First Vacation With the Baby in Portugal (Harry Potter Edition)

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Papa Bear and I were full of excitement and anxiety before the day we took the flight to Portugal. Normally we would just be excited to go on vacation, but this time we are traveling with a baby to an unknown place.

As it turns out, Portugal was one of the best, if not the best, place to take our baby for the first time! 

We went to the cities Porto and Lisbon for a week, and the trip was so pleasant thanks to the friendly locals, sunny weather, and awesome services. All of our worries faded once we found out how baby friendly and safe the country was. 

Three Baby Perks in Portugal

1. The hotels and restaurants will heat up baby food

The Portuguese love babies. At least that was what we were told by many Portuguese themselves.    

While traveling with our baby, we met so many friendly staff at the hotels and restaurants that came to play with her.

At our hotel, the receptionist made sure that we got everything we needed to feel comfortable. We booked a local hotel right on Rua Santa Catarina that was clean and centrally located.

Not only did the staff made sure we had a baby crib ready before check-in, they also helped us heat up the baby food every time we needed. Furthermore, they went above and beyond by allowing us to use the dining area during non-dinning hours so that we could feed the baby.

Through the hotel staffs, we learned that we could ask any restaurants to help us heat up the baby food and they would be glad to do it. And it’s true!

At the restaurants, the waiters and waitresses almost always provided our baby with extra food like bread to keep her entertained. They also heated up the food for us without hesitation. 

2. No need to stand in line with a baby, ever

While we were in Porto, the number one must-visit destination for us was the famous Livraria Lello. This was the bookstore that have inspired J.K. Rowling to write about the staircase in Hogwarts from her famous Harry Potter books. 

We headed over to this bookstore as soon as we woke up the next day, but to our dismay, the line was wrapping around the entire street corner. It was a Wednesday during May and the place was already packed with tourists.

Because you have to get in a separate line to purchase the tickets, I thought I would wait in a quiet corner while Papa Bear stands in line. 

The cost of entrance was 5 EUR per person but it could be used towards book purchase as credits. We bought two children’s book for Baby Bear: The Little Prince (a fantastic book about imagination by a French author) and a souvenir book of the Lello bookstore.

We were a bit disappointed that there may be a slight chance that we couldn’t get in since the place was very small and the line was way too long. But since we were there, we thought we could ask for some information at the very least.

While waiting, a nice staff came over to greet us and played with the baby. She then asked if I was trying to purchase tickets to the bookstore and informed me that I wouldn’t have to wait in line because I have a baby.

She then explained that in all over Portugal, parents do not need to wait in line for anything. This includes bookstore, café, church, and museum.

What an amazing news! We were so relieved that we get to visit the Lello bookstore and the Majestic Café (our second must visit destination where J.K. Rowling supposedly wrote her books; we are huge Harry Potter fans in case you haven’t noticed) after all. Phewwwww.

3. Free entry and wide-open spaces for babies

Like many other European countries, babies get free-of-charge admissions to museums and transportation. 

Besides the Lello bookstore and Majestic Café, which were packed with tourists, every other place was wide and spacious. This makes traveling with a baby on a stroller enjoyable.

We were lucky to have gone during a pre-busy summer season, but even during high season, there should be plenty of parks, gardens, and beach to visit that are rather baby-friendly.

I would bring along a baby carrier though, because almost all of the sidewalks in Porto and Lisbon are made with mosaic stones. It’s a specialty of the Portuguese pavement also known as the calcada portuguesa. These stones could get quite bumpy for a stroller.

But since we had a Bugaboo Cameleon with front wheel suspension and large back wheels, I think our baby actually enjoyed the rocking motion.

For other parents with an umbrella stroller, however, we could see that they mostly had to carry their baby by hand while the other parent carry the stroller. It must be so shaky to push a lightweight stroller through the mosaic sidewalks.

Three Other Things I Learned While In Portugal

1. Baby car seat is not required in taxis

I was very surprised by this fact because it struck me as unsafe. But, “When in Rome…” am I right?

The roads of Portugal seemed quite safe, and if you don’t have a car seat but wanted to go to place that doesn’t have readily public transportation available, then this could be an option.

Keep in mind, however, that Uber requires the use of car seat. We were told that this was lobbied by the taxi industry as a “perk” over Uber. I just saw it as a loophole that taxis exploited.

2. Porto is booming and construction is everywhere

Porto is increasingly becoming a go-to destination thanks in part to J.K. Rowling’s massive success with Harry Potter and the frequent flights offered by EasyJet.

If you’re a big Harry Potter fan like we are, you would really enjoy visiting this city knowing that J.K. Rowling had lived there for two years.

In Porto, she was an English teacher and it was told that she often frequent the Majestic Café where she wrote her books. We had the pleasure to enjoy an overpriced cappuccino inside this magnificent cafe while admiring its beauty and secretly hoping that if we sat there just long enough, we, too, may get inspired.

Since there are more tourists visiting Porto, the city is developing a lot with old buildings being destroyed and under construction.

In almost every street corner, we would see renovation work underway. Fortunately for us, our hotel was not next to a building that was under construction.

Therefore, I advise to check recent reviews online before booking a hotel regarding noise level. It could get quite loud if you happen to live next to a construction site with the constant tune of ‘wrecking ball’ (and I don’t mean that song by Miley Cyrus).

3. Portuguese are hard workers

The Portuguese are known to have very high work ethics, so in terms of the construction, it went on from morning to late midnight. So again, if you’re unlucky, you might not be able to catch a break.

At our hotel, the staff actually worked two jobs – one as a hotel receptionist, and the other managing a bike rental shop next door.

She was at the hotel from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. throughout the four days we stayed there. Despite the long hours, she was always helpful and friendly, and at times tired but that’s understandable.

I was also interested to learn about the maternity leave policy in Portugal since it’s a very baby friendly country and one could only imagine how hard a mom must work there. But to my dismay, the country actually lags behind comparing to other European counterparts.

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) data, Portuguese mothers get six full federal paid days of maternity leave. This is comparing to 16 full paid days in neighboring Spain. Though this is still much better than the non-existent paid maternity policy in the United States which I wrote about here.

Final Thoughts

I must admit. The decision we made to visit Porto was largely driven by the influence of Harry Potter (can’t help it, we’re big fans), but we had always wanted to visit Lisbon. So it must be tempting to think that Portugal is full of magic, adventure and excitement, and fortunately for us, it was!

However, that’s not to say that Porto or the whole of Portugal’s magic was defined by Harry Potter.

Nay, far from it. Portugal is a vast country with its own magic thanks in part to the beautiful sunny weather, the long coastline that borders the Atlantic Ocean, the mouth-watering food (pastel de nata, anyone?) and the friendly locals who open up almost immediately to make you feel right at home.

Nevertheless, we still appreciated that small dose of Harry Potter spell during this trip.

As there’s still so much more to be discovered in Portugal, we will certainly be back in the future for more adventures.

What’s your experience like vacationing with a baby for the first time? Have you been to Lisbon and Porto in Portugal? What other places you find that are just as baby friendly as that of Portugal?

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