I love Lisbon. I tend to go at least once per year. First time we went, we fell in love with the raw authentic city with the beautiful tiles. Over the years, the capital of Portugal has gotten more and more popular and with that – less authentic – and more gentrified. More Airbnb’s and fewer restaurants with flourescent lights.
My regardless of the hoards of tourists, I still like Lisbon. There are always new neighbourhoods – and tiles to discover.
This year, we added a new dimension to our Lusitanian trip. Porto and the Azores.
Lisbon
This summer we stayed only a few nights in Lisbon, so this part of the story is short. But you can always look at previous reports like from 2025 here and a report from 2022 here.
First day in Lisbon was all about finding old favourites. Walking through the garden of Gulbenkian museum, Bairro Alto and dinner at an old food court.
Day two
New design hotel Wilde Hotel.
This day was all about Rossio with the Zara store that has a Portuguese cafe inside. Also a new fashion store with local brands called Feeting Store. Vista Alegre of course.
Tiles of first day in Lisbon…
Zara and the unique “pastelaria”
Looking at stores. Here Feeting Room.
Vista Alegre
Beauty brand Benamor.
One of my best design stores – Kintu Studio
Just realised that the roof top of the design museum has the best view of Praca do Commercio.
Drinks
Mandatory stop at Casa do Alentejo
Dinner at best dinner spot Taberna Albricoque.
Day three more walking around…
And then off to next destination
The Azores
Lets start with some pictures and then we talk …
I will start by saying that the Azores is ten out of ten points. It was amazing.
You can of course Google the destination. It is a group of islands. Basically 3 hours from Portugal and five hours from the US. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean with the Mexican Gulf giving it a climate that is even. Or as they say about the islands – expect every weather during a day. Fog, sun, rain, mist, wind and storm.
Lush islands with amazing greenery. Lava sand beaches which makes them black. But a foodie destination. Great food. Nice people and affordable. We were there for five nights.
Architecture wise you will not find the same amount of tiles as in Lisbon, but still architecture in the “Manueline style” with all their ornaments.
One of the main reasons you choose the Azores is nature. The tropical landscape is amazing.
Even the parks in the city Ponta Delgada.
And the beaches. There are plenty of beaches around the island, and they are all very empty. So basically you get your own beach. Not all, but many of the beaches are black because of the lava sand.
Food and drinks are great at Ponta Delgada. It is kind of an emerging foodie destination. A few restaurants had proper hourlong queues for tables. And amazing food.
Pina colada made with locally grown pineapples.
This was an old fashion store from beginning of the 1900s and now turned into a restaurant.
The Azores was amazing. Full score. The only tricky thing was the flight. It is a three hour flight from Lisbon so travelling from northern Europe is pretty long.
Porto
Third stop in Portugal. Almost a week in Porto. This is my third time in this city. A bit more industrial perhaps than Lisbon? And a lot more crowded in the old town. Lisbon felt airy compared to Porto. Super crowded.
But we had booked an Airbnb just 20 minutes outside of the old town, in the neighbourhood called Foz. I can really recommend.
Foz is almost like a beach resort.
Porto is the architectural city in Portugal. Alvaro Siza is from here. He has partially built the amazing Serralves museum.
Rem Koolhaas and the Casa da Musica.
And Siza has made the swimming pools – Piscina das Mares.
There are plenty of things to see and do in Porto. I would say that you can skip the portwine tasting and instead go for a sardine tasting. Skip the book shop Livraria Lello (named the most beautiful bookstore in the world) and continue up a few streets to the design disctrict of Porto.