Your first 72 hours in Lisbon

You don't need to conquer Portuguese bureaucracy on day one. You need a working phone, a way around, a stocked fridge, and one appointment booked. Here's the first 72 hours, in order.

Hour 1: leave the airport the cheap way

Humberto Delgado airport is inside the city, this surprises everyone. The metro (red line) runs from the terminal to the centre in ~25 minutes; buy a paper navegante ocasional card at the machine (€0.50, still called Viva Viagem by most locals) and load it with zapping credit. A taxi or Uber/Bolt to most central neighbourhoods runs €10 to 20, fine with luggage, but don't let anyone "help" you to an unmarked car. If a driver quotes a flat €40 to Baixa, that's the tourist tax; the meter or the app is always less.

Day 1: SIM card and data

The airport has Vodafone kiosks, but high-street prices are better and the queue is shorter. Any Vodafone, MEO, or NOS shop sells a prepaid SIM with generous data for €10 to 15, passport is all you need, no NIF, no address. Do this before anything else: every other errand in Portugal assumes you can receive an SMS. (Full steps in the SIM how-to.)

Day 1: cash, cards, and MB Way envy

Portugal is heavily card-friendly, contactless works everywhere from the metro to the bifana stand. Withdraw cash only from Multibanco ATMs (the blue-and-green network); the bright "Euronet" machines at tourist spots charge brutal rates. You'll notice locals paying each other by phone number, that's MB Way, and you'll get it once you have a Portuguese bank account. For now your home card is fine.

Day 2: get oriented, get a transit card

If you're staying more than two weeks, swap the paper card for a personalised navegante card (€7) and load the monthly pass, €40/month covers metro, buses, trams, suburban trains, and the ferries across the Tejo, the whole metropolitan area. There's a counter at major stations; bring a passport photo (booths in the station do them). Lisbon is hilly but small: the metro plus the occasional €5 Bolt covers 95% of life.

Day 2: supermarkets and the basics

Continente and Pingo Doce are the big two, Lidl and Aldi the budget fill-ins, Mini Preço the corner-shop tier. The mercearia downstairs is pricier but will know your name by week two, which is worth something. Tap water is safe everywhere. Pharmacies (green cross) are the first stop for anything mild, pharmacists are knowledgeable, most speak English, and plenty of things need no prescription.

Day 3: the one errand that matters, your NIF

The NIF (tax number) is the key that opens everything: lease, bank account, phone contract, even some online shopping. It's free at any Finanças office, go at 9:00 sharp with your passport and proof of address from home. Non-EU citizens may need a fiscal representative (services like Bordr handle it remotely for ~€90). Make this your day-3 mission and the rest of your move gets dramatically easier. (The NIF how-to has the full play-by-play.)

Numbers and apps to save tonight

• 112: emergencies (works in English)
• SNS24: 808 24 24 24: the health line; call before going to any hospital for non-emergencies
• Bolt and Uber: both work; Bolt is usually cheaper
• Citymapper / Google Maps: both handle Lisbon transit well
• Too Good To Go: Lisbon's bakeries dump glorious €4 surprise bags

Landing between November and March

Lisbon winters are mild outside and cold inside. Most flats have no central heating and thin windows, so the first purchase you will make is an oil-filled radiator and a dehumidifier from Worten or Continente, around €40 to 80 each, and you will be glad of both by the first wet week. Rain arrives in bursts, the calçada turns slippery, and a cheap umbrella lasts one gust on a miradouro, so buy a decent one. The upside: no queues at the sights, flat hunting is calmer, and Finanças and the câmara run full rotas except for the stretch between Christmas and New Year. In July and August the problem flips: no air conditioning, a fan becomes the essential buy, and half the city's small shops close for two or three weeks of férias.

What can wait

The bank account, the utente number, internet at home, the residence paperwork, all real, none urgent this week. Open the checklist in this app and work down it; it's sequenced so nothing blocks anything else. For now: find your nearest pastelaria, order a bica and a pastel de nata, and notice that the hardest part, actually moving, is already done.