Paid $14 for a hostel padlock in Lisbon and it broke the same night, but the $45 money belt saved my whole trip

Hugo Henderson · 2026-10-15T07:00:05.224989+00:00

Two summers back I flew to Lisbon with a cheap backpack and zero plan, and the front desk guy at my hostel near Rossio sold me a padlock for 12 euros because the lockers had no locks on them. I figured fine, whatever, it's a lock. That thing jammed shut the first night and I had to get the guy to cut it off with pliers at 7am, so my passport and camera sat in an open locker for eight hours while I slept. Learned my lesson and bought a 45 dollar money belt from a travel shop in Alfama the next day, the flat kind you wear under your shirt, and it carried my passport, cards, and about 300 euros in cash for the rest of the two weeks. The funny part is I never once got pickpocketed or robbed, the lock was my only real problem the entire trip. So now I skip hostel locks completely and just sleep with the belt on if the room feels sketchy. Does anyone else swear by a money belt, or do you all just use the hostel lockers and hope for the best?

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Paid $14 for a hostel padlock in Lisbon and it broke the same night, but the $45 money belt saved my whole trip | Budget Travel Hacks - SMM Buzz