Digital Nomad FAQ’s
Is Lisbon a good city for digital nomads?
Yes, Lisbon is a great city for digital nomads. The city offers a vibrant culture, beautiful weather, and a thriving digital nomad community. It’s known for its historic charm, modern amenities, and a welcoming atmosphere for remote workers.
How is the internet connectivity and speed in Lisbon?
The internet connectivity in Lisbon is generally good, with many cafes, co-working spaces, and accommodations offering reliable and fast Wi-Fi. The average internet speed in Lisbon is around 120 Mbps, which is more than sufficient for video calls and other online work. You can expect stable connections in most parts of the city.
Is it easy to meet people and make friends in Lisbon?
Yes, it is relatively easy to meet people and make friends in Lisbon. The city has a large expat and digital nomad community, and there are numerous social events, meetups, and networking opportunities. Popular spots to connect with others include co-working spaces, language exchange events, and local cafes. Joining online groups and attending events through platforms like Meetup can also help.
How much should I budget for a month in Lisbon?
For an adult living as a digital nomad in Lisbon, you should budget approximately $2,000-$2,400 per month. This includes accommodation ($900-$1,300), food ($340-$560), transportation ($60-$110), co-working space ($110-$220), and other miscellaneous expenses. This estimate includes a 30% buffer for unexpected costs.
Are there lots of places to work from in Lisbon?
Yes, Lisbon has plenty of places to work from, including numerous co-working spaces, cafes with good Wi-Fi, and public libraries. Some popular co-working spaces include Second Home, Cowork Central, and Heden. Many cafes in areas like Chiado, Bairro Alto, and Alfama are also friendly to remote workers.
What are the best digital nomad neighborhoods in Lisbon?
Chiado: Central, trendy, and filled with cafes, shops, and co-working spaces.
Bairro Alto: Known for its vibrant nightlife and bohemian atmosphere, with many cafes and bars.
Alfama: Historic and picturesque, offering a more traditional Portuguese experience.
Santos: Popular with younger professionals and creatives, featuring many co-working spaces.
Cais do Sodré: A lively area with a mix of traditional and modern amenities, close to the river.
Visitor / Working Visas
Portugal offers several visa options for digital nomads, including the D7 visa for passive income earners and the temporary stay visa for independent workers and entrepreneurs. The process for obtaining a visa typically involves proving sufficient income, having health insurance, and securing accommodation. It’s recommended to consult with a Portuguese consulate or a specialized visa service for detailed guidance on the application process.
Cost Of Living / Traveling Through Lisbon Portugal
🧍Avg. Cost Of Living (For Single Adult): $2,000 – $2,400 per month
🏨 Avg. Price Per Night For Hotel Room (near city center): $100 – $200, I personally use Booking anytime I book hotels.
🏩 Avg. Price Per Night For Hostel Dorm Room (near city center): $20 – $40, If you’re planning to stay in Lisbon as a digital nomad, here are the Top 46 Coliving Spaces in Portugal you can book right now
🏡 Avg. Price for Apartments (near city center): $1,000 – $1,500 per month
☕️ Latte: $3 – $4
🍺 .5 Liter Beer: $2 – $3
🏋️♀️ Monthly Gym Membership: $40 – $60
🚊 Local Transport – Avg. One Way Ticket Price: $2, Trainline is my go to for train tickets in Europe, although train service may not be available within Portugal.
🍝 Avg. Dinner Price: $12 – $20
📱 Avg. Data Plan Per Month: $20 – $30, Airalo is the only ESIM company I use.
🏢 Avg. Cowork Per Month (near city center): $110 – $220
The 5 Quick Scores
- Overall – 4.5/5
- I loved this place. Unfortunately, I made plans to go to Oktoberfest so I had to leave. However, I nearly cried after leaving. I think about Lisbon often, and all the friends I was able to make in only 2 weeks. I will return there (even my 66 year old mother who’s traveling with me loved this place).
- The weather’s great, the culture is laid back, there is a huge community of people who work online, the language is fun (and not crazy difficult to pick up if you have any experience in romance languages). I highly recommend this spot!
- Internet Speed – 5/5
- I ran 8 wifi speed tests while in Lisbon, here are the findings
- Avg. Download Speed = 167.41 MBPS
- Avg. Upload Speed = 122.08 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 19.38 MS*
- *Not sure what these metrics mean? Read my guide to getting fast wifi here.
- Fastest internet I Got In The City – was at Asante Boutique Coffee Roasters
- Worried about getting solid Wifi? My back up solution is Solis Hotspot
- Ease Of Connecting & Making Friends- 5/5
- Super easy to make friends. I daresay I love Lisbon as much if not more than Playa Del Carmen (my former favorite place to digital nomad).
- Nightlife – 4/5
- While I did slip up on my celibacy after partying till till 5 am. I did love this place and the nightlife. There are all kinds of bars and fun spots to hang out at. From fancier bars to lively dive bars, and former brothels turned into dance clubs!
- Places To Work From – 5/5
- There are a lot of great places to work from here, lot’s of cafe’s. and even co-working spaces I actually liked! 🙀
- Affordability – 3.5/5
- Compared to South America, or Cape Town, this isn’t the cheapest place in the world. However, compared to Europe, (and especially the hotel pricing in Ireland) thing’s are pretty affordable.
Definitely worth adding to your list of places to check out. Used CapCut to pull this together—highly recommend it if you’re editing on the go.
Wifi Speed Tests
Looking for more info on these metrics? Read my guide to getting fast wifi here
Where I Stayed
Selina Lisbon
- OVERALL – 4.5/5 – As any of you who follow me know, I love Selina. Within the nomad scene Selina can be a bit polarizing. There are a lot of people who feel like it’s too expensive, exclusionary, etc.
- I know if I go to a Selina there will be quick wifi and a built in community which are the two biggest factors in me choosing a place to stay.
- Affordability – 3/5 – Not crazy affordable, however for Europe not bad, starting at ~$40 for a shared dorm room & starting at ~$150 for their smaller micro private rooms with shared bathrooms.
- Bro Tip Pro Tip – They have a Colive program, where you can buy 1 month at a time and book that month across their different locations. You also get access to their co-working spaces. I chose this package when I stayed in Playa Del Carmen, and Mexico City and loved it. This ended up making the pricing WAY more affordable. Plus I got lodging in Lisbon, Porto & even Cusco, Peru (and I don’t even get to Peru for 4 months 😱)
- Wifi – 4/5 – The wifi isn’t crazy fast here, however plenty fast and stable enough. I had a number of video calls without any issues
- Avg. Download Speed = 22.687 MBPS
- Avg. Upload Speed = 22.346 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 8 MS
- Sense Of Community – 5/5 – There are a lot of different events going on at this Selina. Yoga, meditation classes, bar crawls, day tours etc. Plus people are super friendly and there is also a co-working spot here where you can meet other digital nomads that live in Lisbon.
- Location – 4.5/5 – A pretty central spot, real close to Bairro Alto (the party spot) and al the cool stuff downtown.
- Amenities (Kitchen, Pool, etc.) – 4/5
- They have a kitchen, a pool, a co-working space, a rooftop bar, and a spot for movies, yoga and meditation. I didn’t love their pool, that’s why I gave them the 4/5 here
- Cleanliness – 4/5 – Pretty damn clean and well maintained
Honorable Mention – Places I Didn’t Stay At But Were Highly Recommended
SameSame Colive – I was recommended this place, and the prices look pretty reasonable, with prices ranging from $55 – $90, it looks like you have to book a minimum of 8 nights here though, so for shorter stays it may not be the best spot.
Bleisured – I haven’t stayed here, but they specialize in mid to long term rentals targetted to digital nomads – seems like a legit spot.
Co-Works & My Favorite Places To Work From
Croissant – A Great App To Download Here
I had multiple people recommend this app, and it’s a great one! It is the reason (in addition to a dear friend) that I found my favorite co-working spot!
Seems like every other person I meet here uses the app. It’s a pretty sweet deal, you sign up for one membership and get access to co-working spots all over Lisbon, Europe, the US, Israel & South America!
The pricing changes based on where you’re based out of, but is around ~$30 a month. You can also get a significant discount if you use the referral code of a friend.
Avila Spaces – Av. João Crisóstomo
- OVERALL – 4/5 – I dig this place, lot’s of natural lighting, beer on tap, beautiful design & plenty of other people.
- Wifi – 5/5 – The wifi was super fast
- Download Speed = 199.524 MBPS*
- Upload Speed = 340.351 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 12 MS
- *Not sure what these metrics mean? Read my guide to getting fast wifi here.
- Service & Friendliness – 5/5 – The staff was super attentive and friendly.
- Amenities (Places to take calls, etc.) – 4/5 – They had quite a few spots to take calls, beer on tap, a kitchen and a nice espresso machine
- Location / Ambiance – 4/5 – Pretty centrally located
- Ergonomics 5/5 (Comfortable Seating / Standup Spots) – They had couches, work chairs, bucket chairs standing tables, all kinds of stuff!
Seagull Method Cafe
- OVERALL – 4/5 – Super cool cafe, a bit grungy but in a good way. This place was recommended to me by a few folks, so easy to meet other people who work online there.
- Wifi – 4/5 – You could easily take video calls here (if your team / client doesn’t mind background noise, or you use an app like Krisp to block out background noise)
- Download Speed = 252.80 MBPS
- Upload Speed = 193.5 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 12 MS
- Service & Friendliness – 5/5 – The staff was super friendly, and even recommended a bunch of other cafes I could work from too.
- Amount Of Outlets – 4/5 – A decent amount of outlets, not everywhere but enough to get by
- Location / Ambiance – 4/5 – As mentioned is a bit grungy, but in a cool way, it’s located pretty centrally which is nice too.
- Ergonomics (Comfortable Seating / Standup Spots) – 3/5 – Not a whole lot of options here, no standup tables, they do have booth seating available (which tends to be more comfortable for me anyway)
LACS CoWork – Conde d’Obidos Location
- OVERALL – 4/5 – Pretty sweet spot right next to the river, a little out of the way. They do have other locations though.
- Wifi – 5/5 – No problems with calls or anything
- Download Speed = 285.716 MBPS
- Upload Speed = 209.165 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 8 MS
- Service & Friendliness – 5/5 – The staff was super friendly, and even recommended a bunch of other cafes I could work from too.
- Amount Of Outlets – 5/5 – Plenty of outlets
- Location / Ambiance – 3.5/5 – As mentioned, this location is a bit out of the way. But it’s got a rooftop bar, a view of the river – it’s pretty sweet!
- Ergonomics (Comfortable Seating / Standup Spots) – 5/5 – Plenty of options here.
Video from LACS
Honorable Mentions – Places I Didn’t Stay At / Can’t Fully Recommend
Copenhagen Coffee Lab – they have a lot of locations around Lisbon, I went to one of the locations and the wifi was trash, so for that reason can’t recommend fully.
Hello, Kristof – These guys have a couple locations and great coffee. One of the locations they didn’t want people working there (totally get smaller cafe’s don’t want people hanging out for hours). However, there was a location that did have a zone for laptops – when my sister went to plug her laptop into an empty outlet the manager told us that we couldn’t use the outlet, so it feels a lot like they don’t really want to have people working from there locations, but maybe something about me just pissed them off 😂.
Selina Co-Work – Last time I stayed here it was included, but this time for whatever reason it wasn’t. I do feel as though the prices have gotten really expensive for the cowork. While I worked from the cafe, there toward the end of my stay they wanted me to pay to work from the cafe, while being a guest there.
This is part of a larger gripe, but I’m kind of getting tired of Selina and how much they nickel and dime people – I’m getting close to boycotting them and removing them from all of my recommendations. If you’re part of Selina and would like to bribe me to keep me from boycotting you, I may be open to a payoff. For the readers, if you see me staying at Selina’s for a year straight around the world, it may be because Selina paid me… 😂
Finding Community / Making Friends
Interested In Building Community Anywhere As A Nomad? I interviewed 9 other digital nomads to come up with a complete guide, check it out here.
- Lisbonomads – This is probably the biggest nomad group in Lisbon. These guys have a lot of weekly recurring events, a running group on Tuesdays, and a big meetup every Thursday (the video above is actually from that Thursday meetup)
- Cultura Na Rua
- A website with events geared more toward Portuguese people than nomads or travelers.
- Lisbon Hiking
- A hiking group, it’s not crazy active but seemed to have some activity particularly around the weekend.
Transportation
- Getting There & Leaving
- Bolt
- I had a lot of issues with Uber (drivers cancelling trips, etc.) but Bolt was super cheap. They have a bunch of scooters & also taxis.
- The Yellow Trams
- These things are super cool, and all over the place. Here’s a site with a guide on them.
- Bolt
- The Public Transportation Is Quite Good. They have quite a few different forms of public transport, and packages to choose from. Check out Trainline, but this may only be available for tickets within Portugal.
What I Drank / Nightlife
Partying & NightLife
- Bairro Alto
- This neighborhood is by far the most popular spot to party, it’s packed with people on weekend nights. And since you can drink on the streets here, you can order a drink then if you want to leave you can take your drink with you. It’s an energy packed spot for sure, and I’d highly recommend it.
- Pink Street – Rua Cor De Rosa
- This spot isn’t too far from Bairro Alto, in my experience it seemed to have more bars that were open super late. I actually partied until 4 am on this street. While I may or may not have slipped up on my celibacy after partying here, I did really enjoy this place.
- O Das Joanas
- Super cool bar, seems like more of a “local” vibe, I really enjoyed this spot.
Nice Bars & More Chill Spots
- ByTheWine Wine Bar – Super cool wine bar with a lot of different wines from around Portugal, and the world. Plus the interior is super beautiful 😍
- Portologia Lisbon – I drank an outrageous amount of port wine while in Portugal, and this spot was one of my favorite places to drink port at (and I even went to Porto & The Duoro Valley)!
- These guys had a lot of smaller producers that I hadn’t even encountered in Porto, so you can try some Port that isn’t owned by one of the handful of massive companies
- Cinco Lounge – This bar was cool, lots of alcohol to choose from, lot’s of unique cocktails. Dark and sleek spot. It reminded quite a bit of Death and Co.’s for anyone familiar with that group in the US.
- Bacchanal – Awesome little bar with super friendly staff, not far from Pink Street.
Drink Reviews W/ A Redneck From My Time Here
This is from my Drink Reviews W/ A Redneck Series. Which features me drinking and reviewing alcohol from around the world. Sometimes I’m with others, sometimes I’m by myself, sometimes I compare the drinks to romantic interests. Check it out!
Exercise / Outdoors
Nature – Sintra-Cascais National Park
Did some biking around here, pretty beautiful spot! You can get there in an hour and a half via public transport, and it looks crazy beautiful!
Rota Vicentina – I walked this for 8 days with my girlfriend and sister, pretty sweet experience!
Exercise
- Walking
- Anyone who’s followed me for even a little bit knows that I love walking around cities, and Lisbon is a great city to walk around in and get a great workout. It’s as full of hills as San Francisco, but with way more beautiful architecture (IMO)
- Fitness Hut / Viva Gym – I didn’t see an English version of the site unfortunately
- There are Fitness Hut gyms all around Lisbon, at the time of writing this I was able to sign up for 1 month then cancel it and I paid 2 payments of 14 Euro.
- Running Groups
- As mentioned in the community section Lisbonomads has a weekly running event.
- Selina also had a running group that ran 1 – 2 times a week.
- Surfing
- There are all kinds of killer surfing spots nearby. I’m still dealing with the shame of my attempt at surfing in Costa Rica 10 years ago, but there are a lot of folks who love the surfing near Lisbon. Here’s a good guide on it.
Let’s Make This Thing Serious
You Made It This Far Brah
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