# Is Santa Maria Maior a Good Area to Stay in Lisbon? Map & Verdict

Verdict: Recommended. Book here without thinking about it.

Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/santa-maria-maior
Every Lisbon district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon.md

The Baixa grid, lower Alfama and the castle hill in one freguesia. You will not buy a metro ticket for three days, and you will pay for the privilege.

Facts: 5 min walk to the Baixa; 20 min to the airport; 40 min to the beach; price €€€; best for first-timers, sights, couples, food; lines Azul, Verde, 12E, 15E, 25E, 28E.
Safety: Mixed after dark. Martim Moniz and the north end of Rossio draw persistent hash sellers after dark. They are a nuisance rather than a danger, but book towards the river if being approached repeatedly would spoil the trip.

Santa Maria Maior contains almost everything on a first visit: the Baixa grid, Rossio, Praça do Comércio, the cathedral, the castle hill and the lower half of Alfama. Book here and the whole trip is on foot.

The grid is the flattest ground in central Lisbon, laid out on a rational plan after the 1755 earthquake. Walk two streets east and that ends. Alfama is stairs and lanes too narrow for a car, so an address there is one a taxi cannot reach and a suitcase has to be carried up.

The cost is the obvious one. Rua Augusta has restaurant touts working it from late morning, tram 28 is the route named in every police warning about pickpockets in this city, and the same three-star room runs about a third above Avenidas Novas. If that is the trade you want, this is the right freguesia and there is no close second.

What works:
- Everything on a first-time list is inside it or one hill above it
- Metro at Baixa-Chiado, Rossio, Restauradores and Terreiro do Paço
- Trams 12E, 15E, 25E and 28E all pass through or start here
- Flat from Rossio to the river, which no other central district is

What does not:
- Rua Augusta has restaurant touts on it from late morning onwards
- Alfama addresses are stairs, and no taxi will get you to the door
- Tram 28 is the pickpocket route in every police warning about Lisbon
- A three-star room costs roughly a third more than in Avenidas Novas

Hotels in Santa Maria Maior: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D8259%26dest_type%3Ddistrict%26group_adults%3D2%26no_rooms%3D1

## Other districts in Lisbon

- [Misericórdia](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/misericordia): Mixed. Chiado by day, Bairro Alto by night. They share a freguesia and about two hundred metres of hill, which is the entire problem with booking here.
- [Santo António](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/santo-antonio): Recommended. Avenida da Liberdade and the hotels along it. Flat, quiet after 23:00, and fifteen minutes downhill into the Baixa with the metro to bring you back up.
- [São Vicente](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/sao-vicente): Mixed. Graça and the top of Alfama. The best free views in Lisbon, and you earn every one of them again on the walk back from dinner.
- [Estrela](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/estrela): Mixed. Lapa's embassies, the Estrela garden and the Santos bars down by the river. Handsome, residential, and the nearest metro is in somebody else's district.
- [Avenidas Novas](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/avenidas-novas): Mixed. Saldanha, the Gulbenkian and the office blocks. Two metro lines, honest prices, and no reason at all to walk anywhere after dinner.
- [Arroios](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/arroios): Mixed. Anjos, Pena and Intendente, up Almirante Reis from Martim Moniz. The most-lived-in central parish in Lisbon, and the one the guides tell you to be careful in.
- [Campo de Ourique](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/campo-de-ourique): Recommended. A flat grid on the hill above Estrela, at the far end of tram 28. Lisbon's most liveable central parish, with the fewest visitors in it.
- [Penha de França](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/penha-de-franca): Mixed. The hill behind Graça: 1930s apartment blocks, the best free viewpoints in Lisbon and a climb home that beats most people.
- [Areeiro](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/areeiro): Mixed. Big 1940s flats around Alameda and the Areeiro roundabout. Twelve minutes from the airport, two metro lines, and no reason to walk out of the door.
- [Alcântara](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/alcantara): Mixed. LX Factory, the docks under the bridge, and a great deal of traffic. The most photographed district in Lisbon and the one nobody thinks to sleep in.
- [Belém](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/belem): Avoid. Two UNESCO sites, the best custard tarts in Portugal, and seven kilometres between you and dinner. Come for a morning, sleep somewhere else.
- [Parque das Nações](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-lisbon/parque-das-nacoes): Avoid. A 1998 world's fair site with a shopping centre and an aquarium. Clean, modern, well connected, and not the city you bought the flight to see.