18 Best Bars in Chiado and Bairro Alto, Lisbon

Bairro Alto is home to several of Lisbon's leading fado houses—venues where singers belt out soulful standards, accompanied by both the lute-like Portuguese guitarra and Spanish guitar—and Adega Machado is one of the best. Its artistic director is Marco Rodrigues, a leading member of the current generation of fadistas, who regularly performs here, along with Isabel Noronha, Bárbara Santos, and Pedro Moutinho. To attend the evening show at 9 pm, you must make a dinner reservation, so arrive in good time to choose from the range of traditional dishes (à la carte with mains at €30, or a €47 set menu, one of which is vegetarian). For just a taster, drop in for their daily 5 pm Fado Inside the Box 45-minute session (€17 including wine and snacks). Nearby Café Luso, at  Travessa da Queimada 10, is another famous old venue, part of the same group.

Occupying three stylish terraces—designed by Pritzker laureate Álvaro Siza—below the ruins of the Convento do Carmo, this bar is in a prime location next to the antique Elevador da Santa Justa, but it can also be reached by taking a regular elevator (for free) from Rua do Carmo. The cocktails and views are the main attraction, but there’s also a tempting array of light meals like salads and homemade burgers. Most weekends DJs liven things up from mid-afternoon until late.

For a sophisticated sundowner before a full night out, head to this leafy roof terrace with sweeping city views. The cocktails are excellent, whether you order a classic margarita or a signature Lumi Negroni (made with infused gin, Portuguese vermouth, and Madeira wine). Light meals and snacks are prepared with seasonal ingredients by Chef João Silva.

This fun and funky bar retains the giant wood-fired oven that harks back to the building's previous life as a bakery. There's now a spacious rooftop terrace, but the interior is still reliably packed with hipsters who've turned out to hear the hottest local DJs. The lengthy cocktail menu and famous shots of strong spirits can ramp up a night on the town.

On Friday and Saturday nights, DJs pack the dance floor at this local favorite, a tiny space that's nevertheless more of a club than a bar. It's usually quite crowded, so many patrons grab a drink and enjoy it on the street.

Stepping into this bar is like entering a wine cellar; hundreds of bottles cover the stone-arch interior. It's owned by Portugal's largest producer, Sogrape, and serves as a showcase for its wines from across the country (and from its estates in New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and Spain). To accompany your wine, order some ham from acorn-fed Iberian black pigs, salmon ceviche, or beef carpaccio or something more substantial such as slow-cooked veal cheeks.

A group of friends got together in 2015 and created their own craft beer, which resulted in Lisbon’s first brewpub. It’s found on a steep street with steps linking downtown to Chiado and Bairro Alto and has tables outside for afternoon or after-dark drinks and snacks. In addition to its own brand, it offers five other made-in-Portugal craft beers on tap.

Tucked away in the back of Bairro do Avillez—the "neighborhood" of eateries overseen by top local chef José Avillez—is this fun burlesque-themed gastrobar. Here you'll find a menu of small plates with some of his greatest hits, divided into different “acts.” You may choose to just have a drink and enjoy the "opening act,” or stay on for live music and/or DJs and dancing on Wednesday and Thursday nights—and on weekends a show, too.

A bar that doubles as a barbershop, or vice versa, this is where Lisbon’s coolest guys come to ensure they look sharp for a night on the town. The interior is classically decorated, a comfortable space for men (and women) to relax with a gin at any time of the day or night.

The name says it all: this space used to be a pharmacy, and you’d just need to take a peek inside to know that. The medicine cabinets are still there, although they now display strikingly backlit bottles of wine. All the wines on offer are from Portugal and can be poured by the glass, to be accompanied by cheese and meat platters. Other choices change daily, to be enjoyed at the barrel tables.

Take the elevator and ramp to the top of an unassuming multilevel car park to emerge onto a leafy terrace where a trendy crowd sips cocktails and DJs spin tunes to the early hours, against the backdrop of Lisbon's stunning skyline. There are several bars and seating areas, but it's standing room only as soon as sunset approaches.

Partiers spill out into the street from the massive front doors of this former old-world tavern, now a gay-friendly bar, one of the busiest in the area, whose dance floor attracts a lively crowd keen to dance to Brazilian beats. Shots and cocktails keep the party spirits flowing until the early hours.

A building that once housed the Brazilian consulate was turned into a hotel, Le Consulat, with this classy second-floor bar whose windows open to a view over Praça de Luís de Camões. Open until midnight Wednesday through Sunday, it’s a place to enjoy pre- or post-dinner drinks and snacks to the sound of chill-out beats and also to admire some art, as it’s connected to a gallery of Portuguese and international contemporary art. There's a surf shop, too, adding to the relaxed vibe. The drinks menu is quite long, offering Portuguese wines, tea, gins, and cocktails.

Unlike most other wine bars in town, this one is open from midday. It has inviting outdoor seating and a tastefully designed interior that tells the story of Sandeman, one of the best-known port wine labels. Naturally, it was founded in the city of Porto in 1790; it opened this outlet in the capital in 2016. Since then it has been offering all of its different types of wine—plus port wine cocktails—along with desserts and a couple of food options.

Dress to impress (no sneakers) if you want to get past the door staff at this fancy rooftop hangout, which caters to a well-heeled crowd. The terrace offers Lisbon panoramas, and glass walls mean that even those who make a reservation to drink and dine indoors can appreciate stunning vistas in all directions.

A refined place to start off your evening (it is open during the day, until 7 pm) is the relaxed Solar do Vinho do Porto, on the first floor of a grand former palace, the rest of which is now an upscale hotel. Here you can sink into an armchair and sample port wines from a list of several hundred. You can also buy bottles to take away.

The fado-loving owner of this informal space—once used to store olives and sausages, now lined with photos of famous fadistas—opened this bar serving simple food almost three decades ago; it has established itself as the city's best-known venue for fado vadio, or "vagabond fado," with mainly amateur singers, on Monday and Wednesday. Performers put their heart and soul into it (some even have half-decent voices), and the very competent musicians hold things together. Later on, professionals often turn up to do a turn when nearby fancier fado houses close. Tasca do Chico has an offshoot in the Alfama neighborhood, at  Rua dos Remédios 83, where there's fado Thursday through Sunday.