GOING OUT FOR DINNER?
Dinner at Penalva da Graca
WANT TO GO FOR A SWIM?
A busy day during the high season.
WE LOVE RIDING THE TRAM 28
Lisbon's popular Tram 28 is only 3 minutes from Tins Lisbon. Here is all you need to know.
Why Lisbon Before Easter Still Wins Us Over
30 Years of Spring Days in Lisbon
Lisbon before Easter is the version of the city we fell for back in the 1990s – warm enough for coffee outside, cool enough to walk all day, and still local enough to recognise faces in the cafés.
For more than 30 years.
Why?
Are the following excuses good enough?
1. Weather you can live in
We learned early that Lisbon is a walking city, not a sunbed city. In spring the days sit around the high teens, evenings need a light jacket and the Atlantic is fresh but never brutally cold, helped by the Gulf Stream rolling past the coast. It’s that sweet spot where you can spend all day outside without hiding from the sun.
2. A city that can breathe
When we first stayed here, before budget flights and cruise ships, Lisbon in spring felt roomy. March and the weeks before Easter are still the closest you get to that: fewer queues, easier seats on tram 28 if you go early, and time to wander Alfama, Baixa and the riverside without being swept along in a tour wave. You move at your own pace – not at the group’s.
Our Lisbon in February: Long Shadows at Unicorn in Beato
Our Lisbon in February: Our house guest's temporary office
Our Lisbon in February: Sunbathing on the tourist trail
Our Lisbon in February: Sunset from Graça
Our Lisbon in February: Our sand dune at Costa Caparica
Our Lisbon in February: Lunch in the Graça Sun
Our Lisbon in February: Annette gardening in our garden
Our Lisbon in February: Our favorite walk without crowds
Our Lisbon in February: Sunset from our guest kitchen
3. The big sights without big lines
Back then we queued for Jerónimos with a handful of locals and a few backpackers – and spring is still when it feels most like a monastery, not an attraction. The same goes for Belém Tower and the Oceanário: you actually see the tiles and the fish instead of the backs of 200 people.
4. Just enough happening
Over the years we’ve watched the calendar fill up: fashion weeks, film festivals, small music events, exhibitions popping up along the river. Spring 2026 is no different – there’s culture and nightlife if you want it, but not the full summer chaos of June and August. You can dip in and out instead of planning your whole stay around one big event.
5. Working from a hilltop village
We came to Graça because it feels like a village hanging over a capital city. You’re on a hill, with views and neighbours who say bom dia, but you’re one tram, bus or walk away from the centre. For anyone who works from a laptop, this is the balance we looked for ourselves: a quiet room, a sunny garden, decent wifi – and the option to close the screen and be on tram 28 or in a miradouro bar ten minutes later.
