6 Favorite Places to Drink in Lisbon
Check out this list for a sprawling parking garage rooftop bar, sweeping views of all Alfama and the 25 de Abril Bridge, a bar with a maze of five distinct rooms, a vaulted ceiling of green-glass wine bottles, a waterfront patio, and a brothel reborn. Lisbon knows how to do drinks.
1 | TOPO Martim Moniz
Photo by TOPO
Photo by TOPO
The cover photo for this list is the jaw dropping view from TOPO, which I captured during golden hour. This unbelievable indoor/outdoor rooftop bar and restaurant takes up the sixth floor of a nondescript shopping center and looks out at the hilly neighborhood of Alfama, Castelo de Sao Jorge, and the famous Santa Justa Lift. TOPO is hard to find but this just makes for more locals and less tourists.
2 | PARK
Photo by PARK
You enter an unassuming Bairro Alto parking garage, climb some stairs, and voila—this masterpiece. The space includes a verdant urban garden terrace and the service is lovely. The crowd is diverse and energetic while, at the same time, PARK maintains a relaxing atmosphere. For me, this rooftop bar is unparalleled anywhere in the world and that view of the 25 de Abril Bridge, constructed by the same association as the Golden Gate Bridge, isn’t so bad either.
3 | Pavilhão Chinês
Photo from Condé Nast Traveler
Pavilhão Chinês is another amazing bar, boasting 5 rooms, in Bairro Alto so you can pair this with PARK for easy barhopping and quite the night out. My little brother and I played pool rather poorly (I blame it on my extraordinarily strong Rob Roy) while a super chic and nice couple tried really hard not to laugh at us. 10/10.
4 | By the Wine
Photo from By the Wine
Admire the vaulted ceiling made up entirely of green-glass wine bottles, drink Vinho Verde, also called green wine, from the Minho province in the far north of Portugal, and order tapas like the sautéed shiitake mushrooms, which happen to be the best mushrooms I have had. P.S. Green wine is not a grape variety and may be red, white, or rosé. What is it then? A really really young wine!
5 | Atira-te ao Rio
Photo from Tripadvisor
Photo from Tripadvisor
Drink plenty of wine on a day blessed with sunshine at this gorgeous hideaway. If you are willing to take a short ferry ride from Cais do Sodré ferry terminal to Cacilhas and walk 15 minutes from there along the river Tagus with plenty of colorful graffiti and abandoned warehouses along the route, you will be heavily rewarded. Atira-te ao Rio’s waterfront patio has sweeping views of Lisbon and, of course, the 25 de Abril Bridge.
6 | Pensão Amor
Photo from Condé Nast Traveler
Pensão Amor, on Lisbon’s pink street in what used to be the official red light district, is an end of the nineteenth century brothel reborn. The venue includes something like 6 rooms including a pole room. If you are lucky enough to be around on the first Wednesday of the month, you may even catch a burlesque show!
