Lisbon Food Tours
Lisbon eats all day: a pastel de nata and a bica for breakfast, grilled sardines and bacalhau at lunch, tinned fish and ginjinha in the afternoon, and petiscos, the Portuguese answer to tapas, at night in the Alfama and Mouraria lanes. This is our Lisbon food hub. Below are the top-rated food experiences, then our cooking and wine pages.
Top-rated food experiences in Lisbon
Market and evening tastings
Why Lisbon for food? Because it is a genuine Atlantic food city — markets, tascas, the world’s best custard tart in its birthplace, and a whole cult of tinned fish — at prices that undercut the rest of Western Europe.
Formats: food tours of Alfama, Mouraria and the Time Out Market; petiscos-and-wine evenings; tuk-tuk tasting tours of the hills; cooking classes and wine tastings (see their own pages).
What to eat: pastel de nata, bacalhau à Brás, grilled sardines, bifana, ameijoas à Bulhão Pato, queijo da Serra, tinned sardines and tuna, and a glass of Vinho Verde or ginjinha.
The markets and the tascas
Start where locals shop and eat. The Time Out Market (Mercado da Ribeira) gathers the city’s chefs under one roof; the Mercado de Campo de Ourique is the quieter neighbourhood version; and the old tascas, family diners with paper tablecloths, still serve the daily bacalhau and grilled fish that define Lisbon eating. A food tour threads the ones worth your appetite through Alfama and Mouraria, the oldest, steepest quarters, where fado drifts out of the doorways at night.
The dishes and the tinned fish
Bacalhau, salt cod, is the national obsession, said to have 365 recipes; try it à Brás, shredded with egg and potato. Grilled sardines are the summer smell of the city, at their peak around the June Santo António festivals. Snack on a bifana, the marinated pork sandwich, and don’t skip the tinned-fish shops — conservas are a real Portuguese craft, not a gimmick. Finish with a pastel de nata, ideally warm from the oven in Belém, where the original recipe has been guarded since 1837.
How to do it
Food tours run for three to four hours, usually morning or early evening, six to ten tastings with drinks, in small groups. A tour on the first day maps the neighbourhoods and the dishes for the rest of the trip. To cook the classics yourself, see our Lisbon cooking classes; to drink deeper, our Lisbon wine tastings.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find the best pastel de nata?
The historic one is Pastéis de Belém, made to the 1837 monastery recipe; Manteigaria in the centre is the modern favourite. A food tour usually includes one warm from the oven.
Is the Time Out Market worth it?
Yes as a one-stop taste of the city’s chefs, though it is busy; a food tour of Alfama and Mouraria shows you the older, local side alongside it.
When are the grilled sardines at their best?
June, around the Santo António street festivals, when the whole city smells of them; they run through the summer.
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.