Is Lisbon overrated or just crowded?
Lisbon is not overrated; parts of it are over-loved. Step away from the tram-and-viewpoint conveyor belt and the city still has the food, river light, tiled backstreets and neighbourhood rhythm that made people talk about it in the first place.
Answer
The hard thing about Lisbon is that its appeal is real and so is the crowd pressure. The postcard version — packed trams, famous lifts, viewpoint queues, the same few streets — can make the city feel like it is performing itself. The better version is slower and less obedient: breakfast standing up, a ferry breeze, a quiet tile-fronted street, a neighbourhood meal, a late walk down to the river. Lisbon works when you stop trying to extract it all at once. Go in expecting an easy secret and you may be disappointed. Go in expecting a beautiful, busy capital that needs editing, and it still lands.