20 days in Portugal on €600 — every euro accounted for
Taha
· 10 min read
The number sounds impossible. It isn’t. Here’s the actual spreadsheet.
The rules
Before I get into the breakdown, the ground rules I set for myself:
- Hostels only (dorms, not privates)
- Local food — restaurants where menus are handwritten, not laminated
- Interrail or intercity buses, no Ubers between cities
- One “splurge” per city allowed (a nice dinner, a day trip, a museum)
The breakdown by city
Porto (5 days) — €112
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hostel (5 nights × €14) | €70 |
| Food (mostly tascas) | €25 |
| Transport (metro day pass × 2) | €8 |
| Splurge: wine tasting in the Douro | €9 |
Porto is genuinely cheap if you eat where students eat. The university district around Rua de Santa Catarina has lunch menus (soup + main + drink) for under €7.
Coimbra (2 days) — €38
The most underrated city in Portugal. Two days is enough. Stay near the university, eat at the student restaurants (€5 for a full meal), walk up to the old library.
Lisbon (8 days) — €230
Lisbon is the expensive part. Accommodation is harder to find cheap, and tourist areas have tourist prices. I stayed in Mouraria (not Bairro Alto) and ate in Intendente.
Alentejo (5 days) — €90
The cheapest part of the trip by far. Évora, a small rural quinta, €30 for a room with breakfast. The food is extraordinary — slow-cooked lamb, the best bread I’ve eaten, local wine at €2 a glass.
What I’d cut next time
- The three days I spent in Cascais were beautiful but expensive and not what Portugal is really about. Sintra is worth it; Cascais isn’t.
The honest conclusion
€600 for 20 days is doable but not luxurious. You’re staying in dorms, you’re eating lunch menus, you’re taking the slow bus. If that sounds like misery, it probably isn’t for you. If it sounds like the actual point of travel, you’ll love it.