Lisbon

Lisbon is one of those cities that catches you off guard. You go expecting a few nice views and cheap wine, and you come back three days later, wondering how to make a move there permanent. It sits on seven hills above the Tagus river — rattling trams, sun-bleached tiles, bakeries that smell like butter from the street. Flights have gotten cheaper and more frequent over the years, so finding a reasonable fare isn't the ordeal it once was. Book affordable flights to Lisbon with Dialtotravel and stop wasting time toggling between a dozen booking tabs.

Start in Alfama. It's the oldest part of the city, built into the hillside, and nobody's scrubbed it up for visitors. Streets are narrow and uneven, buildings tiled and faded. In the evenings, fado drifts out of small restaurants with no signage and six tables inside. Walk up to São Jorge Castle for the views, then wander down with no particular route in mind.

Belém is worth the tram ride west. The Jerónimos Monastery stops people in their tracks — it's one of those buildings that earns every photograph taken of it. Around the corner, the original Pastéis de Belém bakery has been turning out custard tarts since 1837. Eat them warm at the counter. That's it. That's the instruction.

Bairro Alto and Chiado are where evenings belong. Decent bars, proper bookshops, restaurants that haven't bothered printing a tourist menu because they don't need to. LX Factory — an old textile complex now hosting a weekend market — is worth a Sunday if the timing works out. And the miradouros, the hilltop viewpoints dotted across the city, are free and usually worth the climb. Miradouro da Graça gets far fewer visitors than the famous ones and has the same view.