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Lisbon · Essentials

Essential Lisbon: from the Baixa to Chiado and back to the river

If you only have one morning in Lisbon, this is your route. It starts on Rossio, climbs to Carmo and the Bairro Alto, comes back down through Chiado and ends beneath the arch that opens onto Praça do Comércio and the Tagus. The classic postcards, told with their stories.

  • 6 stops
  • 2.6 km
  • 2 h 5 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
The Rua Augusta triumphal arch seen from Praça do Comércio

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 RossioLisbon's people's square since the Middle Ages, with wave-patterned paving that ended up travelling all the way to Rio de Janeiro.
  2. 2 Santa Justa LiftA lacy iron tower that has carried Lisboetas from the Baixa up to Carmo since 1902, and which Eiffel did not design.
  3. 3 Carmo Convent and Largo do CarmoA Gothic church left roofless by the earthquake, and a square where a dictatorship fell in 1974.
  4. 4 Miradouro de São Pedro de AlcântaraA garden on two terraces with all of Lisbon spread out in front of you: the castle, the Baixa and the eastern hills.
  5. 5 Chiado and A BrasileiraThe poets' quarter, where Fernando Pessoa still sits outside his café and where the word ‘bica’ was born.
  6. 6 Rua Augusta ArchThe triumphal arch that crowns the Lisbon rebuilt after the earthquake and opens the city to the river.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Essential Lisbon: from the Baixa to Chiado and back to the river

The classic postcards

Rossio, Santa Justa, Carmo, Chiado and the Rua Augusta Arch in a single walk.

Up and down

Lisbon is a city of hills: you'll climb to the upper town and look down on the Baixa.

Recent history

The 1974 Carnation Revolution and the 1988 Chiado fire are part of the story too.

Keep exploring

More routes in Lisbon

Back to Lisbon
HistoryFrom Olisipo to the earthquake: twenty centuries uphill Mysteries & legendsDark Lisbon: inquisitors, ravens and a curse