Lisbon, Portugal Hotels and City Guide

Lisbon - Travel Tips

Lisbon Travel Tips

When to Go
Local Holidays
Local Customs and Language
Tipping
Health and Safety
Tax Refunds

When to Go

Because of its situation in the valley of the Tagus River and close to the Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon enjoys a mild climate without extremes, making it a pleasant city to visit throughout the year, although it does rain during the winter months.

The best months to visit are May and June, the latter being the month of festivals. In the summer months from July to September, averaging 30°C, Portugal’s beach resorts are overcrowded and prices rise considerably.

Lisbon Local Holidays

January
1 January - New Year’s Day
February
16 February - Carnival/Shrove Tuesday

April
1 April - Maundy Thursday
2 April - Good Friday
4 April - Easter Sunday
25 April - Liberation Day (1974 Revolution)

May
1 May - Labour Day

June
3 June - Corpus Christi
10 June - National Day
13 June - St Anthony’s Day (Lisbon only)

August
15 August - Assumption Day

October
5 October - Republic Day

November
1 November - All Saint’ Day

December
1 December - Independence Restoration Day
8 December - Immaculate Conception
24 December - Christmas Eve (banks, official offices only)
25 December - Christmas Day

Local Customs & Language (including Tipping)

Local Customs
The family is the foundation of the social structure and forms the basis of stability. Loyalty to the family comes before other social relationships, even business. Thus nepotism is regarded as being good, as employing family members one can trust is of primary importance. The Catholic Church and the family structure emphasise hierarchical relationships which are carried through to their business dealings. Portuguese are traditional and conservative and therefore extremely polite. Appearance is very important as the Portuguese believe that clothes indicate social standing and success. They are therefore very fashion-conscious.

Language
The 10 million population of Portugal speaks Portuguese.

Tipping
Tipping is not as important as in other parts of the world as every clerk, server and attendant receives a full salary. Tipping is therefore regarded as an act of appreciation. In hotels, offer a few euros to the bellhop who carries your suitcases up to your room. For taxi drivers, round up the bill to the next euro or offer 10% if you were happy with the service. Tip waiters an average of 10% of the bill if the service was good.

Health and Security

Lisbon is one of the safest cities within the European Union with little crime. Pickpocketing and theft from hired cars or on public transport does happen. Keep an eye open for pickpockets at stations, ATMs,and in rush-hour crowds. You could be offered drugs (‘hash’ or ‘chocolate’) but a firm'no thank-you' or "não, obrigado"(if you're a male); "não, obrigada"(if you're female)will deter peddlers.

Be careful when crossing roads as drivers are inclined to ignore pedestrian crossings unless there is a red light for them to stop. Lisbon has one of the highest car accident rates in the EU.

Emergency number: For ambulance, police, fire brigade call 112 (landline and mobile phone).

Tax Refunds

See under Shopping.

Hotels in Lisbon, Portugal