Very similar to Lisbon has grown to accommodate a recent influx of international visitors lately, so has its hotel scene. This list of 10 of one of the best hotels in Lisbon—a part of Afar’s Hotels We Love series—could easily be twice as long, given the range of options for amazing value.
Fancy an evening in a restored palace? Take your pick. Or a boutique hotel on an enthralling, tree-lined street? Throw a stone, you’ll hit one. (Possibly don’t throw anything; every part’s historic.) Portugal can be developing a repute as one of the family-friendly destinations in Europe, so we’d be remiss not to incorporate just a few kid-friendly spots, including best-in-class apartments with hotel amenities. Let this list encourage your next trip to the City of Seven Hills.
Bairro Alto Hotel
- Neighborhood: Chiado/Bairro Alto
- Why we like it: For its prime location, fresh pastries, and rooftop bar
- Loyalty program: Leaders Club (Leading Hotels of the World)
- Book now
When the Barrio Alto Hotel opened in 2005 on the intersection of theater and shopping district Chiado and nightlife quarter Bairro Alto, it quickly became a welcoming, laid-back place to unwind after a day of touristing. Occupying a five-story, 18th-century constructing painted that cheery Lisbon yellow seen all around the city, it’s a historic boutique hotel like so many others. Yet Portuguese designers leaned into fun, colourful textiles and geometric patterns to update the interiors.
Spacious guest rooms and suites mix each classic and contemporary features (think antique tubs and heated bathroom floors) and have views over the favored Largo do Camões and the River Tagus. A patisserie on the bottom floor serves freshly made Portuguese pastries all day, and the rooftop bar has considered one of the town’s best sunset cocktail spots. The hotel also offers a single-occupant rate for business travelers, digital nomads, or solo travelers who could be passing through. From $326 for a single room
Hotel das Amoreiras
- Neighborhood: Jardim das Amoreiras
- Why we like it: It’s a hotel on the corner of charming and serene
- Loyalty program: Invited (Small Luxury Hotels of the World)
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Hotel das Amoreiras sits on the garden square of Jardim das Amoreiras, 4 charming blocks that appear fit for a Wes Anderson movie. To know the neighborhood is to know the hotel: Inside the Jardim are Lisbon’s first mulberry trees, planted by the Marquis of Pombal within the 18th century—the seeds (pardon the pun) of the town’s silk industry.
Surrounding homes served the local silk employees, though the restored silk factory is now the Arpad Szénes-Vieira da Silva Museum, honoring a up to date Portuguese artist and her Hungarian husband, who was also a painter. On the identical block, the hotel has 17 vibrant, peaceful guest rooms and two attic suites bathed in natural light. A la carte breakfast is served each day until noon within the front room–style comfort downstairs or outside within the courtyard. Garden strolls are practically required. From $217
The Lisboans
- Neighborhood: Baixa
- Why we like it: Apartment-style digs (with room service and breakfast delivery) and the hip restaurant Prado round the corner
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Set inside a former factory in a quiet residential neighborhood between Alfama and Chiado are the sort of trendy, spacious apartments (with Juliette balconies!) it’s possible you’ll never want to depart. Artists, writers, and fashion designers have been known to envision into the Lisboans, in addition to families who need a bit extra space and autonomy.
The 15 one- and two-bedroom apartments have high ceilings and enormous windows, letting loads of natural light into the tastefully decorated front room, which has a mixture of handcrafted throws and rugs and flea market finds. What’s best concerning the Lisboans? The serviced apartments include the comforts of home—microwave, stove top, dishwasher—in addition to each day housekeeping and breakfast basket deliveries. A staffer sits within the downstairs “lobby” and might answer any questions, recommend a dinner spot, or plot a path through the nearby Praça do Comércio. But you needn’t go far for an excellent meal. Just out the front door is the celebrated farm-to-table restaurant Prado, and across the corner is the upscale Prado grocer and wine bar, selling farm-fresh eggs, produce, juices, and natural wines. From $357
Martinhal Lisbon Oriente
- Neighborhood: Park of Nations
- Why we like it: Ideal for prolonged stays, a house away from home with multiple pools and a baby concierge
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Ever because the debut of its first beachside resort in Sagres in 2010, the Martinhal collection of hotels, resorts, and residences has shown its competitors how one can truly marry luxury and family friendliness. Kids are at all times central to the mission, with nods each practical (bunk beds, kid-size utensils) and playful (a Fiat inside the café to play in).
The youngsters club caters to 6 month olds all the way in which as much as early teens, with babysitting services, stocked playrooms, and pajama parties. A baby concierge is on call with all of the supplies you forgot at home. And at Martinhal’s newest location—Lisbon Oriente, about half-hour outside the town center by the Park of Nations—studios and apartments can be found for prolonged stays with the identical bespoke hotel-style amenities. There are indoor and outdoor pools, playrooms and co-working spaces, a fitness center with yoga for ages 12 and up, and a kids club with supervised drop-off (ages six months to eight years). From $296
The One Palácio da Anunciada
- Neighborhood: Lisbon city center
- Why we like it: A high-design hotel that merges Old World Lisbon with the trendy traveler’s needs
- Loyalty program: I Prefer (Preferred Hotels & Resorts)
- Book now
The second property from Spanish hotel chain H10 offers an oasis amid Lisbon’s city center. Set on a cobblestone street just off Avenida da Liberdade, the restored One Palacio da Anunciada is in a Sixteenth-century palace a brief walk from restaurants, cafés, and Bairro Alto nightlife, yet it avoids the clamor that normally comes with such a convenient location.
Large windows fill nearly every space with natural light, from the marble-filled lobby to the spa’s indoor pool to the 83 guest rooms. Suites feel more like elegant apartments than hotel rooms. Custom hand-painted ceramics decorate the partitions, while gentle lighting and soft edges abound within the bedrooms. On the perimeter of the hotel’s idyllic courtyard and gardens are the exceptional spa and O Jardim Wine Bar, an upscale restaurant that serves contemporary twists on classic Portuguese dishes. From $563—Nicole Antonio
Related: Review of The One Palácio da Anunciada
Palácio Príncipe Real
- Neighborhood: Príncipe Real
- Why we like it: For its bonhomie and all-day breakfast within the private garden
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“Latest” hotels in Lisbon are sometimes still centuries old—but lovingly restored, as is the case with Palacío Príncipe Real. In-built 1877, the rose-colored mansion served as a family home—and, as legend has it, the location of many memorable high-society parties—until the Nineteen Eighties. Current owners/U.K. expats Gail and Miles Curley honored the house’s joie de vivre after they reopened it in 2021; there aren’t any check-in or check-out times, breakfast runs until early afternoon (or each time you get up) and could be served on the terrace or by the infinity pool, which is heated by the hotel’s solar panels.
The 25 guest rooms (“cozy,” “dream bath” with copper tubs, “dream garden” with balconies and garden views, and signature suites) are elegantly done—Gail is an interior designer— and are available stocked with Byredo amenities, Dyson hair dryers, and mini-fridges stuffed with complimentary Portuguese snacks, wine, and beer. From $538
Palácio Ramalhete
- Where: Janelas Verdes
- Why we like it: All the attractive detail and its location, opposite the National Museum of Ancient Art
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Palácio Ramalhete has the soul of a historic property—Manuel II, Portugal’s last king, and Britain’s Duke of Windsor were once guests—with none of the attendant stuffiness. Set in an 18th-century palace on the handsome Rua das Janelas Verdes, each of the 16 accommodations has its own unique character. The Oak Suite, as an example, features wood wall paneling with an ornate carved-stucco ceiling, while the spacious Dove Room, which occupies the palace’s former chapel, is lined with original hand-painted blue-and-white azulejos (ceramic tiles).
There are three tiered internal courtyards; the very best has a small heated outdoor pool with a large palm tree for shade and River Tagus views in the gap. Art lovers, take note: Opposite the hotel is the National Museum of Ancient Art, stuffed with vital Portuguese works that include Fifteenth-century painter Nuno Gonçalves’s famous Panels of St. Vincent. From $292 —Ratha Tep
Related: Review of Palácio Ramalhete
Pestana Palace Lisboa
- Neighborhood: Santo Amaro
- Why we like it: The “pond pool” and opulent Regency style
- Loyalty program: Leaders Club (Leading Hotels of the World)
- Book now
Just a brief ride from the historic Jerónimos Monastery and Belém Cultural Center, Pestana Palace Lisboa is itself a delegated national landmark. The 194-room hotel occupies a rigorously restored Nineteenth-century manor that after belonged to the cocoa baron Marquis of Valle-Flôr, and now caters to queens of pop like Madonna (she reportedly stayed in a Royal Suite).
“Lavish” is the important thing adjective here: The manor is about inside an immaculately manicured private park stuffed with palms, subtropical plants, sculptures, a former pond-turned-swimming pool, and a spa with an indoor pool and Turkish baths. Palace interiors give the air of a gilded cocoon—all ornate ceiling frescoes, soaring stained-glass windows, and luxurious oil canvases—while the foremost restaurant, Valle Flôr, has Regency airs and Portuguese fare. Guests may linger on Saturdays for a “chic-nic” lunch on the lawn by the pool. From $359 —R.T.
Related: Review of Pestana Palace Lisboa
Santa Clara 1728
- Neighborhood: Alfama
- Why we like it: It’s the design darling of Lisbon
- Book now
Santa Clara 1728 is about inside an 18th-century palace that’s now the (impeccably designed) home of hotelier João Rodrigues, whose family occupies the highest two floors. Downstairs are six suites, where guests can enjoy spa-like serenity due to the minimalist design of famed Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus—think natural woods and eggshell-blue partitions, sitting rooms and river views. High-end linens make you ought to stay in bed awhile (though there’s no air-con, so throw open those windows and listen for the market vendors within the square below). Guests are invited to dine at Ceia, a nine-course meal on the hotel’s communal table, Wednesdays to Saturdays. From $543 per night, two-night minimum
Santiago de Alfama
- Neighborhood: Alfama
- Why we like it: A family-run boutique hotel in Lisbon’s medieval center
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Lisbon’s oldest district is thought for its labyrinth of narrow streets, abundant fado bars, and historical attractions. Opened in 2015, Santiago de Alfama is a attract its own right. The previous Fifteenth-century palace is just under São Jorge Castle. Its 19 guest rooms offer views of the River Tagus or courtyard garden, in addition to unique configurations, including interconnecting bedrooms that might be ideal for families. Most accommodations mix traditional features resembling wood-paneled ceilings and complicated cornices with modern comforts like rain showers and bespoke linens.
With so few rooms, the staff will at all times know your name, though it’s unsurprising on this family-run hotel that functions like a more intimate B&B. Make sure you dine within the café/bistro Audrey’s, named after the owners’ daughter and serving seasonal dishes using fresh produce from the kitchen garden. From $353 —R.T.
Related: Review of Santiago de Alfama
