Lisbon has one genuine transport advantage most capitals can’t match: the airport sits inside the city, on the metro’s red line, so getting from the plane to a central bed is quick and cheap if you don’t overthink it. Once you’re in town, the network is a mix of metro, buses, historic trams, funiculars and river ferries — dense in the centre, thinner on the hills. Below is how to reach the centre, which ticket to buy, and where walking or a taxi beats the lot.
From the airport (LIS) to the centre
Humberto Delgado Airport is about 7 km from downtown. Your realistic options and their trade-offs, with prices hedged as of July 2026 — check current fares before you rely on them:
| Option | Cost (approx) | Time to centre | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metro (red line) | ~€1.80 + card | 25–35 min | Usually one change; steps and no porters — awkward with big bags |
| City bus (Carris) | ~€2 onboard | 30–45 min | Slower, gets stuck in traffic; fine if a route matches your area |
| Taxi | ~€10–20 | 15–30 min | Airport surcharge + luggage fee; insist on the meter |
| Ride-hail (Bolt/Uber/FreeNow) | ~€8–18 | 15–30 min | Surge-priced at peak; designated pickup point, not the kerb |
| Pre-booked transfer | Fixed, higher | 15–30 min | Driver meets you; only worth it for groups, late arrivals or heavy bags |
For a solo daytime arrival travelling light, the metro is the obvious pick — buy a reusable Navegante card at the machine in the arrivals concourse, load it, and you’re in the centre for the price of a coffee. The one snag is the interchange: the red line reaches only the eastern and northern spine directly, so for Baixa, Chiado or Cais do Sodré you change once (at Alameda for the green line, or São Sebastião for the blue), which means a flight of stairs with your bags. The reasons to pay for a transfer instead are specific: a late-night landing after the metro has stopped (it runs roughly 06:30 to 01:00), a group of three or more splitting the cost, or so much luggage that dragging it through metro interchanges turns miserable. A pre-booked driver waiting with your name means no queue and no meter argument.
Some links below are affiliate links — if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. How we make money
Welcome Pickups
A pre-booked driver at a fixed price who tracks your flight and waits in arrivals with a name sign. It costs more than the airport train or bus, so it earns its keep on late-night landings, groups of three or more, or heavy luggage — a solo daytime arrival usually doesn't need it.
Book a pickupOne warning that saves money and temper: airport taxi drivers are the most likely in the city to “forget” the meter or take the scenic route with tourists. Confirm the meter is running before you pull away, and know that the fixed extras (a luggage charge and a small airport pickup fee) are legitimate while a flat “€40 to the centre” quote is not. Ride-hailing sidesteps the argument because the price is set in the app.
Tickets and passes: the actual maths
Everything runs on the rechargeable Navegante (Viva Viagem) card — a thin paper smartcard costing about €0.50 that you top up. You have three ways to pay on it, and picking wrong wastes a few euros a day:
- Single tickets: around €1.80 a ride on the metro as of July 2026. Simple, but the most expensive per trip.
- Zapping (stored value): load credit and each ride is billed at a slightly lower rate than a single, across metro, bus, tram, funiculars and the Cacilhas/Cais do Sodré ferries. Best if you’ll take only a couple of rides a day.
- 24-hour pass: unlimited metro and Carris buses/trams for roughly €6.80. The break-even is about four rides in a day — take four or more and it wins; take two or three and zapping is cheaper.
So the honest verdict on passes: don’t buy the 24-hour pass reflexively. On a walk-heavy day where you ride the metro to Belém and back and little else, zapping saves you money. On a day zig-zagging across the hills by tram, bus and funicular, the pass pays for itself by lunchtime. Also weigh the Lisboa Card (a separate tourist pass covering transit plus museum entry and the Sintra and Cascais trains) against your actual sightseeing list — it only wins if you’ll hit several paid sights in the same window, as the things-to-do guide explains.
The truth about tram 28
The vintage yellow 28 is Lisbon’s postcard, and between about 10:00 and 18:00 it’s also a standing-room crush of tourists and the pickpockets who work them — you’ll see little through the bodies and spend the ride guarding your phone. Treat it as transport, not a tour: ride it early (board at Martim Moniz before 09:00 for a seat) or hop it for a few stops through Graça in the evening. If all you want is the tram experience, the 12E does a shorter loop with a fraction of the crowd. Keep valuables zipped and in front of you regardless; the safety guide has the full pickpocket picture.
Walking, funiculars and when a car is a mistake
Central Lisbon is walkable in the sense that everything’s close — and exhausting in the sense that it’s nearly all uphill on polished limestone that turns slippery in the wet. Wear shoes with grip, and use the funiculars (Glória, Bica and Lavra) and the Santa Justa Lift as the locals do, to skip the steepest climbs rather than as attractions in themselves. They’re covered by zapping and the day pass, so there’s no reason to queue and pay separately.
Two more pieces worth knowing. The river ferries are proper transport, not just a novelty: the Cais do Sodré crossing to Cacilhas is a cheap, quick way to the far bank and one of the best-value outings in the city. And after the metro shuts around 01:00, your options thin to night buses (infrequent) and ride-hailing — factor that into where you stay if you plan late nights, because a taxi home from the bars adds up over a trip. The buses cover the gaps the metro leaves, especially the western hills and the outer neighbourhoods, but they’re slower and harder to navigate without a maps app, which is another reason to sort your data before you arrive.
Do not rent a car for the city itself. The old-town streets are narrow, one-way, often stepped, parking is scarce and expensive, and you’ll spend the trip stressed and stuck. A car earns its place only for the day trips public transport handles badly — the Arrábida coast, the Alentejo — and even then you pick it up as you leave town, not on arrival. The day-trips guide flags exactly which outings justify one.
DiscoverCars
DiscoverCars compares local and international rental desks in one search, and its full-coverage add-on is usually far cheaper than the insurance pushed at the counter. The cheapest local suppliers can mean slow pick-up queues and large deposit holds, so weigh the supplier rating, not just the price.
Compare rental carsFor most visitors the winning combination is simple: metro from the airport, a Navegante card topped up with zapping or a day pass depending on the day, trams and funiculars to beat the hills, and your own feet for everything in between. Arriving from elsewhere in Portugal or abroad? The getting-there guide compares the flights, trains and buses into the city.