48 hours in Lisbon, done properly

Two days in Lisbon is enough, as long as you stop trying to see everything. The city rewards walking slowly through a handful of neighbourhoods far more than it rewards ticking off a list. Most people arrive with a saved map of forty pins and leave having enjoyed about four of them, usually the ones they stumbled into by accident.

Start in Príncipe Real. It is quieter than Baixa, the coffee is better, and the walk downhill takes you past most of what people queue for anyway. Order a galão, sit outside, and give yourself an hour before you do anything with purpose. The first morning of a short trip sets the pace for the rest of it, and Lisbon punishes people in a hurry.

From there, drift down through Bairro Alto while it is still asleep. The streets that look grim at 11am are the ones that come alive at midnight, and seeing both versions in one day is half the fun of the city. Stop at a pastelaria without a line out the door. The custard tarts are good almost everywhere; the famous ones are good and cost you forty minutes.

By late afternoon, head west. The light along the river between Cais do Sodré and Alcântara is the best free thing in the city. Bars there fill up slowly rather than all at once, so you can still get a table at seven and watch the bridge turn orange without booking anything. If you only do one thing on day one, do this.

Dinner should be simple. Grilled fish, a bottle of vinho verde, somewhere with paper tablecloths and a television on in the corner. Lisbon's best meals rarely look like the ones that photograph well, and the tasting menus can wait for a longer trip.

Day two belongs to Alfama and Graça. Go early, before the tour groups and before the heat, and let yourself get lost. Every wrong turn there is a good one. The miradouros are worth the climb, but the small squares between them are where you will actually remember being.

Give the afternoon to Belém only if you genuinely want to, and if you do, go late. The monastery empties out after four and the walk back along the water is better than the tram there. Otherwise, stay east and spend it in the LX Factory or on a terrace in Estrela doing very little.

The mistake most people make is treating Lisbon as a checklist city. It is not. It is a city for walking, eating and sitting still, and two days is plenty for all three if you resist the urge to optimise.

If you want the full version of this route, with the actual addresses we go back to, it is all in our Lisbon guide.