Lisbon in 3 days: trams, Belém and Sintra

Three days is enough for Lisbon if you accept that you will not see Sintra properly and go anyway, or that you will give a full day to Sintra and see less of the city. I chose Sintra. I would choose it again.

One warning that no photograph conveys: Lisbon is built on seven hills and the gradients are severe. Whatever shoes you were going to bring, bring the other ones.

The route

• Day 1: Alfama, Baixa, Bairro Alto
• Day 2: Belém and the west
• Day 3: Sintra

Day 1: the old city

Morning. Tram 28 at seven o'clock. This is the entire trick and it is worth setting an alarm for. Everyone tells you tram 28 is unbearable, and at eleven in the morning it is - a queue at every stop and pickpockets working the crush. At seven it is a commuter service full of people going to work, the windows are cold, and you can hear the wheels complain on every corner.

Ride it up to Graça, get off, and walk down through Alfama - the oldest quarter, the one that survived the 1755 earthquake because it sits on bedrock, all washing lines and blind alleys and cats.

Afternoon. The Castelo de São Jorge for the view over the terracotta roofs, then down through the Sé cathedral into Baixa, the grid of streets rebuilt on a plan after the earthquake - one of the first serious pieces of earthquake-resistant town planning anywhere.

Evening. Up the Elevador da Bica or the Glória funicular into Bairro Alto for dinner. Fado in a small room afterwards: it is mournful, it is loud, and the audience does not talk during it.

Day 2: Belém

Morning. Tram 15 west along the river. Get to the Jerónimos Monastery when it opens - the cloister is the finest thing in the city and by midday there is a queue around the block.

Then the Torre de Belém on the water, and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the monument to the navigators who left from this stretch of river.

And the custard tarts. The original bakery has been making pastéis de Belém to the same monastery recipe since 1837 and there are two queues - one to take away, which is long, and one to sit inside, which is usually shorter and has room for four hundred people.

Afternoon. LX Factory on the way back, an old industrial complex turned into workshops and bookshops under the bridge. Then the Time Out Market at Cais do Sodré for an early dinner, which is a food hall of stalls run by Lisbon chefs and is genuinely good despite being extremely popular.

Day 3: Sintra

Forty minutes by train from Rossio station, and it needs the whole day. Sintra is a hillside of palaces in a microclimate that keeps it green and misty when Lisbon is baking.

You cannot do all of it. Pick two:

• Pena Palace - the yellow and red one on the summit, romantic nineteenth-century fantasy architecture. Book a timed slot; it sells out.
• Quinta da Regaleira - my choice, and the strangest. A house and garden full of grottoes and symbolism, with an initiation well that spirals 27 metres down into the earth instead of rising, connected to tunnels at the bottom.
• The Moorish Castle - ruined walls along the ridge, and the best views of the three.

Buses between the sites are slow and full. Walking up is steep but often faster than waiting.

Practical notes

• The hills are the real challenge. The funiculars and the Santa Justa lift are public transport, not attractions - use them.
• Get a rechargeable Viva Viagem card at any metro station; it covers metro, trams, funiculars and the Sintra train.
• Bertrand in Chiado has been selling books since 1732 and is the oldest bookshop still trading anywhere.
• Miradouros. The city is organised around its viewpoints. São Pedro de Alcântara and Senhora do Monte are the two to prioritise.
• Dinner is late, from eight, and the couvert - bread and olives brought unasked - is charged for. Send it back if you do not want it.