I don’t know when Príncipe Real became the foodie district of Lisbon. Maybe because I remember it most as that place closest to Bairro Alto to park your car for free.
It’s always been a posh part of town, with high-ceiling apartments and grand mansions, where even the parks and viewpoints look expensive. Then chefs opened restaurants, and the square began hosting an organic produce market every Saturday.
On your way back from Príncipe Real, after stopping for the views at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, take the detour through Bairro Alto before heading down to Chiado.
Bairro Alto by night is a crowded neighborhood of bar hoppers holding plastic cups of cheap, watered-down beer on the streets. Not appealing? Probably not, but it’s still a worthy experience if you’re planning to explore the nightlife in Lisbon.
By day, Bairro Alto is close to a ghost town (with all bars closed) with some locals going about their business, the few that remain. BA is the Jekyll and Hyde of neighborhoods, and that’s the experience. Once the meeting point for journalists, writers, artists, and students, its bohemian soul lives on.
If you’re coming out of the maze of streets that is Bairro Alto and into the wide shopping streets of Chiado feeling like you’ve just come from a parallel universe, you’re probably onto something.