When researching for our trip I spent a lot of time trying to budget for different locations around the world. Cost of living varies dramatically between each country that we are visiting, however, we still try to set an average daily budget of $75.00 USD. We know if we stay around this amount that we can visit all of the locations we hope to. In this post I am going to break down all of our expenses and answer the question, how much does it cost to travel in Portugal?
*Disclaimer: We are attempting to travel more on the budget side of things so obviously costs can vary dramatically. You can easily spend significantly more or less than what we did depending on your preferences.
We spent 7 nights and 8 days in Portugal. We spent 3 days and 3 nights in Lisbon, Portugal and then 4 nights and 5 days in the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost coast.
Our total daily costs of traveling in Portugal for 8 days and 7 nights was $716.23 USD for an average cost of $89.53 per day.
Lisbon
During our 3 days and 3 nights in Lisbon we spent a total of $243.25 USD for an average of $81.08 USD per day.
Accommodations – $128.58 USD / $42.86 USD per night
We spent just over $42 USD per night for a budget hostel in a good location in Lisbon. It gave us access to a kitchen and the room was OK. It was a private room though so we did not have to share with anyone which was nice!
Transportation – $17.48 USD
For transportation expenses we spent $17.48 USD on 2 Uber rides. The first was from the airport in Lisbon to our hostel and the second was from our hostel to one of the train stations in Lisbon that we needed to go to in order to catch our train down to the Algarve. There are multiple train stations in Lisbon and one was walkable, however, our train left from one that was much further away. The benefit of our hostel was that we were able to walk everywhere else in the city!
Meals – $39.35 USD
For meals we spent just over $39 USD for two dinners, two breakfasts, and some deserts. For dinner one night we just grabbed a few items to go and had a picnic down by the water to watch the sunset. For our second dinner we went to an AMAZING burger place in the Bairro Alto neighborhood. This area has the highest concentration of restaurants in the city of Lisbon so we definitely recommend it! Our hostel was right near a small grocery store that sold espresso to go and had a great bakery section where we could get croissants in the morning.
Groceries – $35.86 USD
We spent just over $35 USD on groceries which included water and food for dinner for the first night we got there because we arrived so late. As well we bought snacks for the daytime and snacks to bring to the campsite we stayed at in the Algarve.
Excursions – $21.98
We spent $21.98 USD on one excursion which was the entrance fee to Castelo S. Jorge. You can see it from many places in the city and we would definitely recommend visiting! We opted to stay local to visit Castelo S. Jorge instead of traveling outside of the city to Sintra or any of the other sights nearby. This definitely helped keep our excursion costs low.
Another way to keep excursion costs low is by visiting the many different “miradouros” or viewpoints in Lisbon. All the ones we went to are free and are a great way to see more of the city. We also visited the Praça do Comércio which is free if you do not stop to eat or drink at the surrounding restaurants. This is where we had our picnic dinner the one night. Just watch out for the many people offering to sell you drugs. We found they were everywhere in and around Praça do Comércio.
Algarve
In the Algarve region we stayed in two areas. The first being Carvoeiro and the second being Lagos. During our 4 nights and 5 days we spent a total of $472.98 USD for an average of $94.60 USD per day.
Accommodations – $261.06 USD / $65.27 per night
We spent an average of $65.27 USD per night which is significantly more (50% more) than we spent in Lisbon. We went to the Algarve during the month of August which is peak tourist season so all the prices were definitely high. While in Carvoeiro we spent just under $50 USD per night to stay in a tipi style tent at a campsite. The campsite was amazing and we would highly recommend it but even at $50 USD it was the cheapest accommodation we could find.
In Lagos we spent over $80 USD per night for a SHARED room in a hostel. The hostel was fantastic and was very clean and in a great location but $80 USD to share a room is crazy expensive. If we had to re-do our trip we would try to go to the Algarve during a non peak time when accommodations are a lot less expensive.
Transportation – $83.89 USD
We spent $83.89 USD for all transportation in the Algarve region including getting to and from Lisbon. We paid about $10 USD per person ($5 each way) for our seat reservations to go with our Eurail pass to get from Lisbon to the Algarve.
We also had to pay about $36 USD for an Uber to get from the train station in Tunes to our campsite in Carvoeiro. We quickly realized why so many people recommend getting a car for trips to the Algarve. A lot of the beaches can be spread apart and there is so much to see that having a car (or camper van) would have been way easier. However, we did opt to walk between all the beaches even though it had us hitting 30,000 steps often. We thought it was a great way to see everything! The rest of our transportation costs came from Ubers back to the train station and bus tickets to get from Carvoeiro to Lagos.
Meals – $63.41 USD
We spent about $63 USD on meals in the Algarve for the 5 days we were there. While this does not seem like a lot (just over $12 USD per day) we also cooked all our meals in Carvoerio so most of this cost came from Lagos. There are tons of options for food in Lagos so you can definitely find affordable options ($5-8 USD per person) as well as expensive options ($20-$30+ per person).
Groceries – $39.35 USD
We spent $39.35 USD on groceries in the Algarve since we cooked all of our meals for two days and we needed to buy snacks, water, etc. for the other days. A tip to cut down on cost – buy water from the large grocery stores and NOT from the small markets or beach stands. You will easily spend 10x as much on bottles of water if you buy them from the nearby stands compared to the grocery chains. We also left Portugal via an overnight train to Madrid so we bought some groceries for that trip as well.
Excursions – $0
We spent all of our time bouncing between the many different beaches, caves, and viewpoints in the Algarve. There are a TON of options for excursions like boat trips, kayak rentals, snorkeling, etc. but there is also plenty of stuff to do for free without missing out. If you are on a budget don’t worry – we really enjoyed all the free beaches and hiking we did. Plus we did not have to spend a dime to do it!
Misc. – $25.27 USD
There are a lot of small clothing stores and local markets in the Algarve so we bought a couple of things there. I needed a bathing suit since I didn’t bring one on the trip so I spent about $9 USD for one and Nicki bought a skirt for about $17 USD. Our tip would be try to haggle with the vendors because I was able to get a few dollars off the price of my bathing suit. However, they may hold firm and say no as we were not successful in getting the cost of Nicki’s skirt down at all.
Guide to 15 Beaches in the Algarve, Portugal
Overall
Overall we had a VERY difficult time finding affordable accommodations in Portugal. It’s actually the place where we have had the hardest time finding somewhere to stay that’s in our budget. The main reason is because we visited during August which is high season, especially for the Algarve.
Because our accommodation costs were so high, we obviously went over our $75 dollar a day budget for all of Portugal. We knew before even getting there that we were going to be over budget. We also had to take an expensive Uber to get to our campsite because it was pretty remote and we didn’t have a car.
Besides the accommodation and transportation, I think we did a really good job of keeping our food costs down to compensate for all the other expenses. Also it’s important to note, as seen in the excursions section, that you don’t need to spend a lot of money (or any) on activities in the Algarve!
