Lisbon: Nasty tourist rip-off in restaurants

Several traditional restaurants in the center of Lisbon make clear differences in prices between travelers and locals. Tourists are presented with the official, multilingual menus with high prices. Portuguese guests receive special menus with lower prices. This is reported by the Portuguese newspaper «Expresso».

An employee of a restaurant in the Baixa, the historic city center, explained that a simple snack for foreign guests, for example, costs 15 euros, while locals only pay 9.90 euros for a full meal including a drink, dessert and coffee.

The low local prices are passed on «verbally in a whisper», it continues. Communication also takes place through winks and nods. In some cases, there are even said to be menus with the lower prices, which are placed in «inconspicuous or even hidden areas».

According to «Expresso», this practice is illegal. The manipulated pricing strategy is designed to extract as much money as possible from tourists while keeping prices low enough to avoid deterring local customers.

The Portuguese hotel and restaurant association AHRESP maintains that it is not aware of this practice. The prices should be the same for all customers and should be displayed «completely transparently». It is not aware of any discrimination against foreign guests.