Palácio Ludovice Wine Experience Hotel, Lisbon (opened 2022) is abeautifully restored…read moremansion-turned-hotel, thoughtfully designed and generally excellent. I would have rated it 5/5 overall, except for a notably poor breakfast experience on one morning. Ratings Location: 5/5 Amenities: 5/5 Lobby: 4/5 Room: 4/5 Bed & pillows: 5/5 Bathroom: 4/5 Toiletries: Portus Cale Towels: 5/5 Shower pressure: 5/5 Breakfast: 1/5 (inconsistent experience) Restaurant: 5/5 The hotel sits right next to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara. It occupies an entire block, with the surrounding streets--especially Travessa da Cara--coming alive at night. Our second-floor room featured high ceilings and overlooked the atrium, where the restaurant sits below. The long hanging lights and greenery create a warm, open atmosphere. The room door is heavy and solid, adding to the sense of restoration. The bathroom is well-finished but slightly limited in counter space. Shower pressure from the handheld unit is excellent, almost strong to a fault. Small details--like the slightly short toilet seat and occasional lingering drip from the faucet--are noticeable but minor. The gym has a striking vaulted ceiling, though I didn't use the facilities. A 5:30pm wine tasting led by a licensed sommelier (limited to 12 guests) was a highlight--informative, intimate, and well-run. Breakfast is generally very good: buffet selection plus made-to-order eggs. Cappuccinos are served in thick cups or tall glasses, and items like the honeycomb and chia seed pudding stand out. However, service during our last breakfast on a Saturday fell far below standard--slow, disorganized, and inattentive, with significant delays in both ordering and clearing tables, which detracted sharply from the experience. Dinner (steelite tableware) and the bar (Riedel stems) were both excellent and consistently well-executed. Thanks for the afternoon egg tarts!

In the past 3 days I have had a bus not show up, a bus not stop where it should (with the STOP)…read moresignal on, and been told that the Metro was unexpectedly stopping mid line and we need to exit the station. It's particularly maddening when the Metro Police kick everyone off and tell us to exit and catch a bus because no other lines operate at the Metro station.

The metro was convenient and easy. It has four lines you can take. We bought day passes for 7€…read moreeach, which allowed unlimited journeys on the metro, buses, and trams. Overall, they weren't too crowded and were clean.

40 minutes or less from Lisbon's Cais do Sodré, this is the end (or the beginning) of the line. As…read moreterminal railway stations go, it's perfectly OK. There are multiple tracks and you might need to ask someone which is the next train to depart. Or you can just follow everyone who is boarding one or the other. If you miss it, there's another in 30 minutes (off peak) or 12 minutes (peak). But before that, you will need to purchase a ticket to scan at the turnstile. The machine has an "English" button and accepts cards, notes and coins. One-way fare is €2,30 and you should expect a conductor on board checking tickets. It is easy to find your way to the bus stop from here as there are signs and a tunnel. The 403 bus stops here for the ride to Cabo da Roca. Head out and to the left, stay on the sidewalk and follow the coastline to the Cidadela de Cascais or the Farol de Santa Marta. Beyond those, it is a 1.5 km walk to the Boca do Inferno but it's mostly smooth and handicapped accessible. Or you can wait for the M27 bus that goes the long way. The station has some snack shops and quick restaurants but you're also right into downtown, so there is much more nearby including all the tourist shops you can imagine. [Review 19040 overall - 235 in Portugal - 9 of 2023.]

This is the end of the line when you are riding a train west from Lisbon. A fairly good sized…read morestation, with some small shops around the periphery, and a roast chestnut vendor right across the praça in front. The pedestrian underpass leads over to the bus station. The station toilets charge 50 cents for rather grubby facilities. If you'd like something better for free, and can wait, you can go across the street to the Cascais Villa. This train line has four fare zones - going all the way to Cais do Sodre' will set you back E 2.20 unless you're a kid or over 65. It takes about 40 minutes from one end to the other, and trains come pretty regularly. During rush hour some trains may not stop at all stations.

After arriving at the Martim Moniz Square in the morning, I looked for a long line to figure out…read morewhere the tram starts. The wait wasn't too bad- less than 30 minutes. We hopped onboard the third tram that came around as they have limited seating- about 20 seats. You can stand though. The ride was about 30 minutes and ended around Chiado. It was a nice ride, but I don't feel as if it's a must.

We got to the train station in Martin Mainz And waited in a long line, :45 for the electric tram…read more Realized we needed to get a day pass and walked back to the station to get a 48 hour pass. We were warned at our hotel about pickpockets here, they were hawkers offering us rides & things. We weaved past churches, shops, cafes, museums, lots of beautiful tiled buildings. The ride ended at a cemetery where we all disembarked and waited for an electric car back. I don't know what o was expecting, but it wasn't anything special.

Quality/Quantity - Taking the local train. If you are following, we take Uber (ride share) when our…read moredaughter joins us (spoiled), but I take public transportation after she leaves. Since we have been to Lisbon, Portugal many times, we decided to take a local train to Cascais. What a beautiful city. Ambiance - Local train, not good or bad. Not busy. Not clean, but also not dirty. On time. Service - Had a hard time trying to buy our tickets as the machines were NOT in English. And struggled using Google Translate while underground. The people around us were too busy to help us. Finally, we went to the cafe to ask for help. The owner sold us a one day pass rather than a round trip pass... Since we had the more expensive pass (double the price rather than round trip tickets) we decided to make an extra stop at Belem to get our $$ worth. Then when we got back, we found these two tourist girls also struggling to buy their train tickets, so we gave them ours as we were trying to pay it forward. Glad the tickets can get more use. I do not think they were trying to rip us off, but there was a language barrier. We appreciated the help. Price - Bought a one day pass. I think we paid approximately $8 US for each ticket. Owner Comment - Congrats on all your success.

In addition to being the terminus of the Linda Verde (green line), this station has tram and bus…read moreconnections plus the ferry across the Tagus to Cacilhas, Seixal, and Montijo. On the green line, the next station is Baixa-Chiado towards Telheiras. The metro station is completely handicapped accessible with lifts and escalators between the street level and platform level. There are automated ticket vending machines for the metro. I was here to catch the ferry, which of course is at street level. Separate vending machines for ferry tickets and a clear display indicating not only how long until the next ferry departs, the gate (there are three gates) and what percentage full. Purchasing the ferry ticket was easy (only €1.80 including the €0.50 for a new Viagem card) and quick. I was able to buy my ticket at 16:35, scan it and still board the 16:40 ferry to Cacilhas. There is a small waiting area and then boarding the ferry was easy. [Review 16625 overall - 142 in Portugal - 136 of 2022.]

It gets the job done. This is the ferry terminal for Almada, across the Tagus River from Lisbon. I…read morehad one arrival followed a few hours later by one departure. There are ticketing kiosks which is useful because my 24 hour pass from the Lisbon network didn't work here. Cheap enough for an 8 minute ride - less than €2 each way. They have clearly visible signs showing not only how long until the next ferry departs but also what percent full it is. Helpful info! There is a small convenience store and some other retail. The station was under major renovations when I was here in January 2022. Easy connection to the trams and buses which took me most of the way to the Christ statue. I returned with a walk along the waterfront after dinner at Ponto Final and that five star review is coming soon. Inside the waiting area, some seating and some vending machines. The "boarding" sound goes and everyone starts moving for the ferry. It's an easy walk for a shop that does this a dozen times a day back and forth across the river. Overall, as pleasant an experience as one can have on mass transit.

After walking for what seemed like an eternity down from the Cristo Rei statue and realizing that…read morethe Porto Final Restaurant was closed, I was happy to see that the ferry was at least running very reliably back and forth from Casilhas to Cais do Sodre. Inside the terminal in Casilhas we bought one way tickets and they were €1.30 per person. The trip across the river was fast and smooth, a perfect ending to our day of walking in Cascais and visiting the Cristo Rei statue.

(Please see my review for their Bairro Alto property as well.)…read more o This property doesn't have luggage lockers. We went to the Cais do Sodre location to leave our bags, but the big lockers were all full. So we carted our bags to Cascais to the beach and spent the day there, with our bags, waiting to check-in. o The front door code worked this time, unlike at their Bairro Alto property. o At their new check-in video kiosk, payment worked easier than Bairro Alto as it didn't ask me for a PIN. Scanning your passport was as difficult as Bairro Alto. o The code given to me by the machine for the apartment didn't work, however. I had to call them on the phone in the hallway, sweating to death because there is no air-conditioning in the stairwell ("lobby"). o There was no soap, shampoo, conditioner or bodywash provided. Like Bairro Alto, there were leftover strips in the shower of what used to hold the dispenser for those items. o There were no instructions for how to use the combination washer/dryer. For Europeans, this might seem self-explanatory, as this is a common appliance for them. For Americans, it is not. I had to take a photo of the dials and post it on Facebook for my European friends to tell me how to wash AND dry all in one go. o The room, on street level, was gorgeous - split level. But the frustrations of their new check-in process and lack of luggage storage at this property will not make me want to stay here again.

This tour company tours all around the world. They offer so many options that are also affordable…read more We chose the Obidos and Nazare tour and it was amazing! The guide picks up everyone in an 8 seater sprinter van. You get 8 hours of sightseeing and with the hour drive out there and back, it's going to be between 9-10 hours total. The small tours are so much better than the giant bus tours. Our guide was informative and helpful. I will say that if you get car sick easily, you should not take the smaller vehicle tours.