Lisbon holidays

Even better, you don’t have to pay over the odds for the privilege of beach access. For summer holidays, you can compare cheap Lisbon package holidays to other city-with-a-beach deals and you’ll find some of the best bargains in Europe. 

Lisbon away from the sun lounger

Few cities are better at tempting you to abandon the sun lounger and come play than Lisbon.

Meander round Alfama for an afternoon and you’ll fall head over heels for one of the world’s loveliest medieval quarters. It’s a little faded around the edges, but that only adds to the charm.
 

If you want outrageously smart, turn your attentions to glamorous Chiado by day or the cool quarters of Bairro Alto and the sleek waterfront at night. 

In early summer, cheap Lisbon deals are still up for grabs. This is festival season, when the beaches are heating up but the hordes have yet to descend. It’s the perfect time for grilled sardines and street parties, finding out if fado is your kind of music and bagging good tables in normally impossible-to-book restaurants.

Compare Lisbon to any other European shopping mecca and it fares well here, too. Visit in the lead up to Christmas and you can browse the wares at designer pop-ups in the Time Out Market, scour the shelves of the longstanding Livraria Bertrand bookshop chain, explore festive markets and admire the sparkly, twinkly decorations that adorn just about every city square. 

If you miss that city-wide event, try Lisbon in full force on December 31 instead. The huge gathering to mark New Year on Praça do Comércio, in the city’s downtown Baixa district, is a lot of fun.