A Rainy Lisbon City Break in March

When we booked a March Lisbon city break I had visions of lunchtime coffee on one of Lisbon’s myriad miradouros, overlooking a sun drenched city. Of early evening cocktails in a rooftop bar, a dj playing gentle chill out tunes in the background. Dining al fresco at a table precariously balanced on the edge of one of Lisbon’s stairways.

We didn’t intend to visit Lisbon during floods. Or during a tornado. But long-time readers will know we’re not the luckiest when it comes to travel weather. See Bari. And Seville. And Brighton. We had to revise our meticulously planned itinerary – and we didn’t always make the cleverest choices. But we did manage to fit in some wonderful things during our rainy Lisbon city break in March.

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What we did in rainy Lisbon

Drank the local sour cherry liqueur ginjinha.

Drank the local vinho verdhe (green wine).

Sampled various pasteis de nata – in the event we were unable to get to the original Pastéis de Belém bakery we declared Manteigaria our favourite.

Rode Tram 28 to the end of the line (without a plan in mind how to return).

Rode our first Lisbon metro (to return downtown).

Caught a bus to the National Tile Museum. Only to realise we hadn’t actually given ourselves enough time to visit the National Tile Museum. One for the “next time” itinerary.

Visited the famous Caracol da Graça to see the amazing street art. Only to find it had all been whitewashed.

Spent a rain-soaked, beery afternoon at LX Factory

Spent a rain-soaked beery afternoon at Delirium Cafe Lisboa.

Ate sardines and cod cakes at Time Out Market.

Almost set our eyebrows alight on a flaming sausage – the chouriço assado.

Queued for half an hour for 15 minutes of fado at Tasco do Chico (totally worth it by the way).

Shared a table with a Brazilian woman and a Portuguese man who shyly admitted he was an amateur fadista.

Braved the breezy rooftop terrace at Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora.

Braved a breezy Praça do Comércio, almost getting blown into the Tagus River in the process.

Visited lots of famous dead people at the National Pantheon.

Spotted familiar book covers at Bertrand Livraria – the oldest bookstore in the world.

Took advantage of the free port in our hotel lobby.

Took advantage of the free pasteis de nata in the hotel lobby.

Why March is (usually) a great time to visit Lisbon

Lisbon has become an increasingly popular city break destination, and many people flock to the city in the summer. Unfortunately, this results in overcrowding, long queues for attractions, and flight and accommodation costs skyrocketing. Visiting in springtime means fewer crowds, and accommodation is more affordable too, which means you can get some great deals. We stayed at the Be Poet Baixa; you can search other Lisbon hotels here.

In March, the average daytime temperature in Lisbon is 15-18°C (59-65°F), with an average night-time temperature of 10-11°C (51-52°F). This was pretty spot on. There’s an average of 10 days of rain, but it’s usually light. Unless we’re visiting of course. The tourist season generally starts at Easter when the city grows warmer and starts to prepare for a long hot summer.

It does NOT usually look like this in March apparently.

Lisbon on a rainy day

Knowing our luck with weather – even in the sunniest of destinations – I now always put together a “rainy day itinerary” with plenty of indoor activities. For some reason though we were still determined to get out and about, so I largely ignored my own plan. But here are some great ideas for a rainy day in Lisbon:

Enjoy a tour on the No 28 Tram

Attend a professional fado show

Take a cooking class and learn how to make pastel de nata

Visit a museum. Top recommended museums are the National Tile Museum, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, the MAAT, the Berardo Collection, the Quake Museum and the MNAA. Some are free or have discounted entry with the Lisboa Card.

Eat at the Time Out Market or Mercado de Campo de Ourique (end of the line for Tram 28 or 25)

Watch a film at the arthouse Cinema de Sao Jorge or Cinema Ideal

Snag a table at an in-demand restaurant. The Fork is a great website/app for finding restaurants with availability.

Browse bookstores – Lisbon has loads of them including the aforementioned Bertrand Livraria – the oldest bookstore in the world

Explore Lisbon’s Metro Art – this is a handy site for a self-guided tour and is perfect if you have a 24 hour public transport ticket or the Lisboa Card.

Get tipsy on port at Taylor’s or wine-tasting at Wines of Portugal or Lisbon Winery

View marine life at the oceanarium. This was our go-to rainy day activity in Seville.

Lisbon of course is still beautiful in the rain. Sometimes you just have to embrace the opportunity to see the city from a different perspective. Plus it gave us the perfect excuse to dart in and out of cafes, bars and bakeries, on the pretence of keeping dry. 

Did the weather affect our opinion of Lisbon?

Despite the rain (and the wind, and the tornado) we both loved Lisbon. The vibrancy of nightlife in Bairro Alto and the atmospheric winding streets of Alfama. The magnificent miradouros with their spectacular vistas. The scent of cinnamon and the sound of fado. But there’s no doubt that it wasn’t the trip we’d planned. The rain quite literally put a dampener on some of our activities – our street art tour was cancelled and we decided not to take trips out to visit Belem or to Sintra.

Which means we just have to return. And hope we don’t bring the rain with us again.

October Update: we did in fact return to Lisbon – and this time we had glorious weather! You can read more about that trip here!