Lisbon, Portugal, is a city to suit the family

When we think about family holidays in Portugal, they rarely involve Lisbon. But it’s a child-friendly city well worth exploring, writes Noel Baker.

You know what they seldom tell you about in all those articles about dream overseas family holidays? The moments of pure terror, so petrifying that even thinking about them afterwards makes the blood drain to your feet.

Exhibit A: on a recent family trip to Portugal, we were strolling away from a fantastic and incident-free lunch and my eldest was walking along the top of a low wall. Then suddenly the wall had a footpath on one side and a 15ft drop to the beach on the other. My heart stopped, time stood still - and she just hopped down unaided to safety.