Lisbon Travel Costs: Daily Budget, Prices and Transport Passes

These are per-person figures, assuming two people share a room in hotel categories.

Accommodation is the biggest variable: about half the mid-range budget and up to 70 percent at the top end. Food and drink take roughly a quarter, while transport is cheap enough to barely register if you use day tickets.

Hotels are where Lisbon’s prices have risen most since 2020. In summer, a hostel bed costs €30 to €50 in the Baixa, Chiado and Bairro Alto, and €20 to €35 from November to March; Lisbon’s hostels are among Europe’s best and most include a kitchen. Simple guesthouses (residencial or pensao) in the Baixa side streets, Mouraria and around Avenida da Liberdade cost €80 to €150 for a double. A good three or four-star hotel runs €130 to €250, with Chiado and Principe Real at the top of that band and Graca, Arroios and Parque das Nacoes at the bottom. Boutique palaces and Avenida’s five-stars start around €300 and pass €600 in peak weeks.

Lisbon’s municipal tourist tax is €4 per person per night for guests aged 13 and over, up to seven nights, usually collected at the hotel rather than in the online price: €24 for a couple’s three-night stay. Prices peak in June (Santo Antonio), July, August and Web Summit week in November. For a full area-by-area breakdown, see where to stay in Lisbon.

Food is still a Lisbon bargain. A pastel de nata costs €1.40 to €1.60 at Pasteis de Belem or Manteigaria, a bica espresso at the counter about €1, and a bifana or a slice of cod pie €3 to €5. Weekday lunch is the best deal: a prato do dia (dish of the day) or a set menu with soup, main, a drink and coffee costs €10 to €15 in neighbourhood tascas. A sit-down dinner of grilled fish or octopus with house wine is €25 to €45 per person, a seafood feast at a marisqueira €40 to €70, and Michelin-starred tasting menus €150 and up.

Two charges catch people out. The couvert (bread, olives, cheese put on the table) is charged per item, typically €1.50 to €4 for the basics; decline it and you pay nothing. And fish or shellfish priced per kilo can turn a €25 dinner into €60, so ask the price of the portion first. Drinks are cheap: an imperial (small draught beer) is €1.50 to €3, a glass of wine €2.50 to €5, a bottle in a restaurant from €12, and a supermarket bottle of good Alentejo or Douro wine €5 to €10. Pingo Doce and Continente supermarkets sell sandwiches, fruit and pastries for picnics at a few euros. More detail is in our Lisbon food guide.

Lisbon’s metro, Carris buses, trams and lifts share one fare system. Buy a reusable Navegante occasional card (€0.50, the successor to the old Viva Viagem card) from machines at any metro station, then load it one of three ways:

A card holds only one type of ticket at a time, so each traveller needs their own card. The maths: the 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket pays off at five zapping trips, or fewer if one of them is a tram ride you would otherwise pay €3.30 for on board, or the Santa Justa lift. On a hilly sightseeing day you will easily ride five times. On a Sintra or Cascais day, the €11.40 CP version beats zapping only if you also ride the metro and trams in Lisbon several times; for just the return train, zapping is cheaper. Staying a month? The Navegante Metropolitano pass is €40 for unlimited travel across the whole region, but needs a personalised card (€7).

From the airport, the Red metro line costs €1.90 plus the €0.50 card; taxis and Bolt or Uber cost €15 to €25 to the centre. City taxi rides are €6 to €15. Funicular note: the Gloria funicular was taken out of service after its fatal derailment in September 2025, and the other funiculars were suspended for inspection; check Carris for which are running.

Lisbon’s best views are free: the Portas do Sol, Santa Luzia, Graca, Senhora do Monte and Sao Pedro de Alcantara viewpoints, the riverside from Cais do Sodre to Belem, Jeronimos’s church (only the cloister is ticketed), the Se cathedral’s nave and LX Factory. Paid entries in 2026 include the Castelo de Sao Jorge at €15, Belem Tower at €15 and the National Coach Museum at €15; the Jeronimos cloister costs a similar amount (check the ticket office before you go). The Oceanario is around €25 for adults. National monuments close on Mondays.

The Lisboa Card costs €31, €51 and €62 for adults for 24, 48 and 72 hours in 2026 (children 4 to 15: €21, €28, €35), with about 5 percent off online at visitlisboa.com. It includes all city public transport, the CP trains to Sintra and Cascais, and free entry to the castle, Jeronimos, Belem Tower, the Ancient Art museum and dozens more, but not Pena Palace or the other Sintra parks. Worked example for 72 hours: castle €15, Belem Tower €15, Jeronimos cloister about €18, three 24-hour tickets €21.75 and a Sintra return by train about €5 make roughly €75 against the €62 card, a saving of around €13. A 24-hour card (€31) pays off on a Belem day with Jeronimos, Belem Tower and the Coach Museum plus transport. If you visit two paid sights a day or fewer, skip the card and use a 24-hour ticket.

Sintra’s main palaces are run by Parques de Sintra, and 2026 adult prices on parquesdesintra.pt are:

Children under 6 enter free. Pena Palace tickets are sold for a specific date and entry time, so book online; the shuttle between the park gate and the palace adds €4.50 on some ticket types. Quinta da Regaleira is privately run and sells its own timed tickets. A realistic Sintra day with Pena (full visit) and the Moorish Castle, the train, the bus up the hill and lunch costs €80 to €110 per person; with the park-only Pena ticket, closer to €50 to €70.

Per person, two people sharing, excluding flights:

The mid-range three-day total breaks down roughly as: hotel €240 (€160 a night shared), city tax €12, food and drink €170, transport €35 (two 24-hour tickets, a Sintra train and the airport metro), sights €110 (castle, Belem Tower, Jeronimos, Pena full visit, Moorish Castle) and one fado dinner €50. Five days adds two more hotel nights, a Cascais day (trains under €6 return) and the Oceanario. Backpackers who stick to dorms, tasca lunches, one paid sight a day and the Pena park ticket stay at the low end.

Cards, including contactless and phone payments, work almost everywhere; carry €20 to €40 in cash for tram 28 on board, small tascas, festival stalls and ginjinha counters. Use ATMs marked Multibanco, which belong to Portuguese banks and normally charge no fee of their own, and avoid the standalone Euronet machines in tourist streets, which add fees and push a poor exchange rate. When a card terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, choose euros. Tipping is light: round up or leave 5 to 10 percent at sit-down restaurants.

• Eat the prato do dia at lunch for €10 to €15 and make dinner the lighter meal.
• Decline the couvert you do not want and ask the price of anything sold by weight.
• Use day tickets wisely: €7.25 for five or more rides, zapping for fewer.
• Do tram 28 from the Campo de Ourique end on a 24-hour ticket instead of paying €3.30 on board.
• Visit in shoulder season: March to May and late September to October bring hotel rates 20 to 40 percent below July and August with better walking weather.
• Picnic at the viewpoints: a Pingo Doce or Continente sandwich, fruit and a €5 bottle of wine at Senhora do Monte beats a €15 terrace snack.
• Free viewpoints, churches and riverside walks fill whole afternoons at no cost.

Lisbon travel guide · Food · Itineraries · Where to Stay