The Real Cost of Living in Lisbon

You have probably heard already that Lisbon is all about digital nomads and remote workers nowadays and you're likely to get to know what the hype is about in the Portuguese capital. But wait, have you wondered what the real cost of living in Lisbon is? We will help you with that in the following article.

💸 Rent: it really depends on which area you would like to live in and also the deal you get while renting or from where you rent. But in general, if you want to live where the vibe is and in a central location (Estrela, Principe Real, Chiado, Santos, Misericordia, Lapa, or São Bento) you will end up paying from €1.500 for a small apartment, but if you want to live in a more budget-friendly area (Alcantara, Anjos, Graça, Almada, Alvalade, Santo Amaro) you could find a small place starting from €1.000.

💸 Utilities: it can be possible that you get a rental agreement that includes the utilities, otherwise you’ll have to take care of them at the end of the month and it could cost you around €60 per person.

💸 Transport: for public transport, you can charge your navegante card for €40 a month, otherwise a one-way ticket in public transport is around €1.5 and a tram ride is €3.

A relatively short distance uber ride can cost you €5 but it depends where you go, for example, from the airport to the city center an uber is around €10.

Also, the price of gasoline is around €2 a liter.

💸 Groceries: if you get them in an affordable supermarket it can cost you around €200 per month, but if you want to buy from a more sophisticated shop you can add €100 extra.

💸 Mobile data: it is possible to get a Portuguese sim card for €15 and get monthly mobile data for the same price.

💸 Co-working: you can find monthly rent of a desk in a co-working space in town starting from around €100.

💸 Coffee: if you’d like to enjoy a cup of coffee in a nice cafe, you must be willing to pay around €1.5 for an espresso. If you go to the small Portuguese cafes an espresso could even cost you less than €1.

💸 Eating out: you can have a meal and a drink in a mid-range restaurant from €15 to €20 per person. If you want to go fancier, expect to pay at least twice as much per person.

💸 Nightlife: it depends on which area you go to but as a general rule you could buy a good cocktail for €8 even in the central areas and a club entrance ticket is around €15.

This is of course an estimation, but from here you can do your calculations. We think Lisbon is not cheap but not expensive either, anyways you can come and have a look yourself, we can guarantee you're going to have a great time!

However, we know Lisbon is not the only top workation destination, many others are hyped at the moment. Every one of them has a different cost of living, and if we compare it to Lisbon it can be either cheaper or more expensive depending on the destination, this is why we also want to show you a little bit how Lisbon's cost of living is compared to other very popular digital nomad cities.

• Bali, Indonesia: Overall we can say that compared to Lisbon, the cost of living in Bali is around 30% cheaper. This huge difference happens because the monthly salary in Bali could be more or less ⅓ of the one in the Portuguese capital. Something that in Bali is more expensive than in Lisbon is the groceries, but the rent, eating out at a restaurant, transport and the rest is considerably cheaper in Bali.
• San José, Costa Rica: In general, the cost of living of the capital of Costa Rica is around 10% more expensive than the Portuguese capital. Housing and utilities might be considerably cheaper in San José but groceries, drinks in general, eating out, and some kinds of transportation would be a bit more expensive than in Lisbon.
• Barcelona, Spain: On average, Barcelona could be around 5% more expensive than Lisbon, which makes them quite similar regarding their cost of living. When it comes to groceries and eating out at restaurants, Barcelona is a little bit more expensive than the Portuguese capital but transportation, rent, and other aspects are very similar in cost.

We know it is not an easy decision when it comes to choosing where to go on your next workation or where to spend your next months as a digital nomad, and especially when you have a determined budget for it, so we really hope we could help you a little bit in the decision regarding the cost of living with this little guide.