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Lisbon’s Portela airport has one terminal and not enough direct-access gates, so some flights disembark via buses. Transfers to the centre, 7 km (4 miles) away, cost €8–12 by taxi. Allow 20–30 minutes, or twice that during the rush hour.

Santa Apolónia station, on Lisbon’s eastern waterfront, is the terminus for trains from Madrid and the north of Portugal. Trains from the south and east arrive at Barreiro on the Tejo, from where a ferry makes the crossing to Terreiro do Paço.

From the south and east, drivers arrive on the A2 motorway. The A12 branches off the A2 just after Setúbal and leads to the 17-km (11-mile) Vasco da Gama bridge, which is the best approach for the north and east of the city. For the centre and west, you should stay on the A2 and cross on the 25 de Abril suspension bridge. Arrival from the north is on the A1.

Trams and funiculars are Lisbon’s most appealing forms of public transport, but not its most efficient. The most useful trams for seeing the city are the 28 and the 25. The 15 runs on a modern line from Praça da Figueira to Belém and Algés and is the only fast service. Funiculars carry weary lisboetas up three of the city’s hills.

Covering most of the city except the west, the metro is the fastest way of getting around. Trains run from 6:30am to 1am. Tickets for buses are the same as for trams and funiculars. They may be bought on boarding or in advance at Carris booths.

The busiest crossings over the Tejo, for both cars and passengers, are at Terreiro do Paço and Cais do Sodré. Ferries leave Belém for Porto Brandão and Trafaria, which have bus services to the Caparica coast.

The Transtejo ferry company operates a daily river cruise from Terreiro do Paço, which leaves at 3pm and returns at around 5:30pm. Carris Lisbon tours, on open-top double-decker buses and tourist trams, depart from Praça do Comércio throughout the day. They also operate a river cruise from the Alcântara docks at 4pm from Tuesday to Saturday.

Cream or black-and-green Lisbon taxis may be hailed, caught at ranks or ordered by phone. Fares are low for Europe. Tourist taxis are dark and unmarked except for a green “A” on the bumper. They cost more and may line up at the airport taxi rank. Tipping is common.

Trains to Estoril and Cascais depart from the riverside Cais do Sodré station. Some terminate at Oeiras along the way, requiring a change. Trains to Sintra depart from Rossio station.

Summer is, of course, high season. After August, things calm down, while the sea is as warm as it ever gets. Later autumn can be very pleasant; December to February usually brings damp and chilly weather. Early spring is one of the best times to make your visit.

Book hotels well ahead for stays in June, July and August. Expect mid- to top-range hotels in central Lisbon, Cascais and Estoril to be busy all year round. You may be asked for written confir-mation, with a credit card number, by fax or e-mail.

EU nationals with a valid passport or identity card may stay for six months before needing a residence permit. Most non-EU nationals can stay for 90 days without a visa. Regulations are subject to change, so check with a Portuguese embassy or consulate before your trip.

Limits on what EU citizens may import for personal use are set high, though weapons, plants and perishable foods are not permitted.

Lisbon may not have kneeling buses or babycare facilities at every turn, and its pavements require all-terrain push-chairs, but most lisboetas have an effusive love of children. Only the very smartest restaurants frown on toddler guests, and making noise is a virtue, not a sin.

Lisbon’s tourist office is an association with more than 400 paying members. As a result it has a corporate feel and usually offers snappy service, but its members tend to be promoted at the expense of non-members.

Besides the Welcome Center’s website, which can be slow, try www.cm-lisboa.pt/turismo for tourist advice; www.maisturismo.pt for hotel listings; www.lifecooler.com for restaurant and bar listings (though it is in Portuguese); and www.portugalvirtual.pt for general information.

Agenda Cultural is a monthly events and listings mini-magazine. It covers just about everything, is generally accurate – and can be picked up for free at many hotel receptions and tourist attractions. The tourist association’s monthly Follow Me Lisboa has the fullest coverage of events in English. A round up of weekly events can also be viewed at the le cool website.

If you want an English-language newspaper try The Portugal News or The Portugal Resident, both published in the Algarve and aimed at expats, but with some useful information for visitors.

Visitors to Portugal do not need vaccinations or to take any other health precautions ahead of their trip. Once here, a good suntan lotion is a must, particularly if you are fair-skinned. Tap water is safe, but tastes of chlorine.

Beware of currents and undertow in the sea, and don’t ignore the safety flags: red – no going in the sea; yellow – no swimming; green – all clear. Nasty stings in shallow water may be from poisonous scorpion fish (peixe-aranha) buried in the sand. The temporary intense pain and swelling can be alleviated by applying heat to the area; alternatively seek the help of a lifeguard.

Pharmacies are marked by a green cross. Pharmacy staff often dispense advice as well as medication. A closed pharmacy will have a sign in its window telling you which local one is open.

EU citizens are entitled to free or sub-sidized medical treatment if they have a European Health Insurance Card with them (the replacement for the E111). If you don’t have the card, but pay into your country’s social security system, the cost of treatment can be claimed back later, at risk of bureaucratic hassle. Private health insurance is likely to lead to more efficient treatment.

Lisbon remains a safe city by the standards of most European capitals. Visitors should be wary of pickpockets – particularly on public transport – and of leaving valuables in hired cars. More serious crime is mostly confined to certain outlying areas, but walking alone at night through districts with little nocturnal activity – such as the Baixa – is not recommended.

The PSP (Polícia de Segurança Pública) has a benevolent, if slightly inefficient, image. There is a police station for tourists on Restauradores, next to the national tourist office in Palácio Foz. The GNR (National Guard) has a tougher reputation.

Foreigners are often incensed by aggressive and dangerous Portuguese driving habits.

By southern European standards, Portuguese men are not that predatory. However, even pairs or small groups of women may be hassled on beaches and in clubs. It is often more effective to confront the pest loudly than to ignore him, particularly if there are other people around.

Disabled people will find that the metro is the most accessible form of public transport. Lisbon is hilly and has narrow cobbled pavements with parked cars often blocking the way. Most new public buildings offer good disabled access; a lack of facilities elsewhere is often compensated for by a willingness to help.

Euros are the currency in Portugal. Coins are frequently used, even the smallest denominations. Large-value notes are quite rare and may be viewed with suspicion.

Major credit cards, with the exception of American Express, are widely accepted in bigger hotels, shops, restaurants and bars.

Known as Multibanco in Lisbon, cash dispensers are ubiquitous. Most now accept debit and credit cards from the major card companies, but transaction charges apply.

Banks are the easiest places to use if you want to change money and charges don’t vary widely. For the less common currencies, and after banking hours, seek out one of the Forex services in Rossio or one of the city’s few money-changing machines, such as the one opposite the Avenida Palace hotel.

Correios (post offices) are dotted around the city, but for buying stamps use the red, coin-operated dispensers as this will save you joining lengthy queues. First-class mail is known as correio azul. The main post office on Restauradores is open at weekends; others operate 9am to 6pm on weekdays.

There are three mobile operators: TMN (with numbers beginning 96), Vodafone (91) and Optimus (93). Coverage is good. Though rarer now, there are still public phones in Lisbon. With a phone card (available from post offices, newsagents, tobacconists and Portugal Telecom shops), they can be the cheapest option. There are fewer coin-operated phones, and they are less economical. All numbers within the country have nine digits. To call abroad, dial 00 and the country code first.

Sociable Internet cafés include NetCenter Café and Net@ria. Internet access is also available at PostNet and at Forum Picoas opposite the Sheraton . Most of these also offer Wi-Fi access. Other wireless hotspots are at hotels, shopping centres, some post offices, McDonald’s restaurants, motorway petrol stations and the airport.

Local dailies include Público and Diário de Notícias, both of which carry cinema listings.

There is plenty of choice in music stations. Capital (100.8FM), RFM (93.2) and Antena 3 (100.3) are all middle of the road. Oxigénio (102.6), Mix (103) and Orbital (101.9) are more dance oriented. Marginal (98.1), Baía (98.7) and África (101.5) are mostly easy listening, while Antena 2 (94.4) is classical. The state-owned TV company is RTP: RTP 1 is commercial, with various sub-channels, and RTP 2 is culturally oriented. SIC, operating a plethora of channels, and TVI are private broadcasters. In Portugal foreign-language films are subtitled, not dubbed. Most hotels offer ample cable choice.

It is always better to book a restaurant table in advance, though usually only necessary for dinner, weekend lunches and at the most popular places. A few restaurants do not take reservations, in which case arrive before 8pm to avoid a wait.

The Portuguese do not eat as late as the Spanish. Most restaurants open between 7am and 8pm and close between 11pm and midnight. Lunch kicks off at around 1–2pm, and gets later and longer at weekends. During the week, a late lunch is a good way of avoiding a wait; for dinner, an early start has the same result.

To varying degrees, all Portuguese restaurants place a selection of appetizers – usually cheeses, olives, bread and perhaps ham or salami – on the table before you order anything. These are often delicious, but they are not free. In many cheaper restaurants, they may end up doubling the cost of the meal. If you don’t want to be tempted, just ask the waiter to remove them.

Many restaurants have the laudable policy of displaying their meat and fish in glass-fronted refrigerators, allowing you to judge their quality and freshness. With fish, waiters will often bring the raw fish to the table for inspection. If you are in a hurry, or just hungry, order dishes listed as pratos do dia, dishes of the day. In general, fish is served with boiled potatoes and meat with chips and sometimes rice. However, this habit can be broken at the customer’s request.

Traditional restaurants – and Lisbon still has many in this category – serve portions calculated to meet the calorie requirements of manual labourers rather than office workers or weight-conscious visitors. There is an established system of half portions – known as meia dose – that operates particularly at lunchtime. You get less food for your euros at more up-to-date restaurants, which serve smaller portions.

A five to ten per cent tip is regarded as fairly generous after a meal in a restaurant. There is no obligation, and at lunch, in cafés or at bar counters, tips are much smaller.

Hotels are graded with one to five stars, based on a fixed set of criteria covering most aspects of comfort. Pensões are classified from 3rd (lowest) to 1st (highest) grade, while the most luxurious are albergaria. Bear in mind that a one-, two- or even three-star hotel will be more basic than the top categories of pensão.

Most hotels’ prices vary considerably over the year, and the margin for bargaining is quite large in Lisbon’s now slightly over-supplied hotel market. It is also worth remembering that some of the business hotels regard summer as their low season.

Shop hours are from 9am to 1pm and 2pm or 3pm to 7pm on weekdays. On Saturdays, shops are generally open until lunchtime and they close all day Sunday. The large shopping centres are an exception; many of their outlets are open through-out the day, until 10pm or 11pm, all week.

The rush hour is roughly between 8:30am and 10am in the morning and 6pm and 8pm in the evening. While the trains are packed, the metro is much less affected. At peak times, it is best to allow about 40 minutes for the taxi ride to the airport from the centre.

Sintra suffers more than most from the weekend onslaught. Tour buses clog the roads and obscure the views, the queues to the main sights seem interminable, and cafés and restaurants are subject to frenzied rushes. In the week it is a different place – but bear in mind that the National Palace is closed on Wednesdays.

Driving in Lisbon is generally unnecessary for visitors: distances are not huge, public transport covers most of the city and taxis are fairly cheap. Navigating its streets can be challenging – and Portuguese patience evaporates behind the wheel. Besides, the city is best discovered and enjoyed on foot. If you must drive, weekends are quieter than weekdays.

Lisbon’s pretty cobbled pavements are not even and get lethally slippery as soon as it starts to rain. If you intend to walk further than to the local restaurant, wear properly supportive, rubber-soled shoes.

The city’s pavements can also be real minefields of dog mess, particularly in residential areas. Dog owners are only gradually starting to clean up after their pets. A few moped dog-mess hoovers are sporadically deployed.

A considerable proportion of Lisbon restaurants do not open on Sundays – and most of those that do close on Mondays instead. On either of these days, it is best to check with the restaurant before turning up.

Fado represents a tourist obligation in Lisbon, which means that there is a market for packaging it in cost-effective ways. Culture loses on this, though, as does the experience you take away. Approach fado through the less grand fado vadio venues, then move on to the better fado restaurants (see Fado Venues ) if you feel smitten by it.

Lisbon is a city that takes its coffee seriously, but cafés indulge in one bad habit: keeping coffee warm for making the Portuguese equivalent of a latte, known as a galão and served in a tall glass. Ask for a galão de máquina to ensure that a freshly-made jet of coffee goes into yours.

Chips are a staple of Portuguese restaurants, and the deep-fat fryer is switched on throughout the day in most of them. In small, badly ventilated restaurants – that is, the majority – this may not be noticeable or particularly unpleasant at the time, but after leaving you will carry a strong smell of burnt deep-frying oil in your clothes. Some counter-measures include wearing a leather jacket; sitting outside; going to a sushi restaurant; or airing your clothes on your hotel balcony.