Locals and in-the-know travelers head to Intendente, a historic district in Portugal’s capital city that has undergone a dramatic makeover.

Lisbon is so popular these days that Thai-style tuk–tuks roam its streets offering guided city tours. To escape them, locals and in-the-know travelers head to Intendente. A mile north of the Tagus River, this tuk–tuk-free district has undergone a dramatic makeover. Long the province of drug dealers and prostitutes, Intendente in the last few years has seen its historic buildings converted into smart shops, cafes and bars. Catarina Portas turned a 19th–century ceramics factory into the capital’s second outpost of A Vida Portuguesa, her stylish made-in-Portugal boutique. Little by little, she said, the venues are “helping transform the whole atmosphere.”