Next summer we stop in Lisbon rather briefly. We get in in the early evening, and leave at 2 p.m. the next afternoon.

Any advice about where the ship will be docked in relation to interesting areas of the city?

Given a morning to roam around, could we do it on our own, just to get a feel for the place, or should we do one of the tours?

they offered an evening tour the night we docked that took us on a tram tour around Lisbon. We found that helpful in getting a quick overview. The next morning we took the suburban train to Sintra. If you're leaving at 2 that might be cutting it close.

I think the ship was docked about 20 minutes outside of the central part of town. It is on one of the subway lines (didn't take it so not sure where it went) and it's probably a 5-10 minute walk from the ship to the closest subway/commuter train line. The ship ran free shuttles to the central square about every 1/2 hour.

Hope that helps. cheers, Anne

might be easier to have a 1/2 day tour to get the feel of the place if time is that much of an issue

Yeh, well that's always the way with these brief port stops, right? But sometimes just wandering around for a few hours gives me a better feel for a place than hitting a bunch of the tourist "highlights". I swear my half hour wandering in Odessa told me more about the place than the tour I took that day.

I fully intend to visit Portugal on its own some day (I have lived in Portugese neighbourhoods for 25 years, and have developed an affection for the culture.) Thought wandering around some nice picturesque part of town might be the ticket, wondering about proximity to the port.

Frommers site has a couple of maps & suggested walking tours. Those may help you decide, Wendy. Cheers, Anne
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lisbon/54_maps.html

I took the following from the site www.europeportreviews.com

Where does the ship dock?

Ships dock at the port of Lisbon close to the downtown area and about 4 miles from the old section of Lisbon. The ship is also quite close to the Lisbon International airport (about 15 euro by taxi) for those either embarking or debarking in Lisbon.

Thanks Anne, that's very helpful. I was just looking at a map of the city, spotting some of the medieval parts, and wondering where the ship would dock, so your posting is timely!

I also found this on a website:

International cruise ships stop at Alcântara, Rocha do Conde de Óbidos and Santa Apolónia.

If I can figure out where they are, I may have something to go on.

Wendy, we are booking the Silver Cloud for next April and its embarkation point is Lisbon. We are fortunate in that we overnight onboard the ship, so I too am interested on where the shps dock. I looked on googleearth.com and found that there was a ship docked just west of downtown near the E01. It appeared to be about a 10 minute ride to town. Not sure if that is where we will be docked or not.

Anybody know how good the local transportation is in Lisbon?: Since we are overnighting onboard, we even thought about renting a car and just parking it near the port so that we could move about easily. Anybody know about the parking near the port in Lisbon?

Wendy,
Click on and then click location..
http://www.portodelisboa.com/ingles/index.html

Claudia and Anne, we could use your help as well We land at 4:50pm and will overnight on the ship before we set sail at 6:00pm the next day.

Do you know of someone that can do an all day private tour for us or is Lisbon something that is just as easy to do on your own? How is the public transportation?

What are the must sees?

About the evening tour. Do you think since we will just be arriving (and probably a bit tired) that we should try to see Lisbon at night or just stay onboard ship and rest and plan all our touring for the following day?

Thanks,

http://www.toursforyou.pt/
these guys are super.

P.S. You should do Lisbon city tour , of course and also not to miss is Sintra.
Probably by the time you get there and onboard the ship you won't have time for a tour..would plan one for the next day..

Thanks for reviving this, Claudia. Since we arrive in Lisbon at 5 p.m., I thought we might go prowl around after dinner a bit (if our sleep cycle is still on North American time), maybe find a club with some music.

Since we're leaving at 2 p.m. the next day, I would do a ship's tour, if anything--Sintra is first on my list--to ensure we don't miss the boat!

Gary & I did the evening tour after we arrived & were glad that we did. It was a quick overview of many of the neighborhoods. Nothing spectacular in terms of the guides but easy to sit back & take in the various parts of Lisbon. We also got the lay of the land near the downtown area (that's where the ship shuttle took us). All this, and back in time for dinner on board. We then spent most of our time up at Sintra the next day. Cheers, Anne

Thanks Claudia and Anne. I appreciate your help. I also had heard about toursforyou on CC and thought we would check them out. Sounds like it is best to relax on the ship that night have dinner and get to bed early and try and do both Lisbon and Sintra the next day.

Here is another question though, is there enough to do in Lisbon to warrant going in the day before and spending even one more day there or can it pretty well be covered in just a one day visit?

What would you do?

one more day.. of course.. there is so much to see..the beaches area Estoril,
you could go to Fatima ( if you like religious adventures)..very interesting even for those of us who are not Catholic.
The Algarve.. heck you could spend ages there and not see everything. We have ben there at least 6 times and we sure haven't seen it all.
A must..
One evening you should catch a fado show( this is the singing style of the region)there are many great restaurants that have it.. I was checking on the guide site I gave you above.. and they will assist you with reserving at one they recommend or take you there..look on that site under FADO..

Thanks Claudia. That is great information. I think we are going to check and see about miles going in the day before. Any recommendations on a place to stay?

price range would give better idea.. but 2 favorites of course the Ritz 4 Seasons Lisboa and Hotel Tivoli Lisboa
http://www.tivolihotels.com

good website w/info
http://www.visitlisboa.com/

http://www.fourseasons.com/lisbon/index.html

*****

editing post to say check out any packages they offer.. esp. something like this ( while the hotel is expensive with all the goodies they offer in their "cruisers" package can be pretty sweet deal
http://www.fourseasons.com/lisbon/m...html?segment=vacations&force_v2=true

Thanks Claudia for all the info. We got our air changed to go in a day early. Looks like we may end up just doing the Marriott. It is close to the Sete Rio train station and Metro and they had a great weekend rate available.

We also changed our return flight. We are going to rent a car in Genoa and drive to Tuscany and fly out of Pisa the following day.

or you can always apply for the Marriott Visa card and get a free room for a night Don.We received our certificate for the room already and we haven't even used the card yet. After we use the card once, we get 15,000 Marriott points!

Thats a great idea Marcie. Is it on their website?

Sintra is amazing, dont' miss it.

KarenM

Thanks Karen, that's what we hear. We plan on doing that the second day taking the train over from Sete Rio near the hotel.

Marcie, thanks for the info. Did the online application for the card and the free night. The Lisbon Marriott is a category 4 and qualifies for the free night.