Lisbon is a wonderful city that you don’t have to spend a lot of money in to enjoy. But that doesn’t mean we’re not always on the lookout for ways to make your money go further! Browse our Lisbon money saving tips to make sure you make the most out of your next trip.
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1. Visit a free museum
Lisbon has some fab free museums – which is great as you can get a dose of culture without opening your wallet.
Check out the money museum, and learn about the history of currency across the world.
If you fancy seeing the Lisbon of years gone by, you can descend beneath the Millenium Bank building to explore remains from over 2,500 years ago. This is the Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros, where you can see ancient parts of Lisbon like roads and wells – even sardine tanks. It’s free to enter and they also run free guided tours led by actual archaeologists too.
There are also some paying museums in the city that have free entry at certain times. For example the Gulbenkian Museum (which is closed for renovations Mar 2025 – Jul 2026 but will keep a collection of artefacts on display between Apr and Aug 2025) is free on Sundays from 2pm. Plus their gardens are always open for free.
And if you’re a student or a young person, most museums that charge a fee will offer you a discounted rate. Even if you don’t have an international student card (ISIC) just take along a form of ID or a university card instead.
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2. Listen to a free Fado show
If you’d like to try something authentically Lisbon, then go along to a free Fado show.
Fado is an old folk music genre that began in the Alfama district. Songs are about the struggles and hardships of day to day life, and are often quite melancholic.
Lots of places will host nights where you can watch a Fado show for free, so it’s a great option for an activity that will help you save money on your Lisbon trip. You’ll need to pay for a meal or drinks, but as you’ll probably need to do that anyway, it’s a nice way to get a little something extra included.
Fado bars are generally pretty small and intimate, so be prepared to arrive early and it may be a squeeze to get a seat. Try popular spots Mesa de Frades – an incredible tiled chapel – atmospheric Ai Nini or Tasca do Jamie, where you’ll feel like one of the family.
3. Don't pay for the Santa Justa lift
Lisbon’s ornate Santa Justa Lift (Elevador de Santa Justa) is a rather surprising find in Baixa, tucked away between the buildings. It connects the lower streets here with Bairro Alto above. To ride the lift up and back costs €6 (£5), but for those of you who can, you can save that cash (and sack off the queues) by walking up instead.
Find your way to Largo do Carmo, and then take the street that winds down the right hand side of Carmo Archeaeological Museum. At the end you’ll find some stairs which you go up to reach a bridge that connects to the top of the lift.
If you don’t want to cough up €1.50 (£1.25) to access the viewing platform, just stay on the bridge area and enjoy the views for free.
4. Consider getting a Lisboa card
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m sometimes sceptical of city cards, as I find they don’t always include the things you really want to do.
However the Lisboa card can be a really great deal if you were planning on squeezing a lot of the sites it offers into your trip anyway.
The Lisboa card includes public transport, and free or discounted admission to loads of the sites, museums and galleries. For example, you get free entry to Belém Tower, Jerónimos monastery, the Tile Museum, Santa Justa Lift and São Jorge Castle. There’s also 20% off entry to Lisbon Cathedral, 10% off entry to Pena Palace in Sintra, and it even includes the trains to Sintra and Cascais.
You can get a card for 24h, 48h or 72h. They start at €25.65 for 24h, which can be great value if you’re travelling around all day and planning to tick off over 3 different things.
The table below shows you the individual costs of visiting 4 attractions in a day and paying the individual entry fees, plus a 24h transport pass – you can see it’s a big saving! €37.35 to be exact.
Attraction | Cost |
|---|---|
Total | €63 |
Belém tower entry | €15 |
Jerónimos Monastery entry | €18 |
Tile museum entry | €8 |
São Jorge castle entry | €15 |
24h public transport ticket | €7 |
5. Visit during low season
One way to shave some money off your trip before you’ve even begun is to visit during the low season, when prices for flights and accommodation are lower. In Lisbon this is roughly between November and March.
Whilst Lisbon is great in summer, with lots of fun rooftops and proximity to great beaches, it’s also hot and crowded. So, a visit in winter can offer you a different experience. Temparatures stay pretty mild – I was in a T-shirt and light jacket in November! – and whilst I’d say pack a brolly, it’s not like you wouldn’t be carrying one around back home!
At Christmas time, the streets are dressed up with Christmas lights, which stay up until Kings Day on January 6. And with fewer tourists about it’s a more chilled experience – popular spots like Belém, Sintra and even the old trams will be a bit quieter.
Travelling off peak is one of our favourite Lisbon money saving tips and we like to use it as an excuse to book a much nicer hotel!!
6. Stay outside the centre in Parque das Nações
Think about staying in a cheaper area to save some money on your accommodation – if you’re staying for a few nights it can really add up!
Portugal’s capital isn’t a huge city, so even if you’re staying on the edges, it won’t take you long to travel to the centre of the action, and that way you can save money on your Lisbon trip.
A cheaper area to stay can be Parque das Nações, a newer city district that was built for a world exhibition in the 1990s. It’s on the northeastern side, close to the airport. There’s a Moxy here – you know I love a Moxy! – and plenty of affordable accommodations to choose from. Hop on the metro at Oriente and you’ll be in the centre of Lisbon in under 20 minutes. Plus you’re close to the airport for when you arrive and depart – which is pretty handy.
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7. Use a navegante card to get around
The Lisbon transport network accepts contactless payments, but it’s actually cheaper to get a loadable card, called a navegante card.
This is because individual journeys with contactless won’t automatically be capped once you spend a certain amount, so if you’re covering a lot of ground it can get expensive.
Buy your navegante card at Lisbon airport or from a ticket machine at one of the metro stations. It costs €0.50. Then load it up with the ticket you need for your journeys. The ticket types are:
- A single ticket – for one metro, bus or tram ride. This costs €1.85.
- A 24h ticket – this costs €7 for unlimited journeys on the metro, bus and tram. It’s €10 if you want it to include the Tagus river ferry, and €11 if you want it to include the trains to Sintra and Cascais.
- Credit that you use on a pay as you go basis (known as ‘zapping’)
The only thing to bear in mind is that it can only hold one type of ticket at a time. So for example, if you load it up with 3 single tickets, you’ll need to use those up before you can load it with a 24h ticket.
8. Check the cost of an Uber
Taking an Uber or Bolt is pretty cheap in Lisbon, and you’ve got local taxis too. If you’re travelling as a group, or even as a pair, it can be the same price or cheaper as taking public transport – depending on exactly where you’re going.
Just note that if you are taking an Uber to somewhere with narrow or pedestrianised streets, like Alfama, your car may not be able to drop you right outside your destination, but they will get you as close as they can.
9. Try local snacks
One of my favourite things to do when I travel is to check out the local dishes and snacks in the place I’m visiting.
Not only are the local eats delicious, they’re often pretty cheap as well. They make a great option for lunch out and about instead of sitting down in a restaurant which is more expensive.
The city has plenty of options for takeaway and food-on-the-go, and not just the pastéis de nata! Try the local pork sandwich, the bifana, which is pretty filling, and remember that smaller, family-run cafes and restaurants that are a bit off the beaten track will be cheaper than the more tourist-focused places in popular areas.
On the flip side, another tip is to seek out international cusines in more multicultural neighbourhoods, where you can find dishes like ramen and curries at affordable prices, which is another great way to save money on your Lisbon trip.
Pastéis de nata
The famous custard tart from the Belem district of Lisbon. Try it at the original Pastéis de Belém or Manteigaria which has a few branches throughout the city.
Bifana
A local pork sandwich you can have straight up with mustard, or try variations like suckling pig or crackling.Try it at Ais Bifanas do Afonso in Baixa or O Trevo on Luís de Camões square.
Ginjinha
The local sour cherry liquer. Take a shot – and have one for the road – at Ginginha do Carmo or A Ginjinha, both near Rossio square.
10. Only eat foods in season
Lisbon has loads of great foods that are delicious to try, but avoid eating them when they aren’t in season. If you see them on the menu, it’s possible they’ve been frozen or flown in to appease tourists looking to tick them off their list. And you’ll probably get charged more too!
For example, generally you’ll find the freshest sardines between May and October, although you might find some as early as March. You can get fresh seafood all year round. There’s also a bit of a consensus to avoid eating fish in restaurants on Mondays, as it’s unlikely to be super-fresh (fishing isn’t done on Sundays).
Once of the best fish markets in Portugal is in Setúbal, just outside Lisbon, and lots of fresh fish comes from the southern Algarve coast as well.
11. Visit the viewpoints
If you’re all about gazing out over the rooftops to get the most of the city vibes, then Lisbon has loads of viewpoints where you can enjoy epic panoramic views for free.
The word miradouro means viewpoint, so check google maps for the ones nearest to you or head for popular spots Miradouro das Portas do Sol in Alfama, or Miradouro da Senhora do Monte and Miradouro da Graça in Graça.
Take your own drinks and snacks along, and create your own private rooftop bar experience, for free!
Boost Your Holiday Budget With Our Lisbon Money Saving Tips
There’s are loads of opportunities to maximise your budget when you’re visiting Lisbon on a city break. From making the most of the views at the free viewpoints and visiting free museums, to eating local and being smart with your transport trips, our top tips will help you save a bit of cash. You could even stay an extra night or book an extra activity with the money you save – result!
And let us know if you have any Lisbon money saving tips of your own!
