{"id":520,"date":"2012-09-22T23:53:38","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T06:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=520"},"modified":"2013-07-24T06:39:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T13:39:49","slug":"lisboa-card-worth-the-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"Lisboa Card: Worth the money?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-522\" title=\"Lisboa Card\" src=\"http:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/LisboaCard-500x315.jpg\" alt=\"Lisboa Card\" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/LisboaCard-500x315.jpg 500w, https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/LisboaCard-475x300.jpg 475w, https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/LisboaCard.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Sightseeing in Europe can get expensive very quickly. \u00a0We try and figure-out where we want to go before leaving for our trip and research potential ways to save money. \u00a0Before our most recent trip, we discovered the Lisboa Card, offered by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.askmelisboa.com\/en\/catalog\/lisboa-card-0\" target=\"_blank\">local tourism office<\/a>, which includes free admission to many sights, discounts to others, and free access to Lisbon&#8217;s fairly extensive transportation network (trains, subways, buses, trolleys). \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our preliminary calculations before the trip suggested the card would be about a wash, but perhaps pay-out with its convenience (instead of worrying about having money on hand to pay for transportation). \u00a0Our prediction was about right. \u00a0Here&#8217;s how we recouped our \u20ac39 72-hour card cost (savings are per person as of September 2012):<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Train ride to\/from Sintra (important note: you do not need a separate ticket, even for the longer trains to Sintra and Cascais\u2014just use your card to get through the turnstiles and show it to the conductor if necessary) &#8211; \u20ac4 savings<\/li>\n<li>Free admission to the National Palace in Sintra &#8211; \u20ac7 savings<\/li>\n<li>Train ride to\/from Bel\u00e9m (we took the faster train instead of the crowded trolley) &#8211; \u20ac3 savings<\/li>\n<li>Free admission to the National Coach Museum in Bel\u00e9m &#8211; \u20ac5 savings<\/li>\n<li>Free admission to the Jer\u00f3nimos Monastery Cloisters &#8211; \u20ac7 savings<\/li>\n<li>Discounted admission to the Maritime Museum (normally \u20ac5) &#8211; \u20ac2 savings<\/li>\n<li>Discounted access to the elevator at Monument to the Discoveries\u00a0(normally \u20ac3) &#8211; \u20ac1 savings<\/li>\n<li>Bus ride from Cais de Sodre Train Station to Alfama\u00a0&#8211; \u20ac1.75 savings<\/li>\n<li>Discounted admission to Fado Museum\u00a0(normally \u20ac5) &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac1.50 savings<\/li>\n<li>Discounted admission to Castelo de S\u00e3o Jorge (normally \u00a0\u20ac7.50) &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac1.80 savings<\/li>\n<li>Trolley ride from Alfama to Chiado &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac2.85 savings<\/li>\n<li>Train to\/from Alc\u00e2ntara Mar\u00a0&#8211; \u20ac3 savings<\/li>\n<li>Ascensor da Gl\u00f3ria up from Rossio to Bairro Alto &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac3.50 savings<\/li>\n<li>Free access to Santa Justa Lift viewpoint &#8211; \u20ac2.80 savings<\/li>\n<li>Metro from Pra\u00e7a do Com\u00e9rcio to\u00a0Santa Apol\u00f3nia &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac1.70 savings<\/li>\n<li>Free access to\u00a0Museu Nacional do Azulejo &#8211;\u00a0\u20ac5 savings<\/li>\n<li>Bus ride from Museu Nacional do Azulejo to Oriente\u00a0&#8211; \u20ac1.75 savings<\/li>\n<li>Metro from Oriente to Chiado\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0\u20ac1.70 savings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>For 3 days, we received \u20ac56.35 in value from our Lisboa Card, for a savings of\u00a0\u20ac17.35 per person. \u00a0Of the savings from the Lisboa Card, \u20ac26.05 was from transit. \u00a0One alternative to the Lisboa Card is to purchase a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metrolisboa.pt\/eng\/customer-info\/viva-viagem-card\/\">Viva Viagem card<\/a>, which after bought for\u00a0\u20ac0.50, can provide unlimited access to the same transit options as the Lisboa Card for\u00a0\u20ac5 per day (without the sightseeing deals). \u00a0If we would have bought the Viva Viagem card and paid for all the attractions at full price, we would have paid\u00a0\u20ac45.79 per person. \u00a0The Lisboa Card is still slightly a better deal, saving us\u00a0\u20ac6.79 per person. \u00a0Of course, with this tight of margin, we would have lost money with the Lisboa Card purchase if we would have skipped one or two of the sights listed above.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>We bought the card at the Lisbon Airport, which was very convenient. \u00a0They are sold at the \u00a0&#8220;ask me L\u00bfsboa&#8221; booth at the arrivals hall. \u00a0They take credit card, and the line was very short. \u00a0Note that you are required to write the time of your first visit on the card, so attractions can actually enforce the expiration of the card to the exact hour (72 hours doesn&#8217;t get you a whole third day). \u00a0The transit system validates the card electronically, so I&#8217;m guessing the clock starts after your first swipe. \u00a0I was originally wondering if we could get by with a 48 hour card and still get the attraction deals on our third day, but that is not possible.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>Before leaving for Lisbon, make a quick catalog of the sights you plan on seeing. \u00a0If you plan on being at least as aggressive as we were during our 3 day trip, the Lisboa Card may be a good value. \u00a0Otherwise, consider a Viva Viagem card and paying full price for attractions. \u00a0The all day transit card pays for itself very quickly, so even the most relaxed itineraries would probably benefit from planning ahead to save on transit.<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sightseeing in Europe can get expensive very quickly. \u00a0We try and figure-out where we want to go before leaving for our trip and research potential ways to save money. \u00a0Before our most recent trip, we discovered the Lisboa Card, offered &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=520\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[52,10,57,30,21,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}