Lisbon
Lisbon by Funicular: The Hills, the Miradouros, and the $111 Shoulder Season
A March night in Lisbon runs a median $111. The same room in May is $204, and the weather is barely different. This is the city read as a transport problem first: seven hills, four funiculars, a lift, and the two windows in the year when Western Europe’s cheapest capital gets cheaper still.
Quick facts
- Best time
- March and April, then late October into November. March delivers 17C days, twelve hours of light and a median $111 a night; April is warmer at 19C for $137. May is the trap: it looks like the obvious month and costs $204, a 49 percent jump on April for perhaps two degrees. October holds warm water and 22C days but still reads $194 until the crowds thin after the first fortnight, and November drops back to $109 in exchange for the rainiest weeks of the year. If price is the only thing you are optimising, January at $81 is the cheapest reading of any city in any month in this research, and Lisbon in January is still 15C and dry more days than not.
- Days needed
- 5 days, or 7 with a second day trip
- Stops
- 1 stop
- Cheapest month
- February · $109/night see costs
When to go — what it costs
| Month | Avg nightly hotel |
|---|---|
| January | $81 $72 below the annual average |
| $81, the cheapest night of the year. Highs near 15C, low bright sun, some rain. Alfama and the trams empty. Book whatever you like. | |
| February | $109 $44 below the annual average |
| Best value $109 and still a bargain. Around 16C, showery weeks broken by clear ones, Carnival some years. Crowds thin, terraces open at lunch. | |
| March | $111 $42 below the annual average |
| Best value $111 for 17C days and twelve hours of light. Citrus out, coach groups not yet. The best weather-to-price ratio of the whole year. | |
| April | $137 $16 below the annual average |
| Best value $137, 19C, the odd sharp shower. Green hills, warm miradouro evenings, queues still manageable. Last month before May doubles it. | |
| May | $204 $51 above the annual average |
| Peak $204, a 49 percent jump on April. Jacarandas, 22C, and the crowds arrive with them. Lovely month, worst value on this table. | |
| June | $162 $9 above the annual average |
| Peak $162 and 25C. Santo Antonio on 12 and 13 June fills Alfama with grilled sardines all night. Busy, but cheaper than May or July. | |
| July | $202 $49 above the annual average |
| Peak $202, 28C, almost no rain. Beach weather, hour-long tram 28 queues, hotels full. Pay peak or get to Cascais before ten. | |
| August | $189 $36 above the annual average |
| Peak $189 and 29C. Locals leave, everyone else arrives. Hot climbs, packed miradouros, and prices only slightly under May's. | |
| September | $238 $85 above the annual average |
| Peak $238, but that reading sits twelve months out on thin inventory: expect nearer $170. 27C, warm sea, crowds easing after week one. | |
| October | $194 $41 above the annual average |
| Best value $194 and the last warm month: 22C, more rain, sea swimmable to mid-month. Crowds and rates fall away after the first fortnight. | |
| November | $109 $44 below the annual average |
| $109 and wet, the rainiest month, around 17C. Short days, empty trams, the city living its own life. Excellent value if you pack a coat. | |
| December | $103 $50 below the annual average |
| $103 and mild at 15C, lights strung along Rua Augusta, second-cheapest month of the year. Rain comes in bands. Christmas week excepted. | |
below average above average
What a day costs
Shoestring
$85/day
A hostel bed or small guesthouse in Baixa at about $45, coffee and a nata for EUR 2.50, an EUR 8 prato do dia at lunch, EUR 5 of transport, and the free half of Lisbon: every miradouro, all of Alfama, and the walk to Belem.
5-day trip · $425
Mid-range Most readers
$195/day
A room rated 9.5 or better in Baixa or Principe Real for around $115, two meals out at $50, EUR 8 on trams and funiculars, and $22 a day of sights averaged across a booked Sintra day, the walking tour and one fado night.
5-day trip · $975
Comfort
$390/day
A rooftop room in Chiado at about $230, a tasting menu evening in Principe Real, $15 of taxis instead of hills, and $45 a day of booked things: a small-group Sintra day, a private driver, and a port tasting using the good bottles.
5-day trip · $1,950
| Shoestring | Mid-range Most readers | Comfort | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per day | $85/day | $195/day | $390/day |
| Includes | A hostel bed or small guesthouse in Baixa at about $45, coffee and a nata for EUR 2.50, an EUR 8 prato do dia at lunch, EUR 5 of transport, and the free half of Lisbon: every miradouro, all of Alfama, and the walk to Belem. | A room rated 9.5 or better in Baixa or Principe Real for around $115, two meals out at $50, EUR 8 on trams and funiculars, and $22 a day of sights averaged across a booked Sintra day, the walking tour and one fado night. | A rooftop room in Chiado at about $230, a tasting menu evening in Principe Real, $15 of taxis instead of hills, and $45 a day of booked things: a small-group Sintra day, a private driver, and a port tasting using the good bottles. |
| 5-day trip | $425 | $975 | $1,950 |
How long do you have?
2 days · A weekend on the flat
- Day 1: metro in from the airport, the walking tour at $26, Alfama on the stairs, fado after ten.
- Day 2: Gloria funicular up to Sao Pedro de Alcantara, Chiado and Bairro Alto, tram 15 to Belem for the monastery and the pasteis.
- Sleep in Baixa so nothing needs a hill at midnight.
4 days · The city and Sintra
- Days 1 and 2 as the weekend above, unhurried.
- Day 3: Sintra as a full day with the $51 all-tickets tour, finishing at Cabo da Roca.
- Day 4: electric bike over the seven hills in the morning, Principe Real for lunch, sunset cruise on the Tagus at $36.
5 days · The version most people should book
- Days 1 to 4 as above, with Belem given its own afternoon by boat rather than squeezed in.
- Day 5: the train to Cascais for EUR 2.30, lunch behind the marina, Boca do Inferno.
- Or swap Cascais for Time Out Market, LX Factory and the port tasting at Taylor’s.
7 days · Lisbon plus the coast north
- Days 1 to 5 as above.
- Day 6: Obidos, Nazare and Batalha in one nine-hour run for $65.
- Day 7: a slow day of miradouros, the Food and Wine tour as dinner, and a last ginjinha near Rossio.
- Add two more nights only if you take the train to Porto rather than the twelve-hour tour.
Suggested itinerary
Day 1 · In from the airport and up to Portas do Sol
The metro red line runs from inside the terminal to the centre in about 20 minutes, so skip the taxi entirely. Buy a rechargeable Viva Viagem card for EUR 0.50 and load it; rides run about EUR 1.65 and the same card works on the trams, the funiculars and the Santa Justa lift. Drop bags, then walk east into Alfama and climb to Miradouro das Portas do Sol for the first look down at the river. Kiosk beer is around EUR 2. Eat grilled fish in a tasca behind the cathedral for EUR 12 to 16 and let the jet lag win early.
Day 2 · The earthquake city on foot
Start with the Best of Lisbon Small-Group Walking Tour, $26 for three hours at a 9.8 rating. It is the cheapest useful thing you will buy in Portugal and it explains 1755, which is why Baixa is a flat grid and everything around it climbs. Coffee and a pastel de nata standing at the counter afterwards, about EUR 2.50. In the afternoon take the Se, then go up through Alfama on the stairs rather than the tram, finishing at Miradouro da Senhora do Monte for the widest view in the city. Fado in a small Alfama room after ten, roughly $25 in minimum spend. Do not talk during a song.
Day 3 · Funiculars and a sunset on the water
Treat the funiculars as transport rather than attractions. The Gloria lifts you from Restauradores to Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara in 90 seconds and is covered by a day pass; the Bica drops through the prettiest street in the city to Cais do Sodre. Between them, book Lisbon: Hills, Alfama and Mouraria Tour by Electric Bike at $41 for three hours and let a motor take the gradient. Lunch in Principe Real, then the Lisbon Sunset Cruise with Wine and Snacks, $36 for two hours under the 25 de Abril bridge. Dinner at nine, because that is when the city eats.
Day 4 · Sintra with the tickets already bought
Sintra needs a whole day and Pena Palace runs timed entry slots that sell out days ahead in season. Lisbon: Sintra, Regaleira, Pena & Cabo da Roca, All Tickets Included is $51 with every entry covered and 9.6 from 514 reviews, which beats going independently by train once you have paid for Pena and Quinta da Regaleira separately. If you want a smaller group and a longer record, Small Group Tour to Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca and Cascais costs $105 and holds 9.8 from 2,532 reviews. Both finish at Cabo da Roca, the western end of the continent. Both will leave you tired.
Day 5 · Belem by boat and back by tram 15
Go west on the water instead of in a queue. The Hop-On Hop-Off Yellow Boat Tour is $28 and works as transport with a view. In Belem the Jeronimos Monastery cloister is the ticket worth buying, EUR 12 to 14, and the Tower is better looked at from the lawn than queued for. Two pasteis at Pasteis de Belem, about EUR 5, taken on the sit-down side where the line actually moves. Ride tram 15 back along the river in the late sun, then a EUR 1.50 ginjinha standing at a counter near Rossio.
Day 6 · Cascais and the Estoril line
The suburban train from Cais do Sodre runs along the water to Cascais in about 40 minutes for roughly EUR 2.30 each way, and it is one of the best cheap rides in Europe. Swim between May and mid-October, eat at the fish places behind the marina, walk out to Boca do Inferno. Or stay in town instead: Time Out Market for lunch, the traditional half of the Mercado da Ribeira next door for less money, then LX Factory under the bridge. Finish with the Lisbon Port Wine Tasting at Taylor’s, $20 for an hour, before you buy a bottle you cannot yet judge.
Day 7 · North to Obidos and Nazare
Fatima, Batalha, Nazare & Obidos Small Group Tour is $65 for four stops across nine hours, and the cheapest way out of the city. Obidos is a walled village you can circle in an hour, Nazare is where the winter swell throws up the biggest surfed waves on earth, and the clifftop lighthouse there earns the drive even in a flat July. The same route with 830 reviews behind it costs $98. You are back by early evening, which leaves a last sunset at Miradouro de Santa Catarina with a guitar and a EUR 2 beer.
Days 8-9 · Porto only if you give it nights
There is a twelve-hour tour that runs Porto, Nazare and Obidos in one day for $115, and Porto is 300km each way, so do not. The train from Santa Apolonia takes about three hours, costs less, and Porto is a different country in mood. Go for two nights or leave it. If you would rather stay put, spend the time on the Food & Wine Small-Group Walking Tour at $81 and a second, unguided run at the Sintra gardens, which is when that town is actually pleasant.
Where to stay
Baixa
Ouro Rossio Hotel
$102 a night, budget
One street off Rossio on the flat, which is the whole point in a city built on hills: you finish every day walking downhill to your bed. A 9.8 rating for $102 is the best raw number on this page. The caveat is volume, at 60 reviews it is a new property with a thin record.
Baixa
Nicola Rossio Hotel
$113 a night, mid
The value anchor: a thousand reviews at 9.6 for $113, on Rossio itself, three minutes from the Gloria funicular and the metro line in from the airport. Ask for a room facing the hill rather than the square, because Rossio is loud until roughly one in the morning most nights.
Baixa
Residentas Aurea
$165 a night, mid
Apartment-style rooms on Rua Aurea, 9.8 from 909 reviews, with the Santa Justa lift and a tram 28 stop at the end of the block. Good for a stay of four nights or more because of the kitchen. It is not a full-service hotel, so expect no bar and limited reception hours.
Principe Real
BessaHotel Liberdade
$184 a night, mid
Up the hill above Avenida da Liberdade, in the best eating and drinking district in the city and a genuinely quieter night than Baixa. Suits people who want dinner within a five-minute walk. The catch is the return leg: everything you do downtown ends with a climb or a funicular fare.
Baixa
Lisbon Wine Hotel
$192 a night, mid
Central, 9.8 from a thousand reviews, with a cellar and tastings on site, which is a cheap way to work out what you actually like before you spend money on port to carry home. Rooms are on the small side and the building is old, so ask about the stairs if that matters.
Alfama
AlmaLusa Alfama
$206 a night, mid to upper
Actually inside Alfama rather than near it, which means fado drifting up the alley after ten and a genuinely steep walk home. Worth both if atmosphere is what you came for. Take a taxi with luggage on arrival, because the last hundred metres are stairs and polished limestone.
Baixa
Dare Lisbon House
$224 a night, upper
9.8 from 962 reviews and only just over the line into the upper band, which makes it the best rating-for-money on this page. Flat streets, everything walkable, a proper living room in the larger units. Small property, so it books out first in April, May and October.
Restauradores
Avenida Palace
$329 a night, upper
Opened in 1892 and still holding 9.8 from a thousand reviews. Belle Epoque rooms in the middle of everything, with the Gloria funicular and Rossio station both outside the door. This is the grand-hotel choice, and the trade is period charm over modern soundproofing and lift speed.
Chiado
Bairro Alto Hotel
$604 a night, luxury
On Praca Luis de Camoes with a rooftop terrace looking across the Tagus, which is the reason to pay this. Chiado puts Bairro Alto, Principe Real and the Bica funicular all within a few minutes on foot. At $604 it costs more than five nights in January, so pick your month deliberately.
What to do
Best of Lisbon Small-Group Walking Tour
Three hours for $26 at a 9.8 rating, and the single best-value booking in the city. It explains the 1755 earthquake, which is why Baixa is a flat grid and everything around it is medieval and vertical. Do it on day one and the rest of the trip makes sense.
Lisbon: Hills, Alfama and Mouraria Tour by Electric Bike
Seven hills, and none of them are gentle. $41 buys three hours of electric motor and the difference between seeing the miradouros of Alfama and Mouraria and reading about them. 9.6 from 674 reviews. Skip it if you are uneasy on cobbles or in traffic.
Lisbon Hop-On Hop-Off Packs
$29, and the useful part is not the bus. Some packs fold in the trams, the funiculars and the Santa Justa lift, which cost real money bought singly. Treat it as a transport pass with sightseeing attached rather than a tour, and the 7.0 rating stops mattering.
Hop-On Hop-Off Yellow Boat Tour
$28 for the river version, and the honest use is transport: it is a better way to reach Belem than a packed tram 15, and you see the bridge and the waterfront from the angle the city was built to be seen from. Only 13 reviews, so expect a basic operation.
Jeronimos Monastery Entrance Tickets with Host
Listed for completeness, and the 6.2 rating from 20 reviews is a warning. This is a queue-skip with a meeting point, not a guided tour, for $36. Buy the monastery ticket direct unless you turn up and find the line running round the block, which it does by eleven in summer.
Lisbon: Sintra, Regaleira, Pena & Cabo da Roca, All Tickets Included
The outright best buy for Sintra: $51 with every entry covered, 9.6 from 514 reviews. Pena Palace alone runs about EUR 14 on timed slots that sell out days ahead, and Regaleira is another ticket on top. Nine and a half hours, so eat before you go.
Small Group Tour to Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca and Cascais
9.8 from 2,532 reviews, the strongest rating-and-volume combination in this whole research set. At $105 it is twice the budget Sintra day and the money goes into group size and pacing. Pick it if you would rather not spend the day in a full coach.
Day Trip to Sintra & Cascais with Pena Palace Admission
The middle Sintra option at $93, 9.6 from 709 reviews: Pena admission included, a garden walk, and enough time in Cascais to eat lunch by the water rather than photograph it from the bus. Eight and a half hours. No Regaleira, which is the trade against the $51 version.
Lisbon Sunset Cruise with Wine and Snacks
$36 for two hours on the Tagus, under the 25 de Abril bridge, at the hour when the city turns the colour of the roof tiles. The 7.8 rating is honest: this is a boat with wine, not dining afloat, and at that price it does not need to be more.
Lisbon Port Wine Tasting at Taylor's
$20 and one hour, the cheapest thing on this page. It is also the one that tells you whether the bottle you were about to carry home is worth the suitcase space. Tawny against ruby, side by side, with someone who can name what you are tasting.
Food & Wine Small-Group Walking Tour
$81 for three hours of petiscos, ginjinha and a pastel de nata that is not the one on the tourist corner. Book it for the evening and count it as dinner rather than an extra, which changes the arithmetic. 9.6 from 122 reviews.
Fatima, Batalha, Nazare & Obidos Small Group Tour
$65 for four stops in nine hours, and the cheapest way north. Obidos is a walled village you can circle in an hour; Nazare is where the winter swell throws up the biggest surfed waves on earth. Only 79 reviews, though the rating behind them is 9.6.
Common questions
What is the cheapest month to visit Lisbon?
January, at a median $81 a night. That is the lowest reading of any city in any month across this whole research set, and it buys a city that is still around 15C in the daytime and dry more days than it rains. December at $103 and February and November at $109 are close behind. The gap is real money: five January nights cost $405 against $1,020 in May.
How many days do you need in Lisbon?
Three full days covers the city and Belem without hurrying. Five is the right answer for most people, because Sintra deserves a whole day rather than a squeezed afternoon and you want one slow day for miradouros and eating. Seven lets you add Cascais and a run north to Obidos and Nazare, or two nights in Porto by train.
Is Lisbon safe and is it walkable?
It is one of the safer capitals in Europe and walking home late in Baixa, Chiado or Alfama is normal. Pickpocketing on tram 28 and around Rossio is the real risk, so carry nothing loose. Walkable is a different question: seven hills and calcada paving, polished limestone that turns slippery in rain. Bring shoes with grip and use the funiculars without shame.
What is the weather like in Lisbon in summer?
July and August run 28C to 29C with almost no rain and long evenings, which sounds ideal until you climb Alfama at two in the afternoon. June is 25C and the pleasant end of summer. September holds 27C and warm sea with the crowds thinning after the first week. The heat is dry rather than heavy, but the hills make it feel hotter than the number.
How do you get from Lisbon airport to the city?
The airport sits inside the city and the metro red line starts inside the terminal. It reaches the centre in about 20 minutes with one change at Alameda or Saldanha for most hotels. A Viva Viagem card costs EUR 0.50 and each ride about EUR 1.65. A taxi or Uber runs roughly EUR 12 to 18 and is worth it only with heavy bags on an Alfama stay.
Are the trams and funiculars worth paying for?
The funiculars and the Santa Justa lift are transport and they are covered by a day pass, so use them the way locals do rather than queueing for a photograph. Tram 28 is the exception: the route is lovely and the line at Martim Moniz often runs an hour. Board partway along instead, or take tram 12, which covers much of the same ground almost empty.
Is Sintra worth a day trip from Lisbon?
Yes, and book it rather than improvising. Pena Palace uses timed slots that sell out, and once you have paid Pena and Quinta da Regaleira separately plus the train and the shuttle bus, the $51 all-tickets-included tour is cheaper than doing it yourself. Give it the full day. Half a day means Pena’s queue and nothing else.
Where should you stay in Lisbon?
Baixa for flat streets and everything within ten minutes, which matters more here than in any other European capital. Alfama for atmosphere, fado and stairs. Chiado or Principe Real for the best eating and a quieter night, at the cost of a climb home. Avoid booking on Rossio itself unless you sleep through noise.