How much £ for my 30 day holiday to Spain and Portugal?

Hi all, Me and my boyfriend are going to be going to Spain (Madrid, Malaga, Seville) for 10 nights in August and 20 nights in Portugal (Faro, Lagos and Lisbon.)

We have already booked all accommodation and main travel, we will be staying in some self catering places so will be able to stay in and cook some night.

However I am unsure how much to budget for food, some entertainment and a little shopping. We will probably eat brunch and dinner out most nights- but not every. Does any one have any ideas? Or even any tips for the holiday?

Another thing is we're students so would like to keep the budget down as much as possible:)

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-western-europe/topics/itinerary-or-budget-question-please-read-this-first-before-posting

Just been going through the receipts from self and GF's visit to Portugal last year - in 14 days we spent @ 550 euros on eating out (around £467 at the time...).

Couple of evening meals came from local convenience stores, but most were taken in cafes or restaurants with three being over the 40 euro mark for two (Terra and Lost In in Lisbon and the Pousada in Sagres) and two over 35 euros for two (D'Italia in Sagres and Ristorante Da Vinci in Lisbon).

Rest were below 30 euros for two by eating from the specials menus (especially if a beer was part of the deal) on an evening). Couple of quiche, a beer, coffee and fruit juice in Sintra was 12.75 euros. 2 pastel aria, 2 double espressos and 2 fruit juices were 8 euros in Lisbon. Mini market meal in SIntra was 10 euros for bag of bread rolls, cheese slices, some salami, a cold drink and two 250ml cartons of red wine. Beer around 1.50 in a cafe, coffee around 1.20...

Other advice? Good walking shoes or sandals for Lisbon... ear plugs for sleeping, especially at weekends, get a reusable water bottle and keep filling it to save on buying bottled water. If you're planning on using buses, Metro or trams in Lisbon (or for a side trip to Sintra for example), get a travel card and load it up with the cost of a few trips.

Do some research into which places offer free admission on Sundays and if you're planning on going on Tram 28 in Lisbon, go early in the morning and be prepared to comment loudly if someone tries to push past you in the queue!

Other suggestions? Buy the paper versions of the respective guidebooks (even if they're older editions if you've already sorted out accommodation) and copy suitable pages on destinations (or cannibalise the books if they're old ones) and take these with you as reference pointers.

Printed pages easier to read in a cafe or on the street and less obvious than pulling out an iPad or other tablet (and you don't need to charge them up either!). We didn't take smartphones, tablets or laptops with us last year and didn't miss them either.

We travelled light (hand luggage only @ 6kg - people with the biggest bags all under 25!), did wash and wear on the clothes and bought anything we ran out of or needed at the last minute in a local pharmacy or a supermarket... Travelling light and no wheelie bags paid dividends and earned up lots of envious looks from those with big bags.

If you're getting a train in Portugal, don't leave it to the last minute to buy your tickets. We booked ours in advance a day or more before travelling and were pleased that we did when we saw the queues for tickets at Lagos railway station (and there was only one window open for ticket sales).

We bought our advance tickets at Rossio station in Lisbon - the ticket office was on the concourse next to Starbucks or at Tavira railway station Tickets for travel to Sintra came out of the machine and if you're heading there, there's a day ticket available that will give you bus travel between the various palaces around the town. ..

If you're wanting to leave luggage in Lisbon, there are various sized lockers on the platform level at Rossi station near the hostel on that floor. Oh, and we didn't have any problems in finding ATMs during our visit.

Hope that this helps out - enjoy!

On a side note, make sure to tell your bank where you're going and when so the local ATM doesn't swallow your card thinking it's been stolen.

Good point fwoggie.

I rang my bank here in the UK and they said that they didn't need to know and that I could draw 250 euros per transaction - turned out that I could only take 200 euros in practice.

GF's bank did need to know, but fortunately they have a branch in the village we live in so no call necessary, but limit out in Portugal on her card was also 200 euros per transaction.

The card will only eat the card if you miss the code after 3 times, or if you forget about it when you leave the atm.

You don't need to tell the bank where you're heading too - that's private info.

Ah, don't worry about finding ATM's. Portugal has the largest ATM network system per capita in the entire European Union...

I'm not making this up or read it in any book, that's official info from the Bank of Portugal.

Several banks here in the UK do ask you to tell them when you're heading out of the UK as a card security measure.

As I said, my bank didn't want to know, but my GF's did...

For some reason i cannot edit my post so,

i was going to write this:

200€ for transaction - That's the maximum allowed for any ATM, according with the law. And there are other limits too, depending on each card. Most ATM's will accept American Express, Maestro,
MasterCard, Visa ou Visa Electron.

Ok, scribblersback, unfortunately banks and finance command our lives. sigh...

I don't know about Portugal, but in Spain the amount one can get from an ATM depends also on the ATM. I can get 600 euros from an ATM of BBVA, 500 euros from La Caixa and 300 euros from the ATM's of the 4B network.

I would budget the same amount as I would at home. Seems rather self-evident to me.

A few comments on the Portuguese part:
- coffee for 1,20? That's a rip-off by Portuguese standard! Standard price is 0,60, some places still sell coffee for 0,50 or 0,55, anything above 0,80 is considered expensive.
- re ATMs - you can get maximum 200 euros per one transaction and 400 euros per day (so you can just take 200 and another 200 right next).
- if you eat out at simple places where the locals eat and take dishes of the day (pratos do dia), you can spend as little as 18-25 euros per couple, plenty of wine and coffee included. A single dish is anything between 6 and 10 euros, house wine (vinho de la casa) comes for as little 1,50-2,50 euros for a 0,5 l jug. Some places offer set meals - soup, a dish of your choice, olives & bread, a drink (wine or beer included), dessert and cafe for as little as 8 euros total per person. However, to find such bargains you would need to wander a bit off the tourist trail.

Just checked the receipts - only one coffee at 50 cents, others 0.70, 1.20 or 1.50, but that was for cafe duplo.

Coffee here in England yesterday was £1.95 each in a small local cafe.

OK, now I understand. Cafe duplo costs usually just double the price of a single coffee.
I have paid 1,20 or so for a single coffee a couple of times - on Lisbon airport and in a few very touristy places (beach bar in Cascais, centre of Sintra). Otherwise it is always 0,50-0,70, sometimes 0,80.
I have a lot of comparative material, as I have lived in Lisbon for half a year and take several coffees a day :-)

I'd be there for a coffee or a Sagres or two at the drop of a hat!

The work for a return visit has already been done, but the trip has been put on hold as I'm setting up a new writing business at the moment, hence the keeping of the receipts from last year in readiness for doing a few pieces on what was a very enjoyable time in Lisbon, Evora, Tavira, Sagres and Lagos last September!

How much £ for my 30 day holiday to Spain and Portugal?

None, as you will have to use Euro

OP is based here in the UK so the overall budget probably depends on pounds sterling and various elements may have to be paid for in pounds sterling. Any price information gleaned from posts on here or from guidebooks that are referred to in Euros can then be converted into pounds sterling to see whether the costs are in line with the OP's budget...