How did we end up in Lisbon? Well, our travels to the Azores began as expected. We took a flight from Charlotte to Newark and boarded our plane to Ponta Delgada at 11 p.m. It was a five-hour flight set to arrive on São Miguel in the Azores around 8 a.m. (4 a.m. our time.)
At the time, I thought our biggest travel headache would be jetlag after an overnight flight that wasn’t too long but man oh man I would’ve taken that challenge a million times over versus the hand of cards we were delt. About 30 minutes before we were set to land in Ponta Delgada, our pilot alerted us that we were being diverted to Santa Maria, a nearby island, due to fog. Once there, we ended up sitting on the runway for three hours before our plane took off again… but this time, we were diverted 2 ½ hours to Porto, Portugal.
While this wasn’t ideal by any means, we respected the decision to prioritize safety. What followed, however, was really, really frustrating as everyone on our flight was given a little business card by the airline and told to call a helpline when we deplaned for alternate arrangements because our current flight crew was timed out. The phone number connected us to the typical airline helpline and all passengers aboard our flight knew much more than the people we were speaking to on the phone about what was actually going on. (They were trying to put us on flights we already knew were canceled, etc.) To make a very long story short, Ryan finally spoke with one helpful man for on the phone for nearly two hours who booked us on a flight for four days later, on the exact day that coincided with a planned airline worker strike in Portugal. We were feeling so, so defeated. There were simply no alternate flights with availability for 5 (or even small groups of us if we separated like we did during our whirlwind travel to Alaska).
We spent four hours in the airport trying to figure out if travel to the Azores was possible that day or even the next but ultimately realized neither was going to happen. We then began scrambling and trying to come up with a plan that sounded decent. Portugal is an incredible country and we figured we should take advantage of being stranded somewhere that’s pretty awesome. We took two trains from Porto to Lisbon with the understanding that flights to the Azores from Lisbon are more plentiful and Lisbon, from our very quick research, seemed family friendly and fun to explore.
The boys napped when and where they could with their best stretch of sleep happening on the 2.5 hour high-speed train.
And then something incredible happened when we were about 30 minutes from Lisbon. Ryan’s non-stop research for flights found a new flight to São Miguel added by a local airline and it was a flight for Monday night out of Lisbon. Our new plan: Spend two days enjoying the heck out of Lisbon and then catch a late flight to the Azores on Monday.
We arrived in Lisbon feeling exhausted but a million times better because at least now we had a plan and a flight to the Azores on the books. I also cannot tell you how incredibly helpful I found those of you who reached out to me with Lisbon recommendations on Instagram and basically planned our 2 days in Lisbon for us via your messages. We booked the hotel recommended by many of you – the Martinhal Chiado – which was a perfect place for a family to stay.
The location was located on a quiet side street and extremely walkable to restaurants, shops and sights. The hotel itself had spacious rooms (with bunk beds!) and truly catered to families with little surprises for the boys upon our (very late) arrival, a kids club with all-day availability (we only used this for an hour the day we were leaving so the boys could play while we packed but thought it was such a cool option), free strollers you could borrow (we didn’t need one but it’s a perk worth mentioning) and a happy, welcoming atmosphere.
We would 100% recommend this spot for families traveling to Lisbon!
After checking in, we were starving and made a very late walk to Time Out Market which was thankfully open until midnight. This spot was a fantastic find as it had many, many options in one place with high-quality, absolutely delicious food. It also allowed everyone in our family to get exactly what we wanted since there was a huge variety.
We chowed down at a large cafeteria-size table and finally stretched out in bed just shy of 30 hours after we first left our house.
It’s very much my hope that this first part of my blog post doesn’t come across as complaining because that’s not my intent and I’m just trying to share our experience openly and honestly. I feel like so much of travel with kids highlighted on the internet and social media looks seamless and headache-free and unfortunately our two biggest family trips – this one and our Alaska family vacation– began on seriously bumpy notes with multiple days of our trips lost to travel issues. I do think there’s immense value in experiencing this with kids in some roundabout way, however, because we work together to come up with new plans and try to pivot calmly while still understanding that yes, it can be frustrating when the plans you’ve been excited about for months don’t work out the way you think they will.
So what did our unexpected time in Lisbon look like? The nearly 48 hours we spent in Lisbon ended up being great and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Portugal!
Lisbon, Portugal: Day One
When we were making our Lisbon gameplan on the train from Porto, one activity popped out at us immediately: Oceanário de Lisboa aka the aquarium!
Our kids love animals, especially marine animals, and we knew they’d enjoy exploring the largest indoor aquarium in Europe.
Before setting out to explore Lisbon on our first day, we all slept in because sleep had to be a priority after our horrible travel if we had any hopes of functioning well as a family. We eventually made our way to the aquarium in the late morning after grabbing breakfast at a small café near our hotel.
The aquarium was wonderful (it was our 7- and 10-year-old’s favorite thing we did) and featured an exhibition on prehistoric sea monsters with life-size replicas.
The main ocean tank included a ton of fish, sharks and stingrays. We also really appreciated the layout of the aquarium and the way it had so many viewing points to easily see all the marine life.
After our time in the aquarium, we walked along a riverfront pathway and stopped at a little playground with a zipline where the boys spent nearly an hour.
Playgrounds are our best friend when we travel because our kids absolutely still need unstructured playtime to just be free and run around.
Eventually we caught an Uber back to Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) where we wandered in and out of shops, grabbed lunch and had fun exploring.
We also rode around in a tuk-tuk and zipped all over Lisbon for an hour while learning a little bit more about the city’s history. (The tuk-tuk was our 5-year-old’s favorite experience!)
We hopped in and out of the tuk-tuk at various hot spots and once again grabbed Pastéis de Nata, the famous Portuguese custard tarts we enjoyed so much the night before when we visited Time Out Market.
They are incredible and absolutely live up to the hype!
The boys also really loved learning more about Artur Bordalo II, a Portuguese street artist and activist famous for creating massive three-dimensional animal sculptures and murals made entirely out of recycled trash and discarded industrial materials. Looking for his work all over Lisbon became a game of sorts for our family and we were so impressed by his colorful art depicting all different kinds of animals.
After our tuk-tuk ride, we walked back to our hotel and spent about an hour unwinding (aka the boys played “the floor is lava” with hotel pillows and cushions).
Once we had regained some energy, we headed out to dinner but made a pit-stop at a neon mini golf place that was 100 percent a tourist trap but also 100 percent thrilling to three boys.
Dinner once again took us to Time Out Market which we loved for all the same reasons we loved it so much on our first night in Lisbon. Gelato cones on our walk back to the hotel made the perfect dessert!
Lisbon: Day Two
Our second day in Lisbon took us to Sintra, a town about 45 minutes from Lisbon. We were highly encouraged to prioritize a day-trip here and photos and reviews had us convinced it would be a hit. One thing we did not anticipate was that one of the spots we really hoped to visit, Quinta da Regaleira, would be completely sold out. I think our kids would’ve loved exploring the grounds and tunnels of Quinta da Regaleira so much but when your trip comes together on the fly with no time to plan ahead, there are some downsides.
Thankfully tickets to the incredibly colorful Pena Palace were still available and we enjoyed seeing the castle and walking all over the gorgeous grounds. (We also took your advice and skipped visiting the inside of the castle as nearly every one of you said it was underwhelming inside, especially to kids.)
Our main walk took us uphill to see the High Cross, the highest point in Sintra. It was too foggy to see the views but we still enjoyed the walk!
Before Ubering back to Lisbon, we also took some time to explore the town of Sintra.
I absolutely love popping in and out of local shops and exploring little cafes but that’s not exactly high on the boys’ list of things they love. Thankfully the energy of Sintra was contagious and they got more into it than expected, especially when we told them they could pick out a few local treats to try and review.
Bubble gum soda = Straight up awful. Fortunately, they found some pastries and candy that got much better reviews.
Ryan and I also agreed this chicken and cheese pie we bought from a little café was wonderful!
Oh and I’m happy to report that I loaded up on tinned fish and octopus and couldn’t resist digging into the octopus on the spot.
Eventually we Ubered back to our hotel (it was oddly much cheaper to Uber to these semi-long distances than we anticipated) and the boys played in the hotel kids’ club for an hour while Ryan and I took some time reorganizing our things and re-packing for the airport. We picked the boys up and then grabbed pizza and our final Lisbon gelato before making our way to the airport to officially begin our Azores vacation! Spoiler alert: We made it!! I’m currently blogging on the plane home from our time in the Azores and really hope to share a recap of our time there soon. I’ve missed you guys!!
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