Lisbon, with its narrow-cobbled streets, bougainvillea-clad squares, sea views and seven steep hills (the signature yellow trams rattling up and down), suits small boutique properties that maintain a sense of character and a feeling of a home not a hotel. Lisbon, unlike so much of the world, has not gone global; it remains resolutely Portuguese, looking out to sea, with its back to the rest of Europe and its identity intact.
Below is the best of the small, stylish and independent hotels tucked into hidden corners of the capital, like Hotel das Amoreiras, set in one of Lisbon’s prettiest squares looking onto the capital’s 18th-century aqueduct, or Memmo Príncipe Real reached down a tiny alleyway that opens onto a view right across the red roofs to the Tagus River. Or secret oases like Palácio Príncipe Real, where a lush garden transports you to a fragranced, purple-hued world of wisteria and jacaranda. Little gems, all of them, and all of them waiting for visitors. These are the best boutique hotels in Lisbon.
