Lisbon + Sintra in 6 Days on a Budget
Six Days in Lisbon: Every Coast, Plus a Medieval Town for the Price of a Train Ticket
Six days covers the full spread: two city days, Sintra’s palaces, the Cascais coast, Setubal’s wine and dolphins, and still leaves a day for something nobody puts on the standard list. Obidos is a walled medieval town about two hours north that most Lisbon-based itineraries skip because it doesn’t fit neatly into a shorter trip. Give the city its two days first, see the Lisbon city guide for how to fill them.
Book these before you go:
- Pena Palace timed entry for day three.
- A Setubal dolphin-watching tour , boats fill before the walk-up crowd realises.
- Central accommodation in Chiado or Principe Real for a six-night stay.
| 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 |
| 5 | Setubal and the Arrabida coast | 64-70 EUR |
| 6 | Obidos | 30-37 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 |
| Setubal (from Roma-Areeiro) | ~45 km | under 1hr by train | ~4.50 EUR one-way |
| Obidos (from Lisboa Oriente) | ~85 km | 2-2.5hrs by train | ~8-10 EUR one-way |
Getting in and getting around. Skip any advice about an airport bus called Aerobus; it was discontinued in 2022. The Metro Red Line does the job instead, about twenty five to thirty minutes into Baixa with a change at Alameda or Sao Sebastiao. Get a Navegante card for 0.50 EUR and load it with Zapping credit, which knocks each ride down to roughly 1.70 EUR and will cover every train you take for the rest of the week except the Obidos regional line, which is a separate national-rail fare.
Where to stay for six nights. Chiado or Principe Real work well as a base: central enough for the city days, close to a metro line for the mornings you’re catching an early train out. Budget rooms run roughly 30 to 50 EUR a night, mid-range hotels 80 to 130 EUR. Given how many early starts this itinerary needs, for Sintra and Obidos especially, pay the small premium to stay within walking distance of a metro stop.
Day 1: Baixa and Alfama. Walk down through Baixa to Praca do Comercio, then climb into Alfama in shoes with real grip, since the cobbled calcada is slicker underfoot than photos suggest. Take Tram 12E instead of the more famous 28 for the same hillside views without the 28’s well-earned reputation as the city’s top pickpocket route. Find a real tasca for dinner, 8 to 14 EUR a plate, and decline the couvert if you don’t want the bread and olives someone puts on your table without asking.
Budget: roughly 25-30 EUR.
Day 2: Belem and the castle. Jeronimos Monastery is 18 EUR for monastery-only entry (older write-ups still quote around 10 EUR, that price is stale); a combined ticket with Belem Tower runs 33 EUR, no real saving over two single tickets. Current hours are on museusemonumentos.pt . Eat the original pastel de nata warm at Pasteis de Belem, worth the line once; Manteigaria in Chiado is the better bet if you want the same tart without the wait. Squeeze in Sao Jorge Castle too, about 15 EUR, before the midday crowds show up.
Budget: roughly 60-65 EUR.
Day 3: Sintra, ticket booked first. Rossio station to Sintra is about forty minutes, 2.45 EUR each way. Book Pena Palace’s timed entry online at parquesdesintra.pt before you fly; showing up without one during peak season, roughly Easter through October, means hours in a queue or a sold-out afternoon. Palace and park together cost about 20 EUR, park-only about 14, and Bus 434 covers the station-to-gate stretch for 7.10 EUR round-trip, or a 13.50 EUR day pass for repeat hop-on-hop-off use. Of everything in this itinerary, this is the one booking that actually determines whether your day works.
Budget: roughly 44-50 EUR.
Day 4: Cascais and Estoril. Cascais runs on a different train line from Cais do Sodre station, not the Sintra line from Rossio, about forty minutes each way, roughly 2.25-2.45 EUR each way on the same card you’ve already loaded. Cascais keeps a working harbour and a walkable old town; Estoril, one stop earlier, has the casino and a longer seafront stretch. Fresh fish here typically costs less than the same plate back in the city centre.
Budget: roughly 30-35 EUR.
Is six days too many day trips out of Lisbon?
Only if you skip the city itself to make room for them. This itinerary keeps two full days in Lisbon before adding four day trips, which is the right ratio, more than two or three trips without those two anchor days in the city tends to feel like a Portugal tour that happens to start in Lisbon rather than a Lisbon trip with side excursions.
Day 5: Setubal and the Arrabida coast. A Fertagus train from Roma-Areeiro reaches Setubal in under an hour for about 4.50 EUR one way, no booking needed for the train itself. Dolphin-watching tours out on the Sado estuary run around 40 EUR for two and a half hours, morning or afternoon departures, worth booking ahead since the boats fill before the walk-up crowd realises. Skip the boat and the Arrabida hills still deliver some of the country’s better wine, from producers around Azeitao, plus a short ferry crossing to Troia for a beach that never gets as crowded as Cascais.
Budget: roughly 64-70 EUR.
Day 6: Obidos. The direct regional train to Obidos leaves from Lisboa Oriente, not Rossio, and there are only about four departures a day, so build your return trip around the timetable before you plan anything else. The ride itself runs two to two and a half hours each way and costs roughly 8 to 10 EUR one way, longer and pricier than any other day trip on this list for a town you can walk end to end in an afternoon. What you get for it: a fully walkable medieval wall with no railings, so watch your footing in wind or rain, cobbled lanes lined with bookshops, and a local specialty version of ginjinha served in a small edible chocolate cup instead of the shot glass you’ll already have had near Rossio. Obidos is worth it if you like walls and quiet streets more than checklist sights; if your week already has Sintra, Cascais and Setubal on it, this is the one day trip you can drop without much regret if the train schedule doesn’t cooperate.
Budget: train ~16-20 EUR return, ginjinha and lunch ~14-17 EUR. Total roughly 30-37 EUR.
Before you go. Weather and crowds both favour April through June and September through October; July and August run past 30C with the longest lines of the year at Sintra and Belem. Ignore the flat-rate taxi touts at the airport rank, the meter or a rideshare from the curb both cost less.
Six-day total: figure roughly 255-290 EUR per person for transit, sights and food across the week, not counting accommodation. Book the Pena Palace ticket first and check the Obidos train times before you plan day six around them.