Learning how to get around a city is one of
the basic skills you need to acquire as soon as possible. And in today's video we are going
to explain everything you need to know about Lisbon's public transport system. Olá! Tudo bet? I
am Tony Gálvez from Road Trip Spain and Portugal, where we help you plan the perfect trip with
practical information and insider tips. As is the case in most European capitals, Lisbon's
public transport is excellent. In addition, the city's transport system is, by its own merits,
one of the city's major tourist attractions. Lisbon system is made up of several types of
transport, which we are going to talk about in the video. They are the metro; the eléctricos,
the trams; the elevadores and ascensores, elevators and funiculars; the autocarros, the
buses; the comboios, the trains; the barcos, the boats; and taxis and platforms such as Uber.
We're going to talk in detail about each of them, and in the final part of the video we are
going to present you the public transport tickets that you are going to use to
travel in the mentioned transports. Lisbon's metro, the city's underground
or subway, is an excellent transport system for getting around the city quickly. The network
is not very large and currently has four lines: the red line, from the airport to São Sebastião;
the green line, from Telheiras to Cais do Sodré; the yellow line, from Odivelas to Rato; and the
blue line, from Reboleira to Santa Apolonia. In the center of Lisbon, served mainly by the green and
blue lines, there are several useful stations that you should know about. Restauradores, on the blue
line, gives access to Rossio train station, from where trains depart to Sintra. Baixa-Chiado,
on the blue and green lines, is an excellent access point to the center of Lisbon; Cais do Sodré, on the green line is the departure point for trains to Cascais and also for many boats
crossing the Tagus estuary. Rossio, on the green line, puts you in the heart of the Rossio region,
with easy access to Rossio and Figueira squares. Rossio train station is also very close. And Terreiro do Paço is the
closest station to Praça do Comércio. The Lisbon metro runs from 6 30 in the morning to
1am, Monday to Sunday, including public holidays. The signaling at the stations is very good,
with signs indicating the way out and also showing where other means of transport are. As
well as signs showing the location of the lifts. There are also maps of the network to help you
navigate your way around Lisbon. In the case of stations where you can transfer to other lines,
this transfer is also very well signed posted. On the platforms, a display shows the time
remaining until the next train arrives. How are tickets validated? To enter the station, you have
to hold your ticket up to the reader, next to the station entrance barriers. To exit the stations
you will have to repeat the same operation. The metro is an excellent means of transports
for getting to places served by the network. It allows you to beat Lisbon's congested traffic
and get to places faster. It only loses out to the bus and trams in the charm department, as seeing the
city at street level is much more interesting. And we cannot end this section on the Lisbon metro
without pointing out that it is much more than just a means of transport. It is a gigantic work of
art, with each station more beautiful than the next. The Lisbon metro network is a marvelous example of
public art that puts it on a par with other famous metro networks in the world. In Lisbon's case, of
course, tiles are at the center of many of the artistic interventions. It would be impossible
to present all the stations here, who knows if we don't do it in a future video, but we leave you
with images of some of the stations to give you an idea of the beauty. And in the description of the
video we will place a link to the Lisbon metro website dedicated to presenting in detail
the art in the stations. The "eléctricos", literally "electrics", is the name Lisbon's trams receive. They are probably the city's most
emblematic means of transport. It's not as fast as the metro but in charm, in charm it's unbeatable.
This charm has meant that Lisbon trams today have a kind of hybrid use, both as a means of transport
for Lisboners and as a tourist attraction for visitors to the city. The destination almost
doesn't matter, what counts is the experience of traveling in an old transport while watching life
go by through the window, through narrow streets, and up and down the hills of Lisbon. Lisbon's
tram network has six "carreiras", six lines. Five of them run classic vehicles, Lisbon's most beautiful
historic wooden trams, and the sixth uses a modern type of tram, very similar to those seen in many
other European cities. Let's go back to the map. Line 12 is a short circular line originating
and terminating in Baixa, at Martim Moniz. It goes around the castle and circulates through the
Alfama district before crossing Baixa back to the starting point. This is a good line for those who
want a quick tram ride. Line 15 is the longest line and the only one on which modern articulated
trams run. It departs from Figueira square and runs to the Algés region of Greater Lisbon. It is
an essential line for tourists because it allows you to reach the LX Factory, the MAAT Museum and
the Belém district and all its attractions. Line 18 leaves from Cais do Sodré and goes
to a residential area in the Ajuda district. It can be useful to go to the LX Factory or
the Ajuda National Palace. Line 24 departs from Luis de Camões square in Lisbon's Bairro Alto, crosses
the Príncipe Real neighborhood and goes to the Campolide neighborhood. This is an option for those
staying along the line who want to travel by tram. Line 25 departs from Figueira square, crosses
the Baixa passes Cais do Sodré and goes up to Campo de Ourique. If you want an alternative route
to get to Campo de Ourique, number 25, which does not run on Saturdays and Sundays, may be an option. Finally
Route 28 is a favorite of tourists visiting Lisbon, connecting Baixa with Campo de Ourique and passing
through many of Lisbon's points of interest along the way. Line 28 takes a very complete and diverse
route. It starts by crossing the narrow streets of the Alfama district, with almost impossible curves.
On its way down towards the center of Lisbon it passes in front of the Cathedral. Once in Baixa
it crosses Rua Augusta, in the heart of the city, and start to climb up to the Bairro Alto. It passes
in front of the Assembly of the Republic and the Basílica da Estrela before heading towards
the Prazeres Cemetery area. Completing the route there and back is a great plan in Lisbon.
But we'd like to share two tips on route 28 to enhance your experience. The first tip is that
when there are lots of tourists in Lisbon, and this can happen any month of the year, it can be
very difficult to get on the tram, which is very small, at the stops in the central region. Therefore,
we recommend that you try to warrant yourself a seat by getting on the 28th at the initial
stop at Martim Moniz square. The second tip is to take extreme care with your personal belongings,
not only on this tram route but on all of them. There are a lot of tourists crammed in a very
small space, and pickpockets make a party in this context. You may also see a red tram, which is
a tourist only transport that is not part of Lisbon's public transport. It is quite expensive and,
in our opinion, does not offer you anything you will not find in the normal trams. In the classic
trams, the old wooden trams, you get on through the front entrance, you validate your journey with your
card at the machine next to the driver, or if you don't have one you buy a ticket from him. In the
modern articulated trams, you can get on at any door and validate your ticket at the machines in
all the carriages. If you want to buy an individual ticket, there are machines inside the tram where
you can buy them. Each tram line has its own timetable. In the description of the video we will
put a link so you can check them out. Close contenders with trams for the title of Lisbon's
most iconic form of transport, elevadores solve basic problem in a city with so many hills and slopes: how to overcome the gradients and survive the attempt. The most famous are the Elevador de Santa Justa, the Ascensor da Gloria, the Ascensor da Bica and the Ascensor do Lavra, all of which are easily accessible, as they are located
in the city center. Lisbon's elevadores are lifts that go up vertically, allowing you to overcome
a large difference in height. There are several in the city and almost all of them are free
of charge. One lift system allows you to go up to near the castle, another one to the Mirador de
Santa Lucía in the Alfama district. The only paid lift is the most famous of them all, the Elevador
de Santa Justa, which allows you to leave Baixa and comfortably reach Chiado without shedding a
drop of sweat. The magnificent lift has a majestic wrought iron structure and its silhouette marks an
unmistakeable presence in the center of Lisbon. It is also one of the busiest attractions in the
city, and the queues are usually slow. That is, slow lines going up, in the Baixa-Chiado direction,
because on the way down, the queue, when there is one, is much faster, as happened to us on our last visit:
a queue of more than an hour to go up, no queue at all to go down. At the top of the elevator, in the
Chiado, there is a structure that can be accessed free of charge, with wonderful views of Lisbon.
And at the top of the lift there is a pay-as-you-go observation deck. In addition to the elevators, in Lisbon you will also find ascensores, which are funiculars that go up sloping streets. There
are three ascensores in Lisbon. One very popular one is the Ascensor da Bica, which allows you to go up
from the Cais do Sodré region to the Bairro Alto. The lower station is inside a house. The way up offers very
picturesque images and at the upper station you will have plenty of photo opportunities with
a curious transport. Another popular funicular is the Ascensor da Gloria. It runs from Restauradores
Square to the Bairro Alto, very close to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcántara. When we went to shoot the images for this program, the
funicular was closed for maintenance, so we show you a couple of pictures we took on previous
trips. Finally, the third funicular, the least visited by tourists, the oldest in the city, is the
Ascensor do Lavra. It goes from Avenida da Liberdade to near the viewpoint at Jardim to Torel. If you
want to have a funicular almost all to yourself, take the Lavra funicular. Ahe lower and upper
stations of each funicular you will see the operating hours. You get on the front and validate
your ticket at a machine identical to the ones on buses and trams. If you need to, you can buy a
ticket from the driver. An important tip about ascensores and elevators tickets. A single ticket
bought at the time of travel is quite expensive. Two round-trip tickets cost almost more than a 24
hour ticket. If you want to ride the funiculars and the Santa Justa lift, buy a 24-hour ticket
-we will talk about it at the end of the video- and take advantage of it to visit all of them
in the same day, you will save a fortune. Autocarros are Lisbon's buses. They are another important part of the city's public transport system. Their advantage is that they reach many places where neither the metro
nor the trams do, for example the castle. And also give you the right to see Lisbon from street
level. The disadvantage is that there are 142 lines and it takes more effort to understand the
bus network than the metro or tram. At the bus stops you will be able to check the approximity
bus schedules, which depend on the line and the day of the week. It is normal that at weekends
the frequency of buses is lower. During the early hours of the morning there are special buses. The Rede da Madrugada from Monday to Sunday, and the Night Buses at weekends. The people of Lisbon queue
at the bus stop and respect the queue. You get on the bus at the front and validate your ticket at
the machine, to the left of the driver. In Lisbon there is also the traditional hop-on hop-off
tourist bus. We are going to post link so you can check the details of the service about which
we want to make a video in the future. Comboios are the trains in Portugal. They are a
great way to travel around the country but you are unlikely to use them to travel within
the city of Lisbon. Tourists tend to use the trains for two popular day trips. The first one
departs from Cais do Sodré station and goes to Cascais following the coast. And the second one
departs from Rossio station in the direction of beautiful Sintra. Some of the most important
train stations in Lisbon are, in addition to the aforementioned Cais do Sodré, which is served
by the green metro line, and Rossio, which is served at blue metro line, the Santa Apolonia station,
served by the blue metro line, and Oriente, served by the red line. From the latter two stations
trains depart for the north of Portugal. Although not a form of transport for
getting around Lisbon itself, boats are a constant presence in the city's landscape. The boats are a
public tiver yransport that allows the inhabitants of the Southern Bank of the Tagus river to travel
to Lisbon, mainly to work. For tourists, they offer the possibility to take a beautiful trip along
the Tagus estuary for a very cheap price. The main Lisbon boat lines are: the one that leaves
from the Belém neighborhood, visits Porto Brandão and ends in Trafaria; the one that leaves from
Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas, perfect if you want to go to the sanctuary of Cristo Rei; the
line leaving from Cais do Sodré and going to Seixal; the line leaving from Cais do Sodré and going to Montijo; and the line that leaves from Terreiro do Paço and goes to Barreiro.
The companies responsible for the boats are Transtejo and Soflusam which use all types
of boats, from modern catamarans to vessels over 40 years old. The city's two main River ports are
Cais do Sodré and Terreiro do Paço, both connected to the metro. They are modern and well organized terminals.
Inside, just find the terminal from which your boat will depart and wait for boarding clearance. Sit
back and enjoy the ride. A boat ride, even a short one to Cacilhas, is a great plan and allows
you to enjoy beautiful views of Lisbon. There are ticket offices at all Terminals and you can
also pay with your Lisbon transport card if you have valid credits on it, just bring it to the
machine next to the entrance barrier. Finally for those who prefer the comfort of a
private vehicle, Lisbon's extensive fleet of taxis is an economical option, as long as you meet
an honest taxi driver, which is the majority but not all in Lisbon. Another option for getting
around Lisbon is the TVDE, known in many other parts of the world by the name of the company
operating the service, the best known of which is Uber. In Lisbon, the companies with the largest
fleets are Uber and Bolt. The main advantage of both of these over taxi drivers is that you
know the cost of the ride before you get into the vehicle, so you don't have to worry about being
cheated out of a ride. If you are already familiar with the platforms open the app when you arrive
in Lisbon to find out the cost of the journeys you want to make. To end the video, let's talk about the tickets you will use to pay for your trips in Lisbon, with the exception of the
aforementioned taxis, Uber and Bolt, which you will pay for with cash or via the app. Although there
are different companies responsible for the public transport in Lisbon, to pay for travel on the metro,
trams, buses, elevators and funiculars, trains and boats you only need to have a single card valid
in all of them, which can have two names, Viva Viagem or Siete Colinas. These are two different names
for the same card, which is nothing more than an electronic wallet, the place where you store the
banknotes you are going to use. In the same way that you keep in your wallet notes of different
values, in the Viva Viagem or Sete Colinas card you keep the notes you are going to use in Lisbon.
You can only store one type of ticket at a time, you can't carry, for example, a single ticket and
a 24 hour ticket, you have to use up the credit on one before you can reload a different ticket. The
card has two important features: it is individual, so you cannot share it, and it is reusable, when you
run out of credit you can top it up without having to buy another card. As it is reusable you only
have to buy it once, today it costs 50 cents and it is purchased at ticket machines as we will see
in a moment. The card is valid for one year from the first use, so don't throw it away if you plan
to return to Lisbon, as you will be able to use it again within that year. An important note: keep
the card carefully, it is quite fragile and if you are not careful it can be damaged. Every time you
load credits onto the card, keep the receipt, if a problem occurs in the car the receipt might allow
you to recover the credits loaded on it. Children up to 3 years of age do not pay to travel on Lisbon transport.
Children 4 years and older must have the same ticket as adults. What can be loaded
on the cards? For those going to Lisbon for sightseeing, the most interesting options are. You
could load a single ticket or a 1 one-way ticket, which can be used among others on the metro,
buses, trams, elevators and funiculars. This ticket allows you to travel from A to B within
a maximum of 60 minutes. It allows you to change modes of transport, with one exception: if you leave
a metro station you cannot re-enter without having to pay again. It is an option for those who think
they will use very little transport during their stay in Lisbon. You could load a ticket valid
for 24 hours, it allows unlimited use of the above mentioned transport, for a period of 24 hours
starting from the first use of the ticket. If you start using it at 7 pm, the 24 hour ticket will
be valid until 7 pm the next day. The 24 hour ticket covers all your transport needs within
the city of Lisbon, and if you want to forget about worrying about buying tickets it can
be an excellent option. If you are planning to use Lisbon's trams, elevators and funiculars, the day
ticket becomes an even better investment, a single ticket purchased on vehicles such as trams,
elevadores and ascensores, are expensive. Finally you could choose the zapping fare, which is not
really a ticket as such, but credit in money that you put on on your card and which allows you
to pay for your journeys. The minimum amount you can charge is 3 euros, and then 5 10 15 20 25 30
35 up to a maximum balance of 40. The advantage of zapping is that for each trip you make in
this mode you get a better price than when you buy a single ticket. So, today, a single ticket
loaded on the card for travel on the metro, bus or tram costs 1.50. If you pay with credits in the
zapping system, 1.35 is discounted. With the zapping fare you can travel for 60 Minutes changing transport
if necessary. For those who don't want to buy a 24 hour ticket, the zapping fair is the second best
option. You put credit on the card and spend it little by little. With credits in the zapping
mode you can also pay for boat trips across the river. The single transport ticket cannot be
used on the boats, you'll have to buy a specific individual ticket for the boats. And the cheaper
24-hour ticket does not allow you to use the boats either. Here's how to buy the tickets. Look for a
ticket machine, note that some of them only allow you to pay by credit card. The initial step will
depend on whether or not you already have a card. Let's simulate the purchase of a ticket for those
who do not yet have a transport card. Select the English language and tap on Wwithout reloadable
card/card purchase" on the initial screen. On the next screen choose how many cards you want. We
are going to simulate the purchase of one, but if there are more than one of you, now is the time
to change the quantity. Click continue. You will now see the different ticket options you can load
on the card you are buying. Remember that you can only choose one type of ticket. The first option is
the single ticket, the second option is the zapping, which is the placement of money credit on the card,
and the third option is the 24 hour ticket. Let's buy a single ticket. On the next screen we could
choose to buy more than one single ticket to use later, but for now we're just going to buy one. If
you select one here, one ticket will be loaded on each card you buy. If you choose two, two tickets
will be loaded on each card, and so on and so forth. And now we see a summary of the purchase: we pay
0.50 for the card and 1.50 for a single ticket charge to the card. Total to be paid 2 Euros. Now we'll have
to choose whether we are going to pay with cash or with cards. It is easy to understand the right hand
panel of the machine. There is a part reserved for payment by card, another for payment with banknotes,
and another for payment with coins. Once you have finished paying, collect your card from the bottom of
the machine, as well as any change owed to you by the machine. Also take the receipt, and keep it in
case you have any problems with your card. What if you already have a card and want to top it up?
Let's see how to do it. Let's load the card we already have with credit for the value of 10 euros.
On the initial screen, choose "with reloadable card/ insert card to reload/read". Next insert the card on
the right hand side of the machine, on the central bit where it's written travel card reload. Back
to the screen. If you just wanted to check the balance left on your card, it would be shown
on the screen now and you could cancel the operation. Let's choose the format we want. In
the English version called "stored value". But if you wanted to, you could choose a single ticket
or a 24 hour ticket. Now you have to choose the amount of credit you want to load in the card, in
our simulation it will be 10 euros. We pay for it and once you finish paying collect any changed due
from the tray at the bottom of the machine. And do remember to retrieve the card from the slot. You
might be asked during the process whether you want to associate your taxpayers number to the purchase,
select no. We feel the machines are quite easy to use. If you want to buy several cards at the same
time, you can do it in one go, but if you want to top us several existing cards you will have to
do it one by one, you cannot top up several cards at the same time. Ready to move around Lisbon! As
always, if you have any questions, take advantage of the commentary box to ask. If you found the video
useful and want to leave us a thumbs up, we'll be grateful. And even more so if you dedicate a super
thanks to our work. You will see now on the screen a video where we explain in quite a lot of detail
how to go from Lisbon airport to the center of the city, very useful if you are arriving in Lisbon
for the first time. We'll see you in that video.
