In this guide
💡 The Short Version: A Carris/Metro single is €1.90, valid for 60 minutes on the Metro, buses and trams, but not for two Metro journeys in a row. Tapping a contactless bank card at the Metro gate is €1.92 a journey. From the fourth ride in a day, the 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket at €7.25 is cheaper; with the Cacilhas ferry it is €10.35 and with CP trains to Cascais and Sintra €11.40. Tickets load on the Navegante occasional card (€0.50), which replaced the Viva Viagem. Only the Graça funicular runs: the Glória, Bica and Lavra funiculars and the Santa Justa Lift have been out of service since 3 September 2025. Fares in force from 1 January 2026, from metrolisboa.pt and carris.pt, 1 October 2026.
Tickets and passes, compared
Carris runs Lisbon’s buses, trams and funiculars, and Metropolitano de Lisboa the Metro. Their tickets share one card.
| Ticket | Price | Valid for | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carris/Metro single | €1.90 | 60 minutes from first validation, on all Carris services and the Metro; not for consecutive Metro journeys | Two or three rides a day |
| Metro journey, zapping credit | €1.72 | One Metro journey, whole network | A few Metro rides, loaded as credit |
| Metro journey, bank card | €1.92 | One journey, whole network | No card to buy |
| 24-hour Carris/Metro | €7.25 | 24 hours from first validation: unlimited buses, trams, funiculars and Metro | Four or more rides in a day |
| 24-hour Carris/Metro/Transtejo | €10.35 | Adds the Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas ferry | Cacilhas and the south bank |
| 24-hour Carris/Metro/CP | €11.40 | Adds CP trains on the Sintra, Cascais, Azambuja and Sado lines | A Cascais or Sintra day |
| Navegante occasional card | €0.50 | Valid for one year; carries the tickets above | Everyone, once |
- Paying on board is dearer and valid on that vehicle only: €2.30 on a bus, €3.30 on a tram, €4.30 for up to two funicular trips.
- Children under 4 travel free on the Metro.
- Monthly Navegante passes are €40 for the Lisbon metropolitan area and €30 for the municipality, for a stay of a month.
- The 24-hour clock starts when you first validate, so a ticket validated at 10:00 runs until 10:00 the next day.
- The Carris/Metro/CP ticket at €11.40 is cheaper than the 24-hour ticket plus a Cascais or Sintra return at €5.10 (€12.35) (cp.pt, 1 October 2026).
The Navegante occasional card
The card sold for years as Viva Viagem is now the navegante occasional card. It costs €0.50, lasts a year and can be recharged as often as you like, at any Carris sales point or at the other participating operators. One card is for one person.
You load it with a ticket from the table above or with zapping credit, in €3, €5, €10, €15, €20, €25, €30, €35 or €40, and each zapping ride is charged to one operator: change from the Metro to a bus and a new fare is deducted (metrolisboa.pt, 1 October 2026).
Paying with a bank card at the Metro
At every Metro gate you can tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard, V Pay or Electron card, or a phone or watch with one on it, and pay €1.92 a journey (metrolisboa.pt, 1 October 2026).
- Tap in and tap out with the same card. A journey with no tap-out counts as fare evasion.
- One card, one person. The Metro does not let one card pay for a group.
- Only the Metro: the bank-card fare is for the Metro gates, not for buses and trams.
- Hold the card, not the wallet. Take the card out so the reader finds one, not two.
What is shut: funiculars and the Santa Justa Lift
The Glória, Bica and Lavra funiculars and the Santa Justa Lift have carried no passengers since the Glória funicular accident on 3 September 2025. Carris’s own pages mark all four as out of service or temporarily closed (carris.pt, 1 October 2026), and none has a reopening date except the Glória, which is to have all-new equipment, expected in 2029 (RFM, 2 September 2026). Older guides that tell you to ride the Glória up to Bairro Alto or take the lift to Carmo are out of date.
The Graça funicular runs. It links Mouraria and Graça, opened in 2024, reopened on 30 April 2026 and has run from 07:00 to 21:00 every day since 15 May 2026. It carries 14 passengers a trip. A fare is the €4.30 on-board ticket for up to two trips, or a Navegante card, and it takes only cards, phones and MB Way, not cash (carris.pt, 1 October 2026).
The Graça funicular track running down from the upper station. Photo: Philip Mallis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
To climb from Baixa to Bairro Alto and Chiado, walk, or take tram 28E or 24E to Praça Luís de Camões. Tram 28 and the funiculars has the 28E’s route, its fares and what to ride instead.
Trams
These are the tram lines visitors use, from Carris’s route pages, read 1 October 2026 (carris.pt).
| Line | Route | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 28E | Martim Moniz, Graça, Sé, Baixa, Chiado, Camões, Estrela, Campo de Ourique | Historic tram; takes cash at €3.30. Works on the Calçada da Estrela cut it back to Martim Moniz and Camões for months, and diversions still happen: check Carris’s service-change notices |
| 15E | Praça da Figueira, Praça do Comércio, Cais do Sodré, Santos, Alcântara, Belém, Algés | Modern articulated tram; no cash. Stops at Mosteiro dos Jerónimos |
| 12E | Martim Moniz, Portas do Sol, Santa Luzia, Sé, Chiado, Camões | A short loop through Alfama; one tram about every 37 minutes |
| 25E | Praça da Figueira, Cais do Sodré, Santos, Lapa, Estrela, Campo de Ourique | An alternative to the 28 west of Camões; articulated |
| 24E | Praça Luís de Camões, Príncipe Real, Rato, Amoreiras, Campolide | A stop is still named for the Glória funicular, which is shut |
Carris does not accept cash on its articulated trams (15E, 25E and the others in the 501 to 615 series), only cards, phones and MB Way. The historic trams still take cash.
Tram 15 passing the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém. Photo: Alain Gavillet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
The Metro
The Metro has four lines, Blue, Yellow, Green and Red, and runs from 06:30 to 01:00 every day (metrolisboa.pt, 1 October 2026). Night buses fill the gap: 201 from Cais do Sodré to Belém and 208 from Cais do Sodré to Oriente via the airport.
A Metro train waiting at Santa Apolónia, the end of the Blue Line. Photo: Patrycja Rosa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
- No Metro in the west. The Circular Line, with new stations at Estrela and Santos, is not open, and the Metro now aims for the first quarter of 2027. Estrela, Lapa and Santos have no Metro; the nearest stations are Rato and Cais do Sodré.
- Strikes stop it. General strikes on 11 December 2025 and 3 June 2026 shut the whole Metro for the day, with no minimum service. Carris ran a minimum of routes and the Transtejo ferries had no minimum service on 3 June. Check before you travel, and keep a taxi as the backup.
Getting to the main sights
| Sight | How to get there |
|---|---|
| Rossio, Baixa and the river | Metro Rossio and Baixa-Chiado (Green), Restauradores and Terreiro do Paço (Blue) |
| São Jorge Castle | Bus 737 from Praça da Figueira, or tram 28E to Santa Luzia or Portas do Sol and a short walk; the castle puts the walk from Rossio Metro at 11 minutes, uphill |
| Belém (Jerónimos Monastery, Tower) | Tram 15E, or a CP train from Cais do Sodré; there is no Metro |
| The Oceanário | Metro Oriente (Red Line), in Parque das Nações |
| Sintra | CP train from Rossio, Entrecampos or Oriente |
| Cascais | CP train from Cais do Sodré |
| Cacilhas, across the river | Ferry from Cais do Sodré, €2.00 single, about 10 minutes |
From the airport, see Lisbon airport to the city centre. Day trips from Lisbon has the fares and times for the trains and buses that leave the city.
Sightseeing buses
A hop-on, hop-off bus is not public transport, but it passes the same sights. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price on 1 October 2026.
- Lisbon: 1- or 2-Day Hop-on/Hop-off Bus Tourad: from £18.79 (4.0 stars from 6,307 reviews).
- Lisbon: 72/96-Hour Hop-on/Hop-off Bus, Tram and Boat Ticketad: from £40.15 (4.3 stars from 2,289 reviews).
Against them, the 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket is €7.25 and covers the Metro, buses, trams and funiculars, with no commentary. For a guided look at the hills, the tram 28, Alfama and custard-tart walkad is from £29.04 (4.8 stars from 167 reviews).
The Lisboa Card
The Lisboa Card is the city’s tourist card: public transport plus museum entry. The official shop, shop.visitlisboa.com, sells it at €31 for 24 hours, €51 for 48 hours and €62 for 72 hours for an adult, with prices valid to 31 March 2027 (1 October 2026). It covers the Metro, Carris buses and trams and the CP trains to Sintra and Cascais, and free entry to 51 museums and monuments.
- For transport alone, the 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket at €7.25 is €23.75 cheaper than the 24-hour card.
- At Belém Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery, the card is free entry, but you can reserve a time only after you have collected the physical card in Lisbon.
- Closed: the National Tile Museum and the National Museum of Ancient Art are closed for restoration, and museums close on Mondays.
For the sights themselves, and which day each is closed, see what to book before you go in Lisbon. 3 days in Lisbon and Lisbon in one day plan the visit round the bookings, and where to stay in Lisbon compares the areas by their Metro stations and trams. From a cruise terminal, see Lisbon cruise port to the city centre; for the Metro’s hours on the night of the June parade, Santos Populares.
Common questions
How much is a metro ticket in Lisbon?
A Carris/Metro single is €1.90, valid for 60 minutes on buses, trams and the Metro, but not for two Metro journeys in a row. Tapping a contactless bank card at the gate is €1.92 a journey. The 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket is €7.25.
Is the Viva Viagem card still used in Lisbon?
It is now called the Navegante occasional card. It costs €0.50, is valid for a year, and can be loaded with tickets or with pay-as-you-go 'zapping' credit. It works on the Metro, Carris buses and trams, and the other operators in the Lisbon area.
Which Lisbon funiculars and lifts are open?
Only the Graça funicular, between Mouraria and Graça, open 07:00 to 21:00 every day. The Glória, Bica and Lavra funiculars and the Santa Justa Lift have been out of service since the Glória funicular accident on 3 September 2025.
Can I pay for the Lisbon Metro with a contactless card?
Yes. Contactless Visa, Mastercard, V Pay and Electron cards, and phones and watches with a card on them, work at every Metro gate. Tap in and out with the same card; each journey is €1.92 and one card pays for one person.
