Planning a trip to Europe and beyond these days always has me checking my options with Tap Portugal and their enticing Free Stopover Program. In case you haven't heard of this, it allows 1-5 days in Porto or Lisbon either on the way to a final destination or on the way back (or both). My wife and I were planning a trip to visit the Basque region of Spain and up to Bordeaux so we opted for a 2 day stop in Lisbon. This would be her 3rd time here and my 4th time (we will get into this in another post), so obviously we have a deep love for this city.
If you haven't flown with Tap Portugal before, they offer two classes of service in their Economy offerings. A lot of the options are a la carte so we find the best option to book the basic Economy fare and then upgrade our seat to one of the seats in Economy Extra. These are quite comfortable and offer more leg room and recline. Our home base is Fort Lauderdale so we take the direct flight from Miami to Lisbon. It clocks in at about 7 hours and 45 minutes on the way and 8 hours and 30 minutes on the way back. Despite a lot of the negative reviews that Tap Portugal receives, we have had very little to complain about on our multiple legs with the airline.
The Miami flight lands in Lisbon at 5:30am, so we always like to book our hotel for the night before to allow a little relaxation and a nap instead of waiting for the regular check-in time. This way as soon as we get to the hotel we can access our room (Be sure to let the hotel know you will be arriving the night before so they do not think you are a no show)
Our favorite hotel to stay in Lisbon is the Vintage Hotel, centrally located near the beautiful Principe Real neighborhood and in a perfect location to discover all that this city has to offer. It is a boutique hotel that is very close to Avenida Liberdade, so if you are in the mood for shopping it is just a hop and a skip away. You are also a short walk from Bairro Alto and Chiado, where you will find a ton of restaurants, bars, galleries, and hidden nooks. Prinicipe Real offers a very bohemian experience in the city and has some of our favorite spots.
The Vintage Hotel has a great buffet breakfast for when we arrived from our flight. A nice thing they also offer is chauffeur pick up and drop off from the airport. It was really nice to have this little perk included in our package rather than wait for an uber or taxi. The driver was super friendly and had a sign with our name waiting for us when we arrived at the airport. The hotel also gave us their whatsapp contact before we arrived in case we had any questions or encountered any delays.
In the hotel itself there are nice little touches. They have a little bar stocked with complimentary local beers and even a gin and tonic station. Never seen this before! There is also a nice rooftop bar to enjoy a beautiful view of the city. They serve up some great cocktails. If you are in the mood for some pampering, there is a spa on the lower floor with a sauna and steam room. In addition, a small indoor pool and a fitness center. Since we were only in the city for 48 hours on this jaunt, we did not get to partake, but definitely on our next visit.
Stay tuned.........
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