How Lisbon and Barcelona compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
Rent, a coworking desk, a cheap lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around: the same four costs our budget calculator uses. The rent figures aren't always the same kind of figure (some are furnished one-beds, some are averages across every size of flat), so read the note under each.
$1,490 to $2,520£1,120 to £1,890 a month
$1,840 to $1,850£1,380 to £1,390 a month
D8 digital nomad visa
The catch. The bar is four times the minimum wage, so it rises every January. And a partner can now join you only once you have held the permit for two years.
International telework visa
The catch. You also need a degree or three years of experience, and at least three months with your employer or clients.
See where your own income stands in every country. Check your income
A 9am to 5pm day in the employer's city, shown in local time, for today's date, so it allows for the clocks changing.
Different hours or another employer city? Use the time-zone planner
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | 15° | 16° | 19° | 20° | 23° | 26° | 28° | 29° | 27° | 23° | 18° | 15° |
| Barcelona | 14° | 14° | 16° | 18° | 21° | 25° | 28° | 29° | 26° | 22° | 17° | 14° |
Level 1: normal precautions
Level 2: increased caution
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
From each city guide, word for word.
You want a European base that works for a London or New York working day, you would rather eat in a tasca than a restaurant, and you are coming for at least a season rather than a fortnight. It rewards staying: the third month is better than the first, because by then you have a market, a cafe and a couple of people, and you are no longer paying tourist prices for anything.
You are on a tight budget, or you want to work from cafes all day. Lisbon is no longer cheap — rents have gone up faster than almost anywhere in Europe and you are competing with people earning in dollars. And it is not a laptop city: the cafes tolerate you, they do not want you. If you cannot afford a desk somewhere, you will have a worse time here than the internet suggests. Come for the winter and the flat will be colder than you think.
Salaried remote employees comfortably above EUR 2,442 a month gross who want a proper European city for a year or more. Employees on the nomad visa can opt into the Beckham regime and pay a flat 24 per cent on their salary, the fibre is among the fastest in Europe, the coworking market is deep and cheap by London standards, and April to June is as good as city living gets.
Anyone who wants a cheap, short, furnished, no-paperwork stay. Asking rents run about 23 per cent above Valencia per square metre, the city is phasing out its tourist-flat licences altogether, and since January 2026 the medium-term furnished lets that remote workers relied on are price-capped, so landlords have stopped offering them. Freelancers do not get the 24 per cent rate. Cafes will not host you for a working day. If you hate bureaucracy in two languages, or a July with 20 degree nights, go to Valencia.
Most visas want health cover for the whole stay. Compare nomad health insurance · Build your trip checklist