City Camping in the heart of Lisbon

18-20th August 2021
Camping Lisboa : https://lisboacamping.com
What3Word Location : https://w3w.co/jogging.oddly.racked
FREE WALKING TOUR : https://www.neweuropetours.eu/sandemans-tours/lisbon/free-tour-of-lisbon
Our amazing guide was Rita Jardim. You can find her on Instagram as "RitaTheGuide" 

I don’t really associate “city breaks” with camping holidays, and I think this is because it’s so hard to find decent campsites close to historical UK cities. But I need to change my perception as we have found some incredible places to park up and explore some of the loveliest cities in Europe. As we continued our trip north, we stopped off long enough to fall totally in love with Lisbon.

Although just 8 uber minutes from Lisbon's historic centre, Lisboa Camping feels like a forest campsite. It’s situated in the huge Park Florestal de Monsanto and has large, well spaced pitches that are all beautifully shaded by ancient trees. 

As well as a wonderful large pool with splash pool, and diving boards, Lisboa Camping also features tennis courts, multi-sports areas, mini golf and playgrounds providing plenty of outdoor activities for all ages. There is also a canteen style restaurant and supermarket on site.

After a good night's sleep we booked our uber and headed into town to meet the incredible Rita from Sandemans Tours. We love a free walking tour, it’s our favourite way to get our bearings and get to know a new city. Rita walked us around Lisbon bringing to life the city’s rich and colourful history. It wasn’t a dry list of dates and locations, but a series of linked stories woven around landmarks and real people. As usual, Harry and I lapped up every detail. Before we left, Rita gave us a list of places to visit and places to avoid.

We absolutely walked George’s socks off, and when we arrived back at Lisboa Camping he headed back to the pool for a well earned swim.  That night the boys picked a dish number and ate at the onsite restaurant. It was not glorious food, but like everything else at the campsite it was good enough.

When we first arrived, the campsite felt old and tired. Maybe a better description is “very concrete”.  But, it’s clean and well tended, and once we got used to it, we realised that it is old, it’s not very modern but it’s clean and well tended and a better description is that it is “of it’s time”. It does have it’s own charm, and almost feels like it could be the setting for an epic soviet spy novel.  We genuinely loved this campsite!
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#Lisbon #Citybreak #Campsite