that are spread along the coastline, the Estoril Casino, and in Cascais, the sea bay and the Boca do Inferno cliff. The train tickets prices vary, but the ticket from Cais do Sodre to Cascais (the whole line), costs 1.7€ per journey.

• The Costa da Caparica Coastline (Pink) - Costa da Caparica is the ocean shore on the south bank of the Tagus river. The beaches here are clearly better than the ones of the Cascais line : larger and more wild spaces, fewer building in it’s surroundings, specially on the southern beaches. The handicap of this area can be it’s access, as the transportation between Lisbon and the south bank of the Tagus serve mainly it’s working population that lives in cities like Almada, Seixal or Barreiro. Still you can get to Costa using three buses from Transportes Sul do Tejo : the 153, that leaves from Praça de Espanha (Spain Square), the 161, that leaves from Areeiro Square and finally the 186 that leaves from the Universities area.

The bridge construction took place while Portugal was living in it’s fascist regime, and was originally named after the goverment leader, Oliveira Salazar. It’s initially plan also included a train line, but the project has stopped for many years, only being concluded in 1999 and finally Portugal was connect from north to south with a single train line. It was now possible to get to Algarve from the center of Lisbon without changing transportation. The bridge was the fuel that galvanized the growth of the south margin of the river, making one of the greatest suburbs of Lisbon city, where thousands of Lisbon workers live and sleep every day.

In 1974, the fascist regime was overthrown, in the 25th of April. Given the memory of the old regent, the bridge changed it’s name to 25th of April, to celebrate democracy and freedom.

Every year, in March, the bridge is used in the Lisbon Half-Marathon race. The event, starts on the south side of the bridge, it is open to everyone who wants to participate. It’s a great opportunity to cross the bridge of foot and take some great photos of the city. Meanwhile, if you are visiting the city in some other time of the year, you can always take the train back and forth to Pragal (the first stop on the south side) and enjoy the view. The price is something below 2€ for each journey.

While the number of festivals grew, so did the idea of having rock festivals in urban centers like Lisbon or Oporto. Although there are rock festival in Lisbon every year, seldom are the one’s that seem to last for a great period of years, either by a lack of audience in the summer months, lack of sponsorship or simply a bad choice of the space used for the festival. This last point comes mainly because of a city hall law that prohibits concerts after midnight, as a form of respect to the citizens rest (which is kind of silly if you check the noise on Bairro Alto area at 2am).

So, let’s talk about the three major rock festival take seem to be here to stay :

• Super Bock Super Rock
  Of the three festivals, it is clearly the oldest one, and had in 2008 it’s 13th edition. In all of these years Super Bock Super Rock has taken different shapes and happen in different places. It started at Passeio Maritimo de Algés (where Optimus Alive! now takes place) and has switched between a tipical 3 or 4 days of rock festival in Lisbon to single band concerts in Lisbon, Porto and Vigo (Spain) or, like this last edition, has a two day festival in Oporto and another two day festival in Lisbon. In the last four edition it has always taken place in Parque Tejo, in the northern part of the city, close to Parque das Nações and Vasco da Gama Bridge area (outside of Lisbon area, where the midnight law doesn’t apply). The festival is mainly sponsored by Super Bock, one of the two top selling beers in Portugal. Just as an example, in this year edition, the festival brought to Lisbon metal bands like Iron Maiden or Slayer in one day, and a more pop/rock version on the second day with performers like Beck, Duran Duran, Mika or DJ Tiesto.
• Rock In Rio Lisboa
  Rock in Rio is a franchising business that was exported from Brazil by the original creators of the Rock In Rio festival, that happens from time to time in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. It has had it’s third edition this year, and it happens every two years, in Parque Bela Vista, again close to the Parque das Nações area. Rock In Rio it is not just a festival : it’s a well oiled marketing machine, that brings along big sponsors and lot’s of money, presenting the most mainstream and generally accepted bands. It is presented and recognized by it’s audience has a “family festival”, as it offers much more than rock music and beer. The place it self is a nice green park, with some hills that help to create the ideia of a large natural amphiteather. This year edition had shows by Alanis Morissette, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Rod Stewart, Amy Winehouse, Lenny Kravitz or Muse. More relevant that the bands are the audience numbers, with two of the days bringing more that 90.000 people to the Bela Vista park.
• Optimus Alive!
  It is the youngest of the three festivals, but even in it’s first edition (that happend last year, this year was only it’s second edition) has shown a set of bands and and dragged so many sponsorship that made it a sure bet to keep on happening in the years to come. The festival takes place in the Passeio Maritimo de Algés (again outside Lisbon city limit), just right by the Tagus river mouth to the Atlantic Ocean. The organization has made on this two editions a great effort to have one of the best european rock festivals, investing in capturing interess even in spectators from abroad. In 2008, the festival has brought bands like Rage Against The Machine, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Ben Harper or The National.

For a typical scenario of a couple with a small tent, you’ll have to pay, per day a total amount of 19€ in the High Season to 13.10€ in the Low Season.

High Season is called to the months of July and August and the New Year Season, between 29 of December and 1 of January 2009.

Intermediate Season is called to the months May, June, September and October and also the Carnival and Easter days.

Low Season is everyday that doesn’t fit in any of the previous seasons.

You can find below a more detailed price list of the park. You can also find on this post, information regarding public transportation serving the camping park.

Users

Tents

Caravans and Motor Caravans

Vehicles

Bungalows

Equipped Bay