Neighborhood
Príncipe Real
in Lisboa, Portugal
Classic queer meeting area with bars, shops and a calmer evening pace.
Where it is
On a hill above Chiado, about a ten-minute walk from the city centre and right next to Bairro Alto.
Address: Principe Real, 1250-184 Lisbon
What it is
Príncipe Real combines elegant townhouses, concept stores and restaurants with a relaxed queer scene clustered around its shady garden and surrounding bars. By day the square, with its vast cedar tree, invites you to linger; by night the venues fill up. A touch more upscale and calmer than the party-driven Bairro Alto next door.
History
With its well-preserved 19th-century architecture, the area is regarded as the heart of gay Lisbon, with bars that have run for decades. Portugal decriminalised homosexuality after the end of the dictatorship, held its first Pride in Lisbon in 1997 and introduced same-sex marriage in 2010. A memorial to the victims of homophobia stands in the Jardim do Príncipe Real.