I’ve got two places I like to be. Portugal is one.
-Cliff Richard
I was very surprised when I found Lisbon Portugal to be one of my favorite nightlife scenes. I never read anything about it beforehand and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Our night began in Bairro Alto, a large district of neighboring bars strung together by cobblestone alleys and littered with live music and friendly Portuguese young people. Feel free to grab a mojito in any bar, walk outside on the street and chat or listen to one of the many guitar players. I loved the social feel of the bar scene in Lisbon, but I also loved that this was only the first step of their night.
Drinking our extra large Mojitos in Bairro Alto
I soon became upset as I learned that the bars in Bairro Alto close around 12pm. Luckily, the Portuguese acquaintances we made (note: they spoke better English than I did) informed us that it was now time to go to the club. A stampede of people began to walk down the hill from Bairro Alto towards the clubs.
We went to Club Jamaica, which reminded me of a high-energy club in the States, except that instead of rap and house music, they played reggae. It was awesome. They also give you drink tickets at the door so a lot of my drinks were free, which again was awesome.
Drunken walk back to our hostel at 5am, this shot probably replicates my vision at the time.
The only part I didn’t like about Lisbon is this: there are Portuguese clubs and there are tourist clubs. If we didn’t meet the friends that we did, we would have never made it into the clubs we did that weekend. How do they stop you from getting into the Portuguese Clubs when you’re a tourist? They tell you that the entrance fee is something ridiculous, like $1000 dollars. Therefore, my #1 tip on visiting Lisbon is this: make friends with some natives to Portugal. You won’t be sorry. (Side Note: they’re not too bad looking either ;))
