How much did our Portugal trip cost? Here’s a breakdown of costs:
Airfare
We flew on American Airlines using the bonus miles from the American Airlines Citi AAdvantage credit card. Outbound our flight cost 30,000 miles plus $5.60. Our return flight, which was off-peak as far as miles go, was 22,500 miles and $100.81.
Total Airfare: 52,500 AAdvantage miles and $106.41 per person
Lodging
We were on a mission to see a lot of places, so we jumped around a lot.
Porto
We stayed at the Intercontinental Porto. We got a great view from our room of Avenida dos Aliadoas.
We were walking distance to most of the good sights in Porto. We used our “free night certificate” from the Chase IHG credit card, so our cost was the $49 annual fee on the credit card.
Coimbra
We stayed at Epic Days which cost $45 USD via the booking.com website. It was hard to find and it looked a little sketchy around the building, but it was nice inside, had a community kitchen, and the hosts were very friendly
Tomar
We spent two nights in Tomar (partly because there was a bus strike the day we had planned to go to Fatima) at Pe do Castelo via the booking.com website. Our cost was €27 per night cash. Pe do Castelo was a good sized apartment that we enjoyed. Our only concern was that the space heaters had trouble heating the house on cold January days.
Obidos
We spent one night at Hostel Vila de Obidos via booking.com. It was a little pricier than our other lodging at $84 USD, but we wanted to stay within the ancient city walls, and you pay more for that priviledge. We had a very nice room and had access to a community kitchen.
Lisbon
My wife had a bunch of Hilton points saved up from work, so we took advantage of their “5th night free promotion” and spent five nights at the Doubletree Lisbon Fontana Park for 112,000 Hilton points. The hotel was very nice, but the Fontana Park is misleading because it makes the area sound much nicer than it is.
Total cost for lodging: ~$200 USD + 112,000 Hilton points
Local Transport
Since we moved around a lot, our local transport costs were a bit high.
€2.00 – metro from Porto airport
€8.90 – train to Coimbra
€9.60 – train to Tomar
€20.30 – train to Obidos
€8.90 – train to Lisbon
€4.20 – transport to and from Belem
€5.00 – transport to and from Sintra
€7.28 – Uber to Lisbon airport
Total local transport costs = €62.54 per person
Food
When we were in apartments, we went grocery shopping and cooked cheap meals. I know it may not seem like a vacation to some people, but it makes us feel like locals. Plus, we were trying to save money. We did eat out a few times, but we did not splurge.
Total food cost = ~$80 USD
Portugal Trip Cost Summary
We didn’t bother posting every tiny expense. Overall, our total cost was $732.69 for two people to spend 10 nights in Portugal (plus 105,000 frequent flyer miles and 112,000 hotel points).
| Item | Cost |
| ✈️ Airfare | $106.41 per person |
| — AAdvantage Miles | 52,500 points per person |
| 🏢 Lodging | |
| — Porto | IHG Free Night Certificate |
| — Coimbra | $45 USD |
| — Tomar | €27 per night x 2nights |
| — Obidos | $84 USD |
| — Lisbon | 112,000 Hilton Points |
| 🚃 Local Transportation | €62.54 per person |
| 🥙 Food | $80 USD |
| 💶 Total | $732.69 USD |
Adventure with Scott 