Lisbon Port Adventure Advice

[disdohmai]

Hello! I am booked on the 7-night Western European (Barcelona to Southampton) in July and was hoping for some suggestions for the Lisbon Port Adventures. I recognize this route is not as common, so any info would be great.

I've never been to Lisbon so I wanted something that is broader and sees more of the sites. I'm considering either the LI50 Hop-on-Hop-off Bus (though I assume I can just purchase this once I arrive?), or the Highlights by Land/Sea (LI54), or the EcoTukTuk (LI16).

Does anyone have experience with any of them?

Thanks so much!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Ive been to Lisbon a few times for Web Summit Conference and each time I stayed a few extra days to explore the city. The HOHO Bus is well worth doing, as it gives a great overview of the city. Lisbon is built on hills, so while its very walkable, there are many steep streets. The area around the port is at the main city centre area, you can walk up the street to the main shopping and retaurant areas. The HO HO bus also has a stop at the cruise port, so there is no need to pay extra to get it from Disney.

Fish, especially sardines are a local specialty. You will find brightly coloured shops selling tinned sardines everywhere. Another local specialty is the custard tarts. They are everywhere and very cheap, about €1 each. Pro tip, look for places where you can see them being made, there are many shops which have a street facing window where you can see them being made.

Street art is a big thing in Lisbon as well.

Also, make sure you are up early for the sail in, as the city is located about an hours sailing time from open water, and the ship goes from open water up the Tagus river and under the April 25 Bridge, which is a suspension bridge similar to The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The views on the sail in are amazing, on both sides of the ship.

 

[o&smom]

We created a tour with a company called With Locals. It was our first time doing an excursion with an outside tour company. It was great!

 

[dcassetta]

Hello! I am booked on the 7-night Western European (Barcelona to Southampton) in July and was hoping for some suggestions for the Lisbon Port Adventures. I recognize this route is not as common, so any info would be great.

I've never been to Lisbon so I wanted something that is broader and sees more of the sites. I'm considering either the LI50 Hop-on-Hop-off Bus (though I assume I can just purchase this once I arrive?), or the Highlights by Land/Sea (LI54), or the EcoTukTuk (LI16).

Does anyone have experience with any of them?

Thanks so much!

I have not been on these tours, but have visited Lisbon several times. The HOHO bus will be very impersonal. You will get to see the whole city, but mostly by listening to recorded messages. But, the various routes will take you to all the things you might want to see. I would not buy it from Disney as I am sure it would be much cheaper on your own.

The TukTuk tour does a great job of seeing the highlights of the city, and TukTuk drivers are often very entertaining but with a 5-hour tour you will not have much time at any location. Perhaps you could end the tour at the Castelo and have more time to explore it and then taxi back to the ship.

The Land and Sea trip has an excellent sea portion and a so/so land portion. Lisbon really should be viewed from the water, but you will have great views when the ship comes in and out.

 

[nordkin]

We stopped in Lisbon on the transatlantic in September and did the hop on hop off bus. It was terrible and there was no way to make the complete loops in the time we were in port. The routes showed very little and the commentary was almost non existent. We and several other people complained to guest services and they refunded 60% of the cost of the tour.

 

[disdohmai]

I have not been on these tours, but have visited Lisbon several times. The HOHO bus will be very impersonal. You will get to see the whole city, but mostly by listening to recorded messages. But, the various routes will take you to all the things you might want to see. I would not buy it from Disney as I am sure it would be much cheaper on your own.

The TukTuk tour does a great job of seeing the highlights of the city, and TukTuk drivers are often very entertaining but with a 5-hour tour you will not have much time at any location. Perhaps you could end the tour at the Castelo and have more time to explore it and then taxi back to the ship.

The Land and Sea trip has an excellent sea portion and a so/so land portion. Lisbon really should be viewed from the water, but you will have great views when the ship comes in and out.

Thank you for the specific ideas about those 3 Port Adventures!

We're traveling with two kids (9/7) who aren't always the most patient travelers, so I'm ok with tours/experiences that offer breadth and not depth.

 

[disdohmai]

We stopped in Lisbon on the transatlantic in September and did the hop on hop off bus. It was terrible and there was no way to make the complete loops in the time we were in port. The routes showed very little and the commentary was almost non existent. We and several other people complained to guest services and they refunded 60% of the cost of the tour.

Do you remember which HOHO bus company this was? I saw some poor reviews of the Lisbon HOHO bus run by City Sightseeing (the last year of reviews on Tripadvisor are all terrible).

It looks like Grayline has another HOHO bus in Lisbon also?

 

[gotomu212]

We did the tuk tuk in 2019 and it was amazing. Based on your party size it will be just your family or paired with one other so it was highly individualized. We spent longer at a few sites we were very interested in but did a little more drive by on ones with less interest. Since it’s a small vehicle and you’re a small group we were able to get in and out pretty quickly and covered a lot of ground in our time.
Our driver was courteous, professional, fun, and had great interactions with our kids. We got his card and family going on a later trip used him as a tour guide and had equally great experiences.

 

[jillinastoria]

Thanks for posting about this! We're on the same cruise, and your post motivated me to look up several tours. In the end we chose a tour with Little Lisbon--it's a kid-friendly walking tour that includes a tram/funicular ride. We're excited! And the tuk tuk tour sounds really fun as well.

 

[dcassetta]

We're traveling with two kids (9/7) who aren't always the most patient travelers, so I'm ok with tours/experiences that offer breadth and not depth.

With kids that age, if you are booking through Disney, I would definitely do the TukTuk.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

We are on that same cruise! We have a party of 8, with a wheelchair and sadly there were not too many DCL options for a collapsible wheelchair. We booked a private excursion through Spaindaytours.com . They were great in making an itinerary based around all of my requests. I’m not sure though if a party of 4 would be a private tour.