Getting around Lisbon: metro, trams, funiculars and ferries

Buy the card first, then decide the fare

Everything starts with a rechargeable Navegante or Viva Viagem card, sold at any metro machine for €0.50 and valid across metro, Carris buses, trams, funiculars and the Santa Justa lift. You then load it one of two ways. Zapping is pay-as-you-go credit at roughly €1.85 per metro or bus journey, cheaper than paper tickets and the right choice if you walk a lot. The 24-hour ticket costs about €7 and covers unlimited travel on metro, buses, trams and the funiculars from first use.

The break-even is four rides in a day, or three if one of them is a tram — an onboard tram ticket bought from the driver costs around €3.20, nearly double the card fare, and that difference alone justifies the card on the first day. If you are staying a month, the Navegante monthly pass at about €40 covers the whole metropolitan area including the Sintra and Cascais trains and is spectacular value. One card cannot be shared between two travellers on the same journey, so buy one each.

The metro: four lines, and what they are actually for

Lisbon's metro is clean, fast and small — four lines running roughly 06:30 to 01:00. The red line runs from the airport through Alameda to Oriente and Parque das Nações, which makes it the arrival route and the reason you never need an airport taxi. The blue line runs Baixa to Restauradores, Avenida, Marquês de Pombal and out to Sete Rios and the zoo. The green line runs Cais do Sodré through Baixa-Chiado, Rossio, Martim Moniz, Intendente and Anjos. The yellow line climbs Rossio to Marquês de Pombal and north to Campo Grande.

What the metro does not do is serve Alfama, Graça, Bairro Alto, Belém or Lapa — the hilliest, prettiest districts have no station, which is why the trams and buses still matter. Its most useful trick for visitors is the Baixa-Chiado station, whose enormous escalator run connects flat Baixa to the top of Chiado in ninety seconds and saves a real climb. Many stations are worth looking at in their own right for the commissioned tilework; Olaias and Parque are the standouts.

Trams: which routes to ride and which to endure

Tram 28E is the famous one, in the vintage Remodelado carriages, running Martim Moniz through Graça, Alfama, Baixa, Chiado and Estrela to Campo de Ourique. It is a genuinely lovely ride and, from mid-morning to early evening, a standing crush with 30-40 minute queues at the terminus and the highest pickpocket rate in Portugal. Ride it at 07:30 or after 21:00, or board mid-route at Graça or Sé and go downhill. Route 12E does a shorter loop through Alfama with a fraction of the crowd.

The useful trams are the others. 15E runs modern articulated cars from Praça da Figueira and Cais do Sodré west along the river to Alcântara and Belém in about 20 minutes — the single most useful line for sightseeing, though rammed by mid-morning. 25E climbs from Corpo Santo up through Lapa and Estrela, and 24E runs Cais do Sodré up through Príncipe Real to Campolide, which is the easy way onto that hill. Board through the front door and tap your card on the reader.

Funiculars, lifts and the art of not climbing

Lisbon's three funiculars are nineteenth-century engineering still doing daily work. The Glória climbs from Restauradores to São Pedro de Alcântara in three minutes; the Bica runs from Rua de São Paulo near Cais do Sodré up to the Chiado edge through the most photographed street in the city; the Lavra, the oldest, dating from 1884, climbs from Largo da Anunciada. All are included in the 24-hour ticket, otherwise around €4.10 return — expensive standalone, free at the margin if you already hold the day pass.

The Elevador de Santa Justa is the one to avoid: a beautiful iron structure with a 30-45 minute queue and a fare over €5 for the return including the viewing platform. Walk up to Largo do Carmo instead and pay a small fee to enter the top walkway with no queue, or skip it. Free alternatives exist too: the public lift at Rua dos Fanqueiros connects Baixa to Costa do Castelo, and the Baixa-Chiado metro escalators do the same job for the price of a metro fare.

Ferries and suburban trains: the best value in the city

The Cacilhas ferry from Cais do Sodré takes ten minutes, costs about €1.55 with a card, and gives you the finest view of Lisbon there is — the whole city rising from the water with the bridge overhead. On the far side, Cacilhas has excellent seafood restaurants along the waterfront, the Cristo Rei statue up the hill with a lift to the viewing platform, and buses onward to Costa da Caparica's beaches. Other ferries run from Terreiro do Paço to Barreiro and Montijo, and from Belém to Trafaria.

The two suburban lines are essential. Cais do Sodré to Cascais takes 33-40 minutes, running every 20 minutes along the river and then the coast, stopping at Belém, Algés, Carcavelos beach, Estoril and Cascais, for a couple of euros with a card. Rossio to Sintra takes about 40 minutes. Both are covered by the monthly Navegante pass but not by the 24-hour city ticket, so top up zapping credit before boarding — barrier-jumping carries a fine and inspectors do work these lines.

Taxis, rideshares and the airport

Bolt and Uber both operate widely and are the cheaper option in Lisbon: €6-9 for a typical cross-centre trip, €15-22 from the airport to Chiado depending on time. Cream-coloured taxis are metered, honest in the main, and better for airport ranks where the rideshare pickup area is a walk from arrivals; expect €15-25 to the centre with a small luggage supplement. Both struggle in Alfama, Bairro Alto and Castelo, where drivers will drop you at the nearest drivable corner and you walk the rest.

The metro from the airport is faster than either in traffic: the red line from Aeroporto station reaches Alameda in about 20 minutes and connects to the green line for Baixa and Chiado, for one fare. It is only awkward with heavy luggage at the Alameda interchange, which involves stairs and escalators. Between 01:00 and 06:30 the metro is closed and a night bus or rideshare is your only option; budget €20-25 for a late arrival.

Walking, scooters and the honest strategy

The central sightseeing area is roughly 3km across and most of what you want to see is within it, but the gradients are serious — 10-15 per cent is routine and Alfama is largely stairs. The winning strategy is simple and worth stating plainly: use machines to go up and your legs to come down. Take a tram or funicular or metro escalator to Graça, São Pedro de Alcântara or Príncipe Real, then walk down through the old quarters. Wear shoes with real grip, because polished calçada limestone in drizzle is genuinely dangerous.

E-scooters and dockless bikes are everywhere and cost roughly €1 to unlock plus €0.20 a minute, but the cobbles rattle your teeth, the hills defeat the cheap models and helmets are not provided. The city's electric-assist bike scheme handles the hills better and is worth it for the flat riverside path from Cais do Sodré to Belém, which is the one genuinely pleasant cycling route in central Lisbon. Otherwise, walk, keep your bag in front of you on the 28E, and let the funiculars do the work.