Miradouro de Santa Luzia

Of all Lisbon's miradouros, Santa Luzia is the prettiest one you'll actually find without getting lost. Perched on the edge of Alfama with views over the terracotta rooftops to the Tagus, this bougainvillea-draped terrace feels like it was staged for a film set — and in fact, it has been used in several movies and countless wedding photo shoots. Two azulejo panels on the wall of the adjacent church tell stories worth pausing for: one depicts the Praça do Comércio before the 1755 earthquake, and the other shows Christian knights attacking the Castelo de São Jorge during the 1147 siege.

The terrace sits beside the tiny Church of Santa Luzia and São Brás, whose exterior walls are covered in decorative tiles that are slowly crumbling in the most photogenic way possible. Below the viewpoint, the rooftops of Alfama cascade downhill in a jumble of red tiles, satellite dishes, and laundry lines that hasn't changed much in concept since medieval times, even if the details have. Container ships slide past on the river, looking improbably large against the old city. On quiet mornings, before the tour groups arrive, you might hear a rooster crowing somewhere in Alfama — one of the last European capital neighborhoods where that's still a plausible sound.

The terrace has become so popular that the city installed a pergola with climbing vines to provide shade, and local artists sometimes set up easels here. There's no café on the terrace itself, but several small bars on the adjacent Largo das Portas do Sol serve ginjinha — sour cherry liqueur — in chocolate cups, which is exactly the kind of unnecessary flourish that makes Lisbon irresistible. The viewpoint is a regular stop on the Tram 28 route, which means every few minutes a yellow tram squeals around the corner and temporarily photobombs the panorama.