Is Lisbon the perfect city for your stag party?

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Written by: | Last updated on March 5, 2024 | Est. Reading Time: 6 minutes

Traditionally Albufeira in the Algarve is Portugal’s main stag do destination, but in recent years more and more stag parties are looking at Lisbon as an alternative. The Portuguese capital has great weather, cheap beer, great nightlife, and plenty of low-cost flights. What more could a stag party need?

Lisbon isn’t as big as stag do location as Albufeira so, if you are looking for a big boozy weekend with the lads, you may find Albufeira is more suited to your needs. The Strip in Albufeira, in particular, is a great stag party location with plenty of bars, strip clubs, and nightclubs.

Lisbon does have great nightlife options, particularly around the Bairro Alto, but it isn’t really a stag do destination in the same way as Albufeira, Riga, or Benidorm are.

The Easy Option: Use A Stag Tour Operator

Organising a stag do isn’t easy, which is why many stag parties use a specialist tour operator like The Stag Company. They work with companies in Lisbon and throughout Portugal, and can organise the whole thing for you – activities, accommodation, and everything.

Visit: TheStagCompany.com

The Harder Option: Do it yourself

Alternatively, you could organise the trip yourself. This is going to be more time-consuming, but it could work out cheaper and will give you a greater degree of flexibility over things like accommodation.

Stag Accommodation in Lisbon

When it comes to stag do accommodation in Lisbon, the main options are either an apartment or a hotel.

A hotel is probably the easiest type of accommodation to find and book. There are plenty of hotels all over Lisbon, and especially around the city centre neighbourhoods of Baixa, Chiado, The Bairro Alto, and Cais do Sodré.

If you’re a particularly large group, you may struggle to find an apartment large enough for your group and a hotel might be your only choice. Villas aren’t really an option in Lisbon. You’ll find a few on the outskirts of the city, but the location isn’t ideal if you plan to spend the majority of your time in the city centre.

Some groups do book into hostel dorm rooms, and there are plenty of hostels in Lisbon. Hostel prices have increased considerably in the past few years, however, and you may find that sharing hotel rooms or even booking a large apartment works out cheaper.

Sites to look at:

  • Booking.com – Probably the best site for booking stag do accommodation is booking.com as it lists almost every hotel and hostel in Lisbon, as well as plenty of apartments and villas as well.
  • Airbnb – A good option for finding apartments in Lisbon. Look for apartments in and around the Bairro Alto and Cais do Sodre as this is the main party area, and you’re more likely to find apartments that will accommodate stag parties there.

Baixa and Chiado are two other areas to consider, as both are very central. You’ll also find plenty of apartments in Alfama, which is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Lisbon.

Apartments in Lisbon are often quite small, so you may need to book several close together.

A few ideas for stag do activities

  • Beach
  • Surfing
  • Go-karting
  • Water Sports
  • Paintballing
  • Paddle Boarding
  • Kayaking
  • Fishing
  • Segway
  • Buggys
  • Bike Bar
  • Watch football
  • Wine tasting
  • Zorb Football
  • Sight-seeing

Bars & Nightlife

Although there are plenty of bars and clubs all over Lisbon, the two neighbourhoods you’ll probably spend the majority of your time in are Bairro Alto and Cais do Sodré.

The Bairro Alto is the main nightlife area of Lisbon, and it usually gets going sometime after 10 or 11 at night. It’s made up of narrow streets, each of which has tons of small little bars. The bars are barely big enough to hold their clientele, so most people just go in and grab a beer or Caipirinha and drink outside on the street. Having everybody on the street means there’s a fantastic atmosphere in the Bairro Alto, and it’s very easy to get chatting to other groups of people.

Cais do Sodré is situated just down the hill from Bairro Alto, and it too has plenty of bars and a few clubs as well. People traditionally start in the Bairro Alto and head down the hill to Cais do Sodré when the bars start to close. These days, there are a lot more bars in Cais do Sodré and many of them open as early as the bars in the Bairro Alto.

Lisbon also has a growing craft beer and hipster scene too. It’s still fairly new, and nowhere near as big as it is in the US, UK, or Germany, but you can definitely find plenty of small bars and microbreweries dotted around the city.

Getting Around

Getting around Lisbon is reasonably fast and very affordable. Traffic permitting, it’s possible to get from Lisbon City Centre to Lisbon Airport by car in as little as 15-20 minutes.

Lisbon has a good public transport system that includes a metro, buses, and trams. If you’re travelling in a group, however, taxis are the most convenient and (sometimes) cost-effective way to get around.

A taxi to Lisbon Airport can cost as little as €20 or less. Split between a group of four, it’s almost as cheap as public transport.

You’ll find taxis all over Lisbon, but increasingly people are using taxi apps like Uber, Taxify, Kapten, and Cabify to get around. These apps are even more affordable than taxis, and much more convenient to book.

There are also now Tuk-Tuks all over Lisbon, like in South East Asia. These aren’t a traditional part of Portuguese culture, but somehow they’ve become a part of it. You’ll find these in the city centre, particularly around the main tourist attractions.

When to go

Lisbon generally has good year-round weather, at least in comparison to most other European capitals. It’s possible to get good weather in the winter months but, to really be certain of it, it’s best to book your stag for between April and September.

These are the warmest months, with August being the hottest. Temperatures in August can get over 40 °C, which is stifling. If you do visit Lisbon in August, be sure to book somewhere with air conditioning!

Have you had a stag party in Lisbon? Where did you stay, and where did you go? Tell us, and other Portugalist readers, about your experience by leaving a comment below. 

Written by

James Cave is the founder of Portugalist and the author of the bestselling book, Moving to Portugal Made Simple. He has visited just about every part of Portugal, including Madeira and all nine islands of the Azores, and lived in several parts of Portugal including Lisbon, the Algarve, and Northern Portugal.

You can contact James by emailing james@portugalist.com or via the site's contact form.