Lisbon + Sintra in 4 Days on a Budget
Four Days in Lisbon Adds the Coast, Without Giving Up a City Day
Four days is the point where a Lisbon trip stops being just Lisbon. You keep two city days, add Sintra, and still have room for a coastal day trip that a 3 day version has to skip entirely. Cascais is the pick: same train system Sintra uses, a completely different line and station, and a genuinely different kind of afternoon. Give the city its due first, see the Lisbon city guide for how to spend those two days.
Book these before you go:
- Pena Palace timed entry for day three, the ticket that determines whether that day works.
- Skip-the-line Jeronimos Monastery tickets for day two.
- Central Baixa or Chiado accommodation for a four-night base.
| Day | Focus | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baixa and Alfama | 25-30 EUR |
| 2 | Belem and the castle | 60-65 EUR |
| 3 | Sintra | 44-50 EUR |
| 4 | Cascais and Estoril | 30-35 EUR |
| Trip | Distance from Lisbon | Travel time | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sintra (from Rossio) | ~28 km | ~40 min by train | 2.45 EUR one-way |
| Cascais (from Cais do Sodre) | ~30 km | ~40 min by train | 2.25-2.45 EUR one-way |
Getting in and getting around. The Metro’s Red Line covers arrivals to the centre in twenty five to thirty minutes, changing at Alameda or Sao Sebastiao; Aerobus doesn’t exist anymore, it was cancelled back in 2022. Buy a 0.50 EUR Navegante card and load it with Zapping credit rather than buying single tickets; it drops each ride to about 1.70 EUR and covers the day-trip trains too, Sintra and Cascais both. A metered taxi from the airport runs 15 to 20 EUR plus a 1.60 EUR bag fee; skip the flat-fare touts at the rank, insist on the meter, or just book an Uber or Bolt from the curb instead.
Day 1: Baixa and Alfama. Walk Baixa’s earthquake-rebuilt grid down to Praca do Comercio, then climb into Alfama in shoes with real grip, since the cobbled calcada is more slippery than it looks. Ride Tram 12E over the more famous 28 if pickpockets worry you at all; the 28 is the city’s best-documented pickpocket route, worst between Martim Moniz and Se. The Bica and Gloria funiculars are there if the hills get to be too much, about 3.80 EUR or a tap of your transit card. Dinner at a proper tasca, 8 to 14 EUR a plate, and remember the couvert, the bread and olives on the table, is a charge you can refuse before you touch it.
Budget: transit ~3 EUR, funicular ~4 EUR, food ~18-23 EUR. Total roughly 25-30 EUR.
Day 2: Belem and the castle. Jeronimos Monastery is 18 EUR for monastery-only entry (older sources still list roughly 10 EUR; that figure is out of date); a combined ticket with Belem Tower runs 33 EUR, no real saving over buying both separately. Current hours are on museusemonumentos.pt . Eat at Pasteis de Belem itself for the original pastel de nata experience, worth the queue once; Manteigaria in Chiado is the more convenient, arguably more consistent option for the rest of the trip. Head up to Sao Jorge Castle in the morning if you can, about 15 EUR, ahead of the midday crush, and save Bairro Alto for dinner since it stays sleepy until after dark and then turns into the city’s actual nightlife.
Budget: transit ~4 EUR, monastery ~18 EUR, castle ~15 EUR, food ~23-28 EUR. Total roughly 60-65 EUR.
Is Sintra or Cascais the better use of a single extra day?
Sintra, for most people. It has the fairy-tale palaces that show up in every photo of Portugal, and nothing about Cascais matches that. Cascais wins on relaxation, a beach town with an actual working harbour rather than a queue-and-timed-ticket day. On four days you get both; on three, choose Sintra.
Day 3: Sintra. The train from Rossio station takes about forty minutes, a single 2.45 EUR each way; note that’s a different station and a different line entirely from the one you’ll use for Cascais the next day. Book Pena Palace’s timed entry online at parquesdesintra.pt well before your trip; showing up without one in peak season, roughly Easter to October, risks hours in line or a sold-out palace. Palace-and-park is about 20 EUR, park-only about 14. Bus 434 (Scotturb) links the station to the gate, round-trip 7.10 EUR if you’re only making one visit to the palace, or a 13.50 EUR day pass if you want to hop on and off more than once, a real jump from the roughly 6.90 EUR some older guides still list. This is the single highest-leverage tip in the whole itinerary: book the ticket first, plan everything else around it.
Budget: train ~4.90 EUR return, bus 434 ~7.10 EUR, palace ~20 EUR, lunch ~12 EUR. Total roughly 44-50 EUR.
Day 4: Cascais and Estoril. This is where four days earns its keep over three. Cascais runs on its own train line from Cais do Sodre station, about forty minutes each way and covered by the same Zapping-loaded Navegante card you’ve been using all trip, roughly 2.25-2.45 EUR each way. Cascais itself is a working fishing town turned resort with a walkable old centre and a real beach, not just a Lisbon suburb with sand; Estoril, one stop earlier on the same line, adds a casino and a longer seafront promenade if you want to stretch the afternoon. Bring the flat shoes again for the old town’s cobbles, and budget a proper seafood lunch here rather than in the centre; it’s generally better value for the same fish given the shorter supply chain from the boats coming in.
Budget: transit ~5 EUR, food ~25-30 EUR. Total roughly 30-35 EUR.
Before you go. Best weather and manageable crowds land April through June and September through October; July and August go past 30C with the year’s worst queues at Sintra and Belem. Skip the taxi touts at the airport quoting flat fares off the meter; the metro or a rideshare from the curb both beat them on price. Four days is enough to add one coastal afternoon to the city-and-Sintra base. Don’t try to squeeze in a second day trip on top of it; you’ll just be tired in two places instead of properly rested in one.
Four-day total: roughly 160-180 EUR per person across transit, sights and food, not counting accommodation or the couvert charges you didn’t order.