7 Days in Lisbon: Budget Itinerary + What It Actually Costs

A week in Lisbon is when the city really starts to open up. Three days covers the highlights. Five days gets you past the tourist circuit. Seven days means you leave feeling like you actually lived there briefly rather than just visited. You know which café to go back to. You have a favourite miradouro. You have eaten at the same tasca twice because the prato do dia was that good.

This itinerary is built around a realistic mid-range budget, with clear notes at every step on where to save and where spending is worth it. The structure balances the three essential Lisbon days in the city with two day trips and two genuinely slow days for neighbourhoods most visitors rush past.

Before diving into the day plan, our full Lisbon cost guide for 2026 covers accommodation, food, and transport prices in detail if you want the complete cost picture before you book.

Before You Arrive: Three Things to Sort First

The Lisboa Card: worth it for a seven-day visit if you plan carefully

The Lisboa Card is a combined museum pass and unlimited public transport card. In 2026 it costs €22 for 24 hours, €37 for 48 hours, €46 for 72 hours, and €55 for 96 hours. It covers unlimited metro, tram, bus, and the suburban train lines to Sintra and Cascais, plus free entry to 52 museums and monuments including the Jerónimos Monastery (€10), Torre de Belém (€8), and São Jorge Castle (€15).

For a seven-day visit, the calculation works like this: buy a 48-hour card for your Belém and Alfama museum days (€37), then a 24-hour card for your Sintra day trip (€22), and use the standard Zapping card for the remaining days. That combination costs less than buying individual attraction tickets and separate transport tickets for those three days. Do not buy a seven-day card since it does not exist. Stack the shorter cards strategically around your museum-heavy days.

Book your Sintra accommodation or day trip early

Sintra on a summer weekend is genuinely overwhelmed with visitors. Pena Palace has timed entry ticketing and slots for morning visits sell out days in advance during peak season. Buy your Pena Palace tickets at visitsintra.travel before you leave home if your visit falls between May and September.

Get a Navegante Metropolitano card

The Navegante card replaced the old Viva Viagem system and is the standard Lisbon public transport card for 2026. Pick one up at any metro station kiosk for €0.50 and load it with Zapping credit. Metro journeys cost €1.61 with Zapping credit versus €2.20 for a single paper ticket. A monthly unlimited card costs €40 if you are staying longer than three weeks.

Compare Lisbon hotel deals here and book your accommodation at least six weeks ahead for any visit between May and September.

Budget Overview: 7 Days in Lisbon

These figures are per person. Couples sharing accommodation reduce the per-person accommodation total by roughly 30 to 40 percent.

Search flights to Lisbon here and set a price alert. Fares from London and most European cities are cheapest from November to March and most expensive in July and August.

Day 1: Arrival, Alfama, and Getting Your Bearings

Morning: arrive and orient yourself

Take the metro from Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport to the city centre. The Aeroporto station on the Red Line connects to Baixa-Chiado in around 20 minutes for €1.61 on a Navegante card. Skip the taxis lined up outside arrivals unless you have significant luggage. For a pre-booked fixed-price airport transfer, arrange a private taxi here to avoid the uncertainty of kerb-side negotiation.

Check in, drop your bags, and resist the urge to fill your first afternoon with a list of attractions. Lisbon rewards slow arrival.

Afternoon: Alfama on foot

Head to Alfama, the ancient Moorish neighbourhood that climbs the hill below São Jorge Castle. Walk from the Alfama tram stop up through the narrow lanes of Rua de São Miguel and Rua dos Remédios. The neighbourhood has a genuine residential quality that many European old towns have lost. Laundry hangs between balconies. Cats sleep on doorsteps. Fado music escapes from open windows.

The Miradouro de Santa Luzia and Miradouro das Portas do Sol are two viewpoints on the eastern flank of Alfama with panoramic views over the terracotta rooftops and the Tagus River beyond. Both are free and both are best in the late afternoon when the light turns the rooftops amber.

São Jorge Castle at the top of the hill costs €15 entry and offers the best 360-degree view of Lisbon from any elevated point in the city. The castle itself is well preserved with significant sections of original Moorish and medieval walls. If you have the Lisboa Card the entry is included. If not, save the €15 and use the free miradouros instead on day one.

Evening: first dinner in Alfama

Find a tasca at least two streets back from the main tourist concentration on Rua de São Miguel for your first dinner. A prato do dia including soup, a fish or meat main with rice, salad, and bread, plus a glass of house wine, runs €11 to €14 at a neighbourhood tasca. That is the Lisbon dining experience that justifies the city’s reputation for value. Save the tourist-strip restaurants for when you are not hungry enough to care about the price.

Day 1 estimated spend: €25 to €40 (transport, food, coffee)

Day 2: Belém — The Monumental Day

Belém is where Lisbon’s Age of Discovery history is physically concentrated. The Jerónimos Monastery, the Torre de Belém, and the Monument to the Discoveries all sit within a kilometre of each other along the riverside, making this a logical full-morning block.

Morning: Jerónimos Monastery

Take Tram 15E or Bus 727 from Praça do Comércio to Belém, a journey of around 20 to 25 minutes. Arrive at the Jerónimos Monastery as close to 9am opening as possible. Entry costs €10 without the Lisboa Card. The monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the finest example of Manueline architecture in Portugal, a style that blends Gothic structure with elaborate maritime decoration. Allow 90 minutes to walk through the church and cloisters properly rather than rushing.

Directly outside the monastery is the original Pastéis de Belém bakery at Rua de Belém 84-92, established in 1837 and still making the custard tarts from the original recipe. A tart here costs €1.50. The queue is usually 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours. Go. It is worth it. The pastéis de nata from this specific bakery genuinely taste different from all imitations.

Afternoon: Torre de Belém and the Riverside

The Torre de Belém costs €8 entry or is included with the Lisboa Card. The tower itself is compact and the interior is not particularly expansive, but the Manueline stonework on the exterior, with its carved rope, armillary spheres, and rhinoceros on the base, is extraordinarily detailed. The walkway around the base with river views is excellent. Queues for the interior climb can be 30 to 45 minutes in peak season. The exterior and surrounding area are worth seeing even without going in.

The Monument to the Discoveries on the riverside is free to view from the outside. Entry to climb it costs €6 and the view from the top looks back toward the city and toward the tower simultaneously. Walk the riverside promenade between the monument and the tower for free, which gives you most of the best views without any entry fee.

The MAAT Museum of Art Architecture and Technology sits on the riverside near Belém and has rotating contemporary exhibitions. Entry costs €9. Worth considering if contemporary art is your priority for a Lisbon museum slot.

Evening: Time Out Market

Return toward the centre and have dinner at the Time Out Market in Cais do Sodré, a covered food hall where a selection of Lisbon’s best restaurants operate market stalls at lower prices than their full restaurants. A meal from any of the stalls costs €12 to €22 and the quality is genuinely high. This is the best single-stop introduction to the range of Portuguese cooking available in the city. Eat standing or find a communal table.

Day 2 estimated spend: €35 to €55 (tram, monastery, tower, food)

Day 3: Sintra — The Essential Day Trip

Sintra is the most visited day trip from Lisbon and for good reason. The combination of a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, the extraordinary Pena Palace crowning the hillside above the town, and the compact historic village below makes it one of the strongest day trips in Western Europe.

Morning: train from Rossio and Pena Palace

Take the suburban train from Rossio station to Sintra. Departures run roughly every 30 minutes and the journey takes around 40 minutes. The return fare costs around €4.60 without a Lisboa Card or is included with one.

From Sintra station, Bus 434 runs a circular route connecting the station with the historic village centre, the Moorish Castle, and Pena Palace for €3.90 for an all-day hop-on hop-off pass. Alternatively, the walk from the village to Pena Palace takes 35 to 45 minutes uphill through forest paths and is genuinely pleasant if you do not mind the climb.

Pena Palace entry costs €20 for adults in 2026 or is discounted with a Lisboa Card combi ticket. Book timed entry in advance at visitsintra.travel for any visit between May and September. The palace is the most visible building in Sintra, a wildly colourful Neo-Romanticist structure in red, yellow, and terracotta sitting at 529 metres above sea level with views over the entire Sintra Hills to the Atlantic. It is genuinely spectacular. The interior is preserved as the Portuguese royal family left it and provides an intimate glimpse of 19th-century royal domestic life.

Afternoon: Moorish Castle and the village

The Moorish Castle sits on the ridge above the village and offers some of the best views of Sintra and the surrounding hills. Entry costs €12 or is discounted with the Lisboa Card. The walls themselves, scrambling along the rocky ridge above the treeline, are the draw rather than any interior structure.

Walk down to the historic village for lunch at a restaurant in the Sintra town centre. Avoid the restaurants immediately adjacent to the train station where prices are highest and quality rarely matches the cost. Move one block toward the village square for better options. A full lunch runs €15 to €22 per person.

Quinta da Regaleira, a romantic estate with ornate Gothic chapel, gardens, and the famous spiral Initiation Well descending underground, costs €12 and is one of the most photogenic spots in Sintra if you are not visiting the palaces. It requires a separate entry ticket from Pena Palace.

Return to Lisbon from Sintra station in the late afternoon.

Day 3 estimated spend: €45 to €65 (train, palace entry, lunch, bus)

Day 4: Príncipe Real, Bairro Alto, and the Best Viewpoints

Morning: Príncipe Real neighbourhood

Príncipe Real is arguably Lisbon’s most pleasant neighbourhood for a slow morning. The tree-lined square at its centre hosts an organic and antique market on weekends. The streets around it have excellent independent coffee shops, bookshops, and concept stores that represent contemporary Lisbon more accurately than the souvenir shops of the Alfama tourist strip.

The National Museum of Natural History and Science is on the northern edge of the neighbourhood and costs €5 entry. More compelling for most visitors is simply walking the streets and stopping for coffee. A proper Portuguese coffee, a bica espresso, costs €0.80 to €1.20 at a neighbourhood café versus €2.50 to €3.50 at tourist-facing coffee shops near Praça do Comércio.

Afternoon: the miradouros circuit

Lisbon’s viewpoints are free and collectively provide the most rewarding afternoon walking itinerary in the city. The sequence worth following:

Start at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara in Bairro Alto, a two-level garden viewpoint with a direct line-of-sight to São Jorge Castle across the valley. Free.

Walk down through Bairro Alto toward Chiado and the Elevador da Glória funicular (included with Navegante Zapping credit, €1.61 equivalent) which lifts you back up from the Baixa valley to the viewpoint.

Continue to Miradouro da Graça in the northeast, the highest and least crowded of the main viewpoints with the most expansive view of the city. Free. The walk from Bairro Alto to Graça takes about 25 minutes through Mouraria and is one of the most genuinely neighbourhood-level walks in central Lisbon.

Evening: fado in Alfama

Return to Alfama for a fado evening. The formal fado dinner shows at tourist restaurants cost €25 to €50 per person and are polished but packaged. The informal alternative is to find a restaurant in Alfama where fado is performed as part of the evening rather than as the main attraction. Ask your accommodation for a recommendation that matches your budget.

For a specifically fado-focused experience, a casa de fado performance venue charges €15 to €25 cover for a 90-minute programme of live fado without the dinner package. A drink or two plus the cover charge runs €25 to €35 total.

Day 4 estimated spend: €30 to €50 (food, coffee, funicular, fado cover)

Day 5: Cascais — The Coastal Day Trip

Morning: train to Cascais

Take the suburban train from Cais do Sodré station to Cascais. The journey takes around 40 minutes and costs €2.30 each way or is included with a Lisboa Card. Trains run every 20 minutes throughout the day.

Cascais is a resort town on the Atlantic coast west of Lisbon with a compact historic centre, a good beach, a fishing harbour, and a completely different atmosphere from the city. It is less dramatic than Sintra but more relaxing, and the combination of beach, waterfront restaurants, and the historic centre makes it a genuinely pleasant full day.

Morning in Cascais: the town and harbour

Walk from the station to the historic centre and the fishing harbour. The Cascais fish market along the waterfront sells fresh catch from the local boats and is worth a walk through. The old town around Largo 5 de Outubro has good independent cafes and restaurants at prices noticeably below Lisbon’s tourist centre.

Afternoon: Boca do Inferno and the beach

Boca do Inferno, a dramatic wave-carved rocky inlet about 1.5 kilometres west of the town centre, is free to visit and worth the 20-minute walk along the coastal path. In winter the waves crashing into the rock arch are spectacular. In summer it is calmer but the walk along the coast is consistently pleasant.

The beaches in Cascais, Praia da Rainha and Praia da Conceição, are both walkable from the centre and free. In summer the water temperature reaches 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, which is brisk by Mediterranean standards but swimmable for most visitors.

Return to Lisbon from Cascais station in the early evening.

Evening: dinner in Mouraria

Mouraria, the neighbourhood at the base of Alfama adjacent to the castle hill, is one of the most authentic dinner destinations in central Lisbon. The neighbourhood has a significant Cape Verdean and South Asian community alongside its Portuguese residents, producing a food scene that goes well beyond Portuguese cuisine. A full dinner at a neighbourhood restaurant in Mouraria runs €12 to €20 per person.

Day 5 estimated spend: €25 to €40 (train, food, beach)

Day 6: Parque das Nações and the East of Lisbon

Morning: Parque das Nações

Parque das Nações is the futuristic district built for Expo 98 on reclaimed industrial land along the Tagus estuary east of the city. It looks nothing like the rest of Lisbon, with wide tree-lined boulevards, modern architecture, and a riverside promenade that stretches for several kilometres.

The Lisbon Oceanarium sits here and is widely considered one of the best aquariums in Europe, with a central ocean tank of 5 million litres visible from multiple levels and themed peripheral habitats for each of the world’s major ocean regions. Entry costs €21 for adults in 2026. If you have children or are genuinely interested in marine life, it is worth every euro. The Vasco da Gama Tower observation deck is the tallest structure in Parque das Nações at 145 metres and costs €6 for the view.

Take the cable car along the riverside for €4.50 one way if it is running (it closes periodically for maintenance). The riverfront promenade is free to walk and runs for several kilometres with good views across the Tagus.

Afternoon: LX Factory

Return toward the centre and head to LX Factory in Alcântara, a 19th-century industrial complex converted into a creative hub of independent restaurants, concept stores, design studios, and bookshops. Entry is free. The Sunday market at LX Factory is excellent but this neighbourhood is worth visiting on any day for the atmosphere and the independent restaurant options.

Lunch at LX Factory typically costs €12 to €20 at the independent restaurants inside the complex. The bookshop Ler Devagar, filling a former textile factory floor with books stacked to the ceiling and a bicycle suspended mid-air from the rafters, is one of the more remarkable bookshops in Europe and entirely free to browse.

Evening: rooftop bar with Tagus view

Lisbon’s rooftop bars have multiplied over the past five years and several now offer genuinely good views at prices that, while higher than street-level bars, remain reasonable by international standards. A cocktail or glass of wine at a good rooftop bar runs €10 to €14. Seek out the less promoted options in the Mouraria and Intendente areas rather than the most famous hotel rooftops in Baixa, where the same drink costs €16 to €20.

Day 6 estimated spend: €35 to €55 (oceanarium, cable car, lunch, drinks)

Day 7: Markets, Final Neighbourhood Walk, and Farewell Dinner

Morning: Feira da Ladra flea market

The Feira da Ladra flea market runs every Tuesday and Saturday at Campo de Santa Clara in the Alfama area. As a Saturday departure or mid-week day it is one of Lisbon’s most authentic market experiences, with a mix of genuine antiques, vintage clothing, ceramics, and the slightly chaotic energy that distinguishes a real flea market from a curated tourist craft market. Entry is free. Budget for browsing money if antique tiles, old books, or vintage items appeal.

Afternoon: final neighbourhood walk, Estrela

Spend your last afternoon in the Estrela neighbourhood southwest of Bairro Alto, one of the least-visited residential areas in central Lisbon. The Basílica da Estrela, an 18th-century domed church that dominates the neighbourhood square, is free to enter. The Jardim da Estrela across the street is a Victorian public garden with a small lake, peacocks, and a quality café at its centre. The neighbourhood has a calm, local atmosphere with excellent independent restaurants at non-tourist prices.

Evening: farewell dinner

Book a table at a well-reviewed Portuguese restaurant in Príncipe Real or Mouraria for your last evening rather than returning to the tourist restaurants around Baixa or the Alfama viewpoints, where prices are highest and the experience most generic. A proper farewell dinner, a mixed fish grill, or a slow-cooked cataplana stew with a bottle of Alentejo wine and dessert, at a quality neighbourhood restaurant runs €30 to €45 per person and represents the best the Lisbon food scene can offer at a realistic price.

Day 7 estimated spend: €35 to €60 (market browsing, food, wine, farewell dinner)

Total Trip Budget: 7 Days in Lisbon

Lisbon vs Other European Itinerary Destinations

If you are deciding between Lisbon and other European city breaks before committing, our itineraries for Amsterdam, Prague, and Athens follow the same format and make direct cost comparison straightforward.

Among those four, Prague is the most affordable at the budget tier, Athens and Lisbon are comparable at the mid-range level, and Amsterdam costs noticeably more across all categories. Lisbon has the strongest food scene for the price of any of the four and the best weather reliability from April through October.

For the widest European context, our cheapest European destinations guide for 2026 maps out how Lisbon compares across the continent.

Practical Tips for the Week

Walk downhill, take transport uphill. Lisbon’s hills are beautiful going down and punishing going up. The funiculars (Elevador da Glória, Elevador da Bica, Elevador do Lavra) are included in the Navegante Zapping credit and handle the most notorious climbs for €1.61.

Eat lunch as your main meal. The prato do dia at neighbourhood tascas runs €11 to €14 for a three-course meal at lunch. The same quality dinner at the same restaurant costs €20 to €28 in the evening. Structure your eating accordingly and your food budget goes significantly further.

The tourist tax is payable at the accommodation on arrival. At €4 per person per night over seven nights that is €28 per person. It will not appear in your booking confirmation but you will pay it at check-in. Budget for it.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, our EC261 flight compensation guide explains your rights. Check your claim eligibility through Compensair here at no upfront cost.

If you are extending your Portugal trip with a road trip to the Alentejo, the Algarve, or Douro Valley, compare car rental options here before accepting airport counter rates.

Planning more European travel? Our budget itineraries for Amsterdam, Prague, and Athens follow the same day-by-day format. And check our cheapest countries to visit in Europe guide for the wider regional picture.