Last week we shared everything we did, ate and saw in Lisbon in our Part I. In this week’s blog post, we are now taking a deep dive into our budget and how the two of us spent around $2,000 USD during our 3 week stay in Lisbon, Portugal this summer. While we thought Porto was expensive, Lisbon actually became the most expensive city we have lived in since we started traveling around the world! Are you ready to see our numbers and find out what surprised us the most in Lisbon?
We stayed in Lisbon for 3 weeks and the two of us spent $47 per person per day, or $1,964 in total.
Where We Traveled Lisbon, Portugal |
What did we do, see, eat? Check out our destination guide of Lisbon |
Number of Days 3 weeks (from August 13, 2019 to September 2nd, 2019) |
Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious |
Total living cost $1,964 (for 2 people) or $47 per person and per day or $2,820 over a 30 days period |
Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from the local currency (EUR or Euro) to USD using a 1:11 ratio. (so 1 USD = 0.90 EUR).
With our previous trips to Montreal, Quebec City, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Oaxaca City, San Miguel de Allende, Aruba and Porto, our average monthly spend per person was around $37 / person / day (Excluding cost of getting in & out). Lisbon was above this average with a daily budget of $47 / person / day for a monthly budget of about $1,410 per person. While everything was really affordable, our budget was so high because accommodation alone represented 66% of it!
For this budget, we rented a car to spend a day in Obidos/Sintra/Foz do Arhelho, took a lot of public transportation to go on a few hikes with the Lisbon Hiking Meetup group, tried a few restaurants while also cooking delicious meals at home and enjoyed a couple of free city tours to learn more about the sights, culture and history. We did all of this while staying in a two story loft apartment that was beautifully decorated and highly functional. Our apartment was located in the heart of the city center with a terrace that had a breathtaking view of the city. And did we mention that even though the location was central, it was really quiet? What did we spend on within this budget? Well let’s look into each main budget category in more detail.
(For more details about what to do, eat, see & avoid, please check out Part I of our destination guide about Lisbon)
If you want to know every single expense we had, fill-out out the form below to download our itemized budget spreadsheet.
How much did we spend?
Note: If you are curious about how we generally decide to spend our money, check out this article where we explain our decision making process.
Accommodation: $30.75 / person / day
(Or $922 / person / month).
Similar to Porto, accomodation in Lisbon was quite expensive (especially for people visiting). With the minimum wage in Portugal still around 600 EUR/month this was surprising. We talked to a few people that have been living in Lisbon for several years and they have been experiencing a huge increase in rent due to its popularity. Accommodation remains the biggest part of our budget, we averaged 45% on our first year while slow traveling. For Lisbon, the accommodation represented 66% of our overall budget!
While we pulled some of our own Airbnb tips and got a monthly discount, we still ended up paying a lot more on accommodation than we would have liked. Also booking during the peak of the season (which is July/August) did not help.
That being said, we LOVED our apartment.
👉 You can check out our Airbnb rental listing here.
It was one of the best we’ve had because it was an apartment that a family was subletting and is normally their permanent residence. Those types of apartments work out much better for us because they are much more functional, usually have a fully stocked kitchen and there are so much more charm and care put into the decor. Sublets are also better for the local rental economy because there are unfortunately more and more cities where locals are getting priced out in place of for-profit Airbnb rentals.
Our apartment was well decorated, extremely functional, very quiet, and had a terrace that made for some great dinners with spectacular views of the city, especially at sunset. The apartment was located in the historical center of Lisbon, in the Rossio area. It was on a charming street and our host provided us with helpful lists of grocery stores and local restaurants. We were also just a 10-minute walk from the Alfama neighborhood that is a must-see in Lisbon.
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $1,291.52 on this apartment for a total of 21 nights.
Transportation: $1.49 / person / day
(Or $45 / person / month)
Since our AirBnB was walking distance from shops, restaurants and grocery stores, we only used public transportation to go explore outside of the city. The network of buses (Carris), trains (CP), metro (Metro de Lisboa) and ferries (Transtejo et Soflusa) is pretty developed, convenient and affordable.
For buses & metro, prices start at 1.50 EUR (or 1.66 USD). You will need to purchase a reloadable Viva Viagem card that lets you conveniently load as many tickets as you need to travel (cost of the card is valid for one year: 0.50 EUR – or 0.55 USD). Fares are based on a zoning system which means you pay depending on how many zones you need to cross, starting at 1.50 EUR (or 1.66 USD). Note: Keep in mind that you can only load the card with one type of zone. If you want to load a different zone onto your card, it has to be emptied first. To activate your ticket, make sure to tag it prior to boarding the vehicle. You can find metro fares here, bus fares here, train fares here and ferry fares here.
Taxis & Uber are also widely available in Lisbon. We used Uber to get from the airport to our apartment as we liked the convenience and it’s fairly inexpensive.
You also have access to bike & electric scooters pretty much everywhere in the city with companies like Lime.
⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $62.76 on transportation.
Groceries: $5.82 / person / day
(Or $174 / person / month)
We went grocery shopping mostly at Pingo Doce & the wonderful Saturday Farmer’s market (for fruits/vegetables), Celeiro / Go Natural (for cooking staples like flours, sweeteners) and Lidl (for the rest). Grocery items are really affordable in Lisbon. Check the part one of our destination guide of Lisbon for more details about each of these stores and where they are located.
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $244.29 on groceries. This covered 49/60 meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) which is about $2.48 / meal.
Eating Out: $6.72 / person / day
(Or $202 / person / month)
Lisbon has a wonderful offering of cuisines, vibe and price points so the sky really is the limit! Check the part one of our destination guide of Lisbon for our favorite restaurants.
⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $261 on restaurants + $21 on snacks for a total of $282. Our restaurant budget covered 11/60 meals (mostly lunch or dinner). The average cost of our meals was $11.86 (including tax + tip) which is 4.0 times more expensive than eating at home (by doing the ratio between what a full day of eating out would cost vs a full day of eating at home as per our budget).
Activities: $1.75 / person / day
(Or $52 / person / month)
Our paid activities in Lisbon included only tip for two walking tours and cost of transportation to go hiking. We also rented a car and public transportation to visit outside of the city and these costs are part of our “Transportation” category.
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $73.36 on activities.
Miscellaneous: $0.26 / person / day
(Or $8 / person / month)
Various purchases not worth calling out 🙂
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $10.4 on misc expenses.
Our Money Savings Tips
How did we save money for this trip?
- Avoid visiting during peak season (July and August). We made this mistake and paid a premium for our accommodation! As you can see, the cost of living was inexpensive for us except for our apartment. If we had come on the fringe months, accommodation would be much cheaper.
- Stay outside of the historical center. Again, because housing is the biggest expense, you can save a lot of money if you don’t mind walking 10-15 minutes to get into town or better yet taking public transportation. We found the outside area enjoyable and less touristy.
- Enjoy the free viewpoints. In this city of 7 (technically 8) hills, there is no shortage of amazing viewpoints around the city. There’s no need to wait in line and pay admission for the Elevador de Santa Justa viewpoint.
- Stay away from the “touristy” restaurants in the historic area. Most of them are touristy so not only are they pricey, they don’t really feature the homemade authentic cuisine you want
- Don’t take a Tuk Tuk tour. Instead take a free walking tour to have a more enjoyable experience of the city at a fraction of the cost.
- Use your two feet every day! This helped us reduce our public transportation footprint while increasing our exercise activity. Double win!
- We use travel credit cards with sign-on bonuses to maximize free miles that we then apply towards our trip to travel for (almost) free.
- Use AirBnB. AirBnB is a website that allows homeowners, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent private spaces (or entire apartments) for a fee. As nomadic long term travelers, we like to call AirBnB our home as it has helped us save a lot of money and provides us with really great places managed by wonderful hosts! Pro tip: If you sign up for AirBnB using our referral link, you will get a 55 USD credit (or the equivalent in your local currency), which should give you a pretty nice discount on your first night.
So that’s it folks! What do you think about our budget in Lisbon? Is it as affordable as you thought it was? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.
10 Comments
Marcia Shimizu · September 23, 2019 at 5:09 pm
We just spent 2 weeks in Lisbon and are currently in Porto for 2 weeks and have been surprised by how expensive accommodation and food are in Portugal, especially after all the articles I’ve read that state how inexpensive it is. In fact, we found Italy, and sometimes even Paris, to be less expensive than Portugal, primarily for eating out but even for accommodation! I guess over the past few years, Portugal has become a much more popular tourist destination and prices are now reflecting that. With minimum wages so low though, you do have to wonder how the locals can afford it.
It’s good to hear others feel it’s pricey here too! Thanks for sharing your experiences with the world 🙂
Mr. Nomad Numbers · September 23, 2019 at 5:53 pm
Hi Marcia. Maybe I should rename our post to highlight the fact that Lisbon & Porto are overhyped. Maybe the country did too much of a good job to attract people to live (or visit) what remains a pretty attractive and beautiful place on earth 🙂
We are currently in France and we do related to the fact that other place in Europe are definitely cheaper than these two big cities. That being said, outside of Lisbon & Porto we felt than accommodation, restaurant and activités where much more affordable. Maybe only Lisbon & Porto are getting gentrified which might give still opportunities to visit this country at an affordable price. We did visit the Douro Valley and it was still really affordable for the value we got out of our two day trip. For more details:
https://www.nomadnumbers.com/2-day-itinerary-douro-valley/
Skip · September 24, 2019 at 11:26 pm
Just came across your blog last month and enjoying it. I really appreciate the content you are putting together. My wife and I plan to embark on our own slow travel adventure in about a year. As a result, I will be following your blog closely. We plan to start in Southeast Asia, so we look forward to those destination reports.
I really appreciate the candid approach you are taking with your opinions on Portugal and other destinations. Please keep up the good work.
Time to go binge read and catch up on the rest of your blog.
Have fun and stay safe.
Mr. Nomad Numbers · September 25, 2019 at 6:31 am
Thank you Skip! We are really glad that you like our content. We are actually going to start a 4+ months journey in South East Asia in a few weeks, so stay tuned for that. Do you guys already have a rough itinerary for your slow travel adventure? How long are you planning on traveling? And more importantly, how did you decided that slow travel was something you wanted to do?
Lastly, if you want to stay it touch, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter. We do share additional content over there that you won’t find on the blog: http://nomadnumbers.com/newsletter
Skip · September 26, 2019 at 12:34 am
Great, looking forward to your Southeast Asia reports.
We do not have a set amount of time for how long we travel. Right now, the plan is indefinitely.
Currently, our SE Asia Itinerary is rough, but we have a year to finish putting it together. My spouse is Chinese and was born in Vietnam. She came to the U.S. with her family when she was a little girl. She speaks fluent Cantonese and can pick up a little Vietnamese. She is very excited about exploring that part of the world. As a result, we will be spending quite some time in SE Asia. Others places will follow of course.
The current plan is to start in Thailand, probably Chiang Mai, as I think it will make for an easy transition. We also plan to explore Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines… perhaps Cambodia and South Korea. Others may be added as we go. The plan is to go really slow, at least a month in each destination, as well as return more than once to some countries. Visa requirements may dictate how long we stay and how many times we return.
How did we decide slow travel was the way to go? We kicked around a few ideas, such as RVing, as well staying put in our paid off house and using it as base to travel from until we found our little utopia. We finally came to the conclusion that selling the house and travelling full time through LCOL countries made the most sense from a financial and lifestyle standpoint for us. Travelling slowly will allow us to immerse ourselves in the culture and really get to know places. We also want to take our time and try not to burn ourselves out on travel. We do not feel like we need to see everywhere within a certain amount of time. If we like a place, we may stay a little longer before we move on.
Hopefully, a slow travel lifestyle will also help us to meet more like minded people. Perhaps we will run into each other one day 🙂
Safe Travels!
Mr. Nomad Numbers · September 26, 2019 at 6:31 am
True everything you said! We are grateful for our blog as it has became a magnet to attract slow travelers & like minded people and I already know that if we path do meet it will make for a wonderful encounters.
While we left the USA without a paid house (we gave noticed to our rented appartment). After our first year of travel we felt that slow traveling for life might be a bit tiring on the long run and that we should be on the lookout for a place to have a base. While I don’t think I’ll be tired as quickly as Mrs. NN, the need to build a local/physical community seems of a few good friends seems to be one attract me to this option. (You can learn more about our reflection here: https://www.nomadnumbers.com/pros-cons-of-a-nomadic-lifestyle/)
Slow travel (& slow living) is a wonderful way to open yourself to the world and something I would not trade for the more “static” life we were use to have. But let’s see if we do miss community as much as we currently think.
Thanks again Skip for your wonderful comment and enjoy the journey!
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