Money & Phones

Portugal is part of the EU, so the money is Euros.

While not as card and phone centric as say, Scandinavia, most places take cards or Apple or Google Pay. Make sure your card doesn't charge a fee for international transactions.

Is nice to have small cash to pay for a coffee. Avoid the ATMs branded "Euronet"... high fees and sketchy... rather use an ATM at a bank branch, which will most likely have the "Multibanco" words and icon on it. They'll give you the best exchange rate.

Tipping is tricky, with much different advice. Some say tipping is optional in Portugal, or that all you need to do is "round up" to the closest Euro. We're still not so comfortable with that...

At a coffee shop, not necessary, or the round-up if you feel like it and see a tip jar.

At a local restaurant, leave a Euro or two. At a touristy place, they might expect say 10%, or five or ten percent might be on the bill as an option you can select. Or they might have that damn iPad-like app that they spin at your and you get to select either a percentage or the "I'm a tight-ass" "No tip" option.

"Free" walking tours always expect a tip, as do priced professional tour guides. And we always leave something for housekeeping staff while traveling, just because.

We use T-Mobile in the USA, which has  good international calling and data built into their normal plans. It just pops on when we land. For texting, maps, web browsing, social media, it works just fine... until you've used up your high-speed quota then gets a little boggy. But you can upgrade your plan or just buy more.

We also have Vodafone e-sims in the iPhones for local Portuguese numbers, which you can easily and cheaply get at a Vodafone store. But these are probably not needed if you'll only be in country for a short while.