Healthy Travel Guide to Lisbon

I spent 6 weeks in Lisbon in May and June of this year. While I’ve been to Portugal a few times when I was younger (my parents were both born there), this was my first time spending an extended amount of time there as an adult, and I loved it! It was very nostalgic for me and oddly felt like home - from the food, to the smells, to all the locals sitting around smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee in cafes.

Here are some of my favorite places if you find yourself there!

Grocery Stores/Markets:

BioMercado and Go Natural are the main organic grocery stores in Lisbon. They have organic produce, eggs, dairy, and any most other healthier packaged items you’re looking for. They also have some organic meat products and sometimes liver, but I was unclear whether they were grass-fed.

Grass-fed Meat:

My go-to for grass-fed meat and raw cheeses was Mercearia Açores/Azores Grocery. You can actually also find grass-fed meat at the regular grocery stores, like Continente Bom Dia. They will be marked from the Açores, where all meat is grass-fed, so that’s also an option!

Restaurants:

Loop for great high quality local and grass-fed meats and local produce. They have a great brunch or dinner, but the menu is fairly limited.

Ramiro is a must for the most delicious seafood - this is the place! Splurge and get at least one scarlet prawn - literally the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.

Pinóquio for really great seafood dishes, as well. It’s on a really touristy strip, so I was skeptical, but the food was really good!

Café de São Bento for the most delicious traditional marinated Portuguese steak! They have a restaurant location and also a booth in the Time Out Market.

There are a few Michelin star restaurants in Lisbon, one being Belcanto, which is impossible to get a reservation at unless you plan way ahead (which I did not). But the chef there has another lower-key restaurant, where the food is just as good, called Bairro do Avillez, which is a great vibe and good food.

I also loved both Dear Breakfast and Seagull Method Cafe for breakfast or brunch and great coffee.

Coffee Shops to Work & Chill:

Lisbon is one of the top digital nomad destinations at the moment, and because of that many cafes have “no laptop” rules, but I found a few where I was able to work from:

Comoba is a coffee shop and brunch spot I worked from often. They also have great coffee and a pretty decent menu, although it skews a little vegan. It tends to be on the busier side, so I often worked from the bar to not take up a table.

Simpli Coffee was my spot most days, as they have a few locations and outdoor seating for some morning sun along with your work. They also have great coffee and a decent menu.

Copenhagen Coffee Lab seemed to be the digital nomad spot and I often worked from there, although all their locations didn’t have enough sun for me.

Dear Breakfast and Seagull Method Cafe were okay spots to work from, as well, although I only went there to work and eat, as they were always pretty full.

Sourdough Bread and Pastries:

Da Esquina if you’re going to have a pastel de nata. Their pastel de nata is a multi-year award winner and it’s also made with butter (many bakeries make them with vegetable oil). They also have the best sourdough bread in the city.  One of the employees told me their pastries are also made with sourdough (although I’m not 100% convinced of this due to the language barrier).

Gym + Wellnessy Things:

Holmes Gym was where I worked out while I was there. It was the priciest gym in the city, but many of the gyms in Lisbon are extremely busy and the convenience of being able to be in and out was worth it to me. I didn’t try any of the other gyms, but I heard great things about Academia Life as well.

Open Hearts Lisboa has an ice bath and a sauna, along with meditation classes and sound bath workshops.

If you need a facial while you’re there, I highly recommend Flavio Vilhais. He spends most of his time in Lisbon but he also sees clients in London here and there.