Chiado

If you eat one place when you're in Portugal, make it Jose Avillez's thorough, Eataly-style restaurant complex in the São Carlos National Theatre in Chiado. In addition to a grocery with meats, cheeses, canned goods, and kitchen accessories, Bairro de Avillez is home to several notable sit-down restaurants, including Beco, a 1920's-style cabaret that features a prix fixe menu and live entertainment (for 18 and older, only), and Cantinho do Avillez, Avillez's modern take on traditional Portuguese food. Belcanto, the prix-fixe-menu spot that earned Avillez two Michelin stars, is just down the street.

From the same man behind the Michelin-starred Belcanto, Portuguese chef José Avillez, Mini Bar is an unsurprisingly inventive and hip tapas restaurant, where your meal progresses in five stages of small plates in a lively, retro dining room. Presentation-heavy bites range from green apple margaritas—which are solid enough to be considered bites to be eaten, not sipped—to Algarve prawns in ceviche, served on a slice of lime topped with with beetroot and fried corn. While the menu isn't exactly cheap (and you can always stop by for just a drink or a snack), it's a more affordable way to experience Chef Avillez's award-winning gastronomical fare, while tasting as many of his creations as possible.

Great views are a dime a dozen in a city this hilly, but the view from this rooftop bar on the top floor of a busy shopping center (which looks straight out over the castle) is one of the best by far. They're known for great brunch, excellent cocktails, and dignified, destination-worthy bar food, and on the weekends a DJ sets up shop in the corner for long nights in the open air. Sister restaurant Topo Chiado (which also occupies a rooftop) is worth checking out too.

This shop sells mostly classic Portuguese products—from kitchenware to toiletries, to stationery, to… detergent and floor wax (in colorful and graphic old-school packaging, of course). It’s the perfect spot to find a gift or a souvenir, and their gift boxes (random assortments of perfectly kitsch products) are hard to resist.

Henrique Sá Pessoa first opened Alma in 2009—it was his first restaurant, and it catalyzed his career as one of Portugal's few celebrity chefs, opening more restaurants and starring in several cooking shows. Though Alma remained a coveted reservation, Pessoa made the decision to close and relocate the restaurant in 2014, switching up the decór (it's now a warm, mid-century vibe, as though the Eames's decorated an old Portuguese chapel) and recommitting himself to the innovation he was first known for. The gamble paid off—shortly after, the restaurant earned Pessoa his first Michelin star. There are several fixed menus to choose from, although the food can also be ordered a la carte. Either way, have cameras ready, as Pessoa is known for his stunning plating.