Special warnings
Pickpockets
Pickpockets are by far the biggest security problem in Lisbon. Please:
- Carry your wallets, documents and phones in an inside pocket
- Carry your bag in front of you and keep all zippers and zippers closed
- Be extra careful when boarding streetcars, subways and buses
- Be especially aware of people at entrances and inside vehicles.
- Make a copy of your documents and leave the originals in the apartment.
Cabs at the airport
At the airport, some taxi drivers take advantage of tourists’ lack of knowledge of the city to take them on more distant routes and/or charge more for the route.
It is better to use private transfers or an Uber
Fake drugs
In downtown Lisbon and Chiado it is common for tourists to be approached by drug dealers to buy hashish, which is actually pressed bay leaf. Being a fake drug, the police cannot act.
Appetizers in restaurants
Restaurants always put on the table a few plates with appetizers that are usually quite expensive.
As soon as you sit down, you have to ask the waiter to remove the ones you don’t want.
The rule is: If it’s on the table, you pay, whether you eat it or not.
Fake cleaning or repairs
Recently a new season of burglaries has made its appearance. Fake cleaning or maintenance crews are supposed to knock on the door for extra cleaning or maintenance. The customers leave so that they are not in the way, and they break in.
Unless we have warned you, these situations are false. Tell them that you will contact the owners, close the door and contact them immediately.
ATM Euronet
Euronet ATMs should be avoided because although they are placed in very convenient places, they charge very high fees
First of all, there is the basic fee for withdrawing money at Euronet ATMs which is about €1.95 to €4.99.
- 15.0 for raising 200€
- 6,24 for lifting 50€
- 3,95 for lifting 20€
Secondly, we have the problem of exchange rates which are terrible, between 10.0% to 13.0%.
On top of these charges, there is the fee that your own bank may charge you for an overseas transaction.
If you have a UK bank account, for example, the fees for withdrawing money abroad are usually around 2.99%, and there may be an overseas transaction fee of a similar amount to pay as well.
So on a €100 withdrawal, you might be charged €17.99 by Euronet, plus €5.98 from your own bank.
The exchange rate on April 17, 2019 was $1 USD = € 0.8852.
