80 min
30 min
35 min
15E · 18E
1.4 / km²
23
0
280
City average
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Belém
Belém is where Portugal keeps the monuments: the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower, both UNESCO sites, plus the Monument to the Discoveries, the Coach Museum, MAAT and the original Pastéis de Belém. Everyone visits. Almost nobody should sleep here.
It is seven kilometres west of the Baixa. Tram 15E takes about 25 minutes when you get a seat and considerably longer when you do not, and the waterfront monuments are cut off from the streets and the tram stop by a working railway line you cross on footbridges. Coach parties start arriving at 09:00, so you get the crowds without getting the evening.
By 22:30 the restaurants have closed and the district is residential and dark. The hotels are good and the setting is genuinely handsome, but you will spend an hour a day travelling to the city you bought the flight to see.
What works
- Jerónimos, the Belém Tower and MAAT are five minutes apart on foot
- Pastéis de Belém is open until 23:00 and is worth the queue
- Riverside and flat, which almost nothing else in Lisbon manages
What does not
- Seven kilometres from the Baixa; tram 15E is 25 minutes if it is not full
- Restaurants shut around 22:30 and most of them close on Mondays
- The waterfront monuments are cut off from the streets by a railway line
- Coach parties from 09:00, so you get the crowds and not the evening
To reach the waterfront attractions such as Belem Tower and Padrão dos Descobrimentos from the town centre/tram line, you must cross over the railway line by the footbridgesThe extensive bus network also serves Belém from various departure points around the city and can be less busy than the tram.