Visiting Portugal: a Practical Travel Guide

These are the things you learn after years of watching visitors make the same avoidable mistakes – not because they are careless, but because no one told them. 

1. Raise your hand at the bus stop. Outside Lisbon’s city centre, most buses will not stop unless you actively signal the driver. Extend your arm clearly as the bus approaches. This is not optional — it is how the system works. On low-frequency rural routes, the next bus may be an hour away. The bus 1624 between Cascais and Sintra, which passes near Cabo da Roca, runs roughly once an hour. The number of tourist groups I have watched standing at a stop near Boca do Inferno, deep in conversation, while the bus rolled past without slowing – is not small. The driver saw them. They did not signal. The bus did not stop. 
2. Avoid Euronet ATMs entirely. Euronet and other independent (non-bank) ATMs in tourist areas charge a flat fee of approximately €5 per withdrawal, on top of applying exchange rates significantly worse than the interbank rate. Use ATMs operated by Portuguese banks: Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Millennium BCP, Santander, BPI, Novo Banco. These are inside or adjacent to bank branches and are easy to identify. 
3. Decline Dynamic Currency Conversion – every time. At ATMs and card terminals, you will occasionally be offered the option to pay in your home currency rather than Euro. Decline. Always select Euro. The conversion rate applied by the terminal is always worse than your bank’s rate – typically 3–5% worse. The machine will phrase this as a convenience. It is not. 
4. The couvert is a decision, not a gift – Bread, olives, and butter arrive at the table without being ordered. They are charged per person – typically €1.50–3.00 per item. If you want them, keep them. If not, say “não, obrigado” before anyone sits down. The time to do this is before they land on the table, not after half the bread has gone.
5. The prato do dia is the best deal in Portugal. Every traditional restaurant in Portugal offers a *prato do dia* (dish of the day) at lunch, typically between 12:00 and 15:00. For €8–12 you get soup or salad, a main course, a drink, and sometimes dessert. These meals are written by hand on a chalkboard or on a paper posted at the door. They are what the kitchen is actually cooking that day. The à la carte menu costs two to three times more for food prepared with less care.
6. How to identify a real restaurant. Paper tablecloths. A menu written by hand or printed cheaply. A TV in the corner showing football or the news. A dessert display with a retro mirrored cabinet. House wine poured from a box or a ceramic jug. Weekly specials – cozido on Wednesday, fish on Friday. Interior unchanged for at least 20 years. Inverted Google Maps rule: authentic Portuguese restaurants tend to rate 4.0–4.4 stars. When you see 4.7 or 4.8, the kitchen is usually catering to Instagram, not to locals. 
7. Break €50 notes before you need them. Small shops, market stalls, tascas, and petrol stations in smaller towns frequently refuse €50 notes. Break large bills at supermarkets – Continente or Pingo Doce are everywhere and the cashiers are used to it. 
8. Free tap water – ask for it. Since 2024, restaurants in Portugal are legally required to provide free tap water upon request. Ask for “copos de água da torneira” (glasses of tap water). Some establishments will initially offer bottled water regardless. Persist. The water is safe – Portugal’s tap water meets EU drinking standards.
9. Pre-book Pena Palace and Jerónimos Monastery. In July and August, both sites sell out of walk-in tickets before 10:00. Arriving without a pre-booked ticket means turning around. Book online the day before at minimum – ideally a week ahead for summer weekends. This is not a crowd-management suggestion. It is a gate policy. 
10. The free view at Elevador de Santa Justa. The viewing platform at the top of the Elevador de Santa Justa (the neo-Gothic iron lift in Baixa) charges €1.50 for the observation deck alone. The queue is long and the view is identical to the one available from the ruined Gothic arches of Igreja do Carmo, accessible from the Largo do Carmo – which is free and usually quiet. Most visitors waiting for the elevator do not know this. 
11. Tram 28: the actual advice. Tram 28 is scenic, historic, and – between 09:00 and 18:00 in summer – extremely crowded. The same hills can be covered on Bus 737 (São Jorge Castle) with a seat. If you specifically want to ride Tram 28 for the experience, board at Martim Moniz in the early morning rather than at the central stops where the queues form. Before 08:00 on a weekday, it is a different journey. 
12. The ferry to Cacilhas costs €1.45. The 10-minute ferry crossing from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas, on the south bank of the Tagus, costs €1.45 each way. It offers a panorama of Lisbon’s waterfront that no viewpoint in the city can replicate. Almost no tourists take it. The crossing runs every 30 minutes. On the Cacilhas side there is a working fishing village, a row of restaurants, and a view of the city that most visitors never see. 
13. Cobblestones are a hazard in rain. Português calçada – the black and white mosaic stone paving – becomes extremely slippery when wet. This is not a mild inconvenience. Pack shoes with rubber soles regardless of the season. Lisbon and Sintra have hills. Wet cobblestones on a downhill slope require full attention. Dress shoes, leather soles, and smooth sandals are inappropriate in rain, and rain in Lisbon can arrive without warning. 
14. Never leave anything visible in a parked car. Car break-ins are common in tourist areas throughout Portugal, particularly in Lisbon, Sintra, and along the Algarve coast. Do not leave bags, jackets, cameras, or charging cables visible on seats or in the footwell. Remove rental company stickers from the windows before parking – they indicate a rental vehicle and mark it as a potential target. 
15. The pedestrian crossing rule. At marked zebra crossings in Portugal, drivers are legally required to stop for pedestrians. Cross with confidence and at a steady pace. Hesitating in the middle of the road confuses Portuguese drivers more than walking steadily across does. The custom works – provided you use designated crossings and not mid-block.