Good Enough For My Needs

Best for: People visiting Lisbon

In a nutshell: It’s an Eyewitness Guide. They have pictures and highlights.

Worth quoting: N/A

Why I chose it: I’ve tended to enjoy the Eyewitness Guides in the past, and we’re going to Lisbon later this month.

Review:
I appreciate that these books start with some history of the area that they cover. I have basically no knowledge of Portugal, other than that when I look at a map of Europe, it looks like a face to Spain’s hair. Now I know a little bit more, including it was devastated by an earthquake in the 1700s.

This book seems perfect for visiting for just a few days — there isn’t an overwhelming amount of information, and the four main areas don’t have loads of suggestions for things to do, but there’s enough to have some choices. I also enjoy that while the attractions are grouped by neighborhood, the sections on other sort of run-of-the-mill items are separated. For example, instead of scattering a few interesting bookshops throughout the neighborhood highlights, they’re all clustered together under ‘bookshops’ so I can figure out which I want to see and then build them into my time when I’ll be in that area.

I tend not to use the hotel recommendations in these books (that’s what Trip Advisor is for), but the recommendations on restaurants and just the overall discussion of what type of food to expect and seek out in Lisbon will come in handy, as will the two totally doable walking tours.

The only thing that I found lacking were the photographs. There are a lot, don’t get me wrong, but they are mostly details of buildings and parks. I’m still not entirely sure what the skyline of Lisbon looks like. (Yes, I know Google image search exists, but you know what I mean).