Lisbon Guide: Six Steps for First-Timers

Lisbon rewards a little planning on the first day. The steps below follow your trip in order, from the airport to the question of whether a guide is worth the money.

Fares, hours and prices come from the operators, the city and the tourist board, read on 21 October 2026. Check them again before you go.

Step 1: Get in from the airport

The Metro is the simplest way into town. The Aeroporto station sits in the arrivals building on the Red line. It has ticket machines and cash machines, and it runs from 6:30 to 1:00. Buses 705, 722, 744 and 783 and the Aerobus stop beside it.

Buy a reusable card first. Carris sells the navegante card for €0.50, valid for a year, and you load a ticket on it. A Carris/Metro ticket costs €1.90. If you land after 1:00, plan another way into the city before you fly.

Step 2: Learn how to move around

The Metro, the buses and the trams share one card. The Metro lines are colour-coded, and each station page names its line. Baixa-Chiado is on the Blue and Green lines, and it lists tram 28 and bus 758 beside it. Cais do Sodré is on the Green line, with trams 15, 18 and 25 and the CP train to Cascais outside. Rossio is on the Green line too.

Here is what the tickets cost, from Carris's price page.

Three rides on board cost €9.90, so the €7.25 day ticket wins from the third tram. The Santa Justa Lift sells its own on-board ticket for €6.20, but Carris lists the lift as temporarily closed.

Trams are part of the sightseeing. Line 28E runs from Martim Moniz to Prazeres. Line 15E runs from Praça da Figueira through Cais do Sodré to Belém, and Carris's stop list includes Mosteiro Jerónimos and the Centro Cultural de Belém.

Watch your pockets. The UK government's travel advice for Portugal says to take care on public transport and at crowded bus and tram stops, because thieves use distraction techniques and often work in teams.

Pro Tip Load the €7.25 24-hour ticket on the morning you ride tram 15E to Belém and tram 28E to Alfama, because two trams bought on board already cost €6.60 and Carris says the ticket covers its whole network.

Step 3: Choose where to stay

Pick an area before you pick a hotel. The tourist board describes Baixa as the city's best-known district, with traditional shops, museums and patisseries. Alfama is the oldest quarter, with cobbled lanes and steep, gruelling inclines. Bairro Alto is the centre of the nightlife, and its streets fill with people in the evening.

For a first visit, the Baixa and Chiado keep you near two Metro lines and the sights. Two hotels rated above 9 on Booking.com on 21 October 2026 are Hotel do Chiado, at 9.1 from 875 reviews, and Brown's Central Hotel, at 9.0 from 3,394 reviews. Pick Alfama only if you do not mind climbing with a suitcase.

Budget for the tourist tax. The city's leaflet says the tax is €4 per person per night, up to 7 nights, so at most €28. It applies from age 13 in hotels and local accommodation. The leaflet does not say whether you pay at check-in or checkout, so ask your hotel.

Key Takeaway The Lisbon tourist tax is €4 per person per night for up to 7 nights, so a week for two adds up to €56.

Step 4: Plan your sights around the closing days

Sights close on different days, and Monday catches most visitors. The Lisboa Card page warns that the main monuments and museums close on Mondays. Here are the big ones, with the adult price and hours the operators print.

Prices come from the castle, the Jerónimos operator, the cathedral, the Oceanário, the Padrão and the Museu do Fado. Both Belém figures were read on 19 October 2026. The Belém Tower costs €15, and the operator advises buying both tickets online in advance because they often sell out and cannot be bought on the day.

The castle's schedule adds that the wall-walks and towers close earlier than the gates. The cathedral's hours page lists Monday to Saturday, but a footer on the same page shows shorter days on Wednesday and Saturday from May to October, so check before you go. Getting to each one is simple, according to the operators' own pages.

The castle's arrival page gives those walking times.

How long to allow is not published for most sights. The Oceanário puts an average visit at 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. Carris's timetable sheet times tram 28 at about 57 minutes from end to end. For the rest, our own rule of thumb is half a day for Belém and half a day for the castle and Alfama.

No official page we could open recommends a length of stay, so this is our suggestion, not a figure from the tourist board. Two days fit the half-day blocks: Belém and the river on one morning, the castle and Alfama on one afternoon, Baixa, Chiado and the Oceanário on the second day. Add a third day for Sintra or Cascais. Our Lisbon itinerary for 2, 3 and 4 days shows how to stack them.

Free days are for residents. Portuguese nationals and residents enter the Jerónimos free, and the Museu do Fado and the Padrão are free for Lisbon residents on Sundays and holidays until 2 pm. None of the pages above names a free day for visitors. Children up to 12 are free at the castle, the Jerónimos, the Padrão and the Museu do Fado.

For day trips, the Metro's Restauradores page lists the CP trains on the Sintra line, and Cais do Sodré lists the Cascais line. Our Sintra page covers that trip.

Monday is the quietest day to be a tourist in Lisbon, because the doors are shut.

Step 5: Decide whether a pass pays off

The Lisboa Card is not a transport ticket. The official shop page sells it at €31 for 24 hours, €51 for 48 and €62 for 72. It includes the Metro, trams, buses and trains and free entry to over 50 sights. A 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket costs €7.25, so the card adds about €24 for the sights.

The card pays off when you use two big entries in a day. The castle at €17 and the Jerónimos at €18 add up to €35, which is more than the €31 card. The catch is the Jerónimos and the Belém Tower. Each needs a booked time slot, and you can only book it after you hold the physical card. Several national museums are on the shop's closed-for-restoration list.

The card also does not cover the Sintra palaces in full. You show it at the ticket office and pay the difference.

Step 6: Decide whether a Lisbon guide or tour is worth paying for

Most things in this city work well alone. The prices are printed, the Metro has clear lines and the sights have official hours. A guide adds the stories behind the streets, a route that avoids the worst climbs, and a plan for a short stay.

Things to Do in Lisbon's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 422 tours and tickets for Lisbon and the area around it, 330 of them in Lisbon itself. Among the 388 priced per person, the middle price is €50, and the cheapest starts at €1.50.

The three-hour history walk with a tram ride, coffee and cake is from €25. It meets at one of five points depending on the option you pick, runs in six languages and has private and small-group choices. The page rates it 4.8 from 12,192 reviews.

A private tuk-tuk tour with a local guide is from €11 per person. It lasts from 30 minutes to 4 hours, is in English and offers pickup. Hotel pickup is included only for the 3 and 4 hour options, and entrance fees, food and tips are not.

The hop-on hop-off bus ticket is from €22 for 24 or 48 hours. Its page lists access to the public trams and the Carris Museum with the ticket, and it comes with an audio guide. It does not include hotel pickup or museum entry. The page rates it 4.0 from 6,420 reviews.

When a tour is the wrong choice

A tour is the wrong choice if you only want to get from A to B, since the €7.25 day ticket does that for less. A guide also adds little if you plan to visit the sights at your own pace. If you do want a plan for the days, see our Lisbon itinerary for 2, 3 and 4 days.

What to eat in Lisbon and what a meal costs

The tourist board's gastronomy pages name a short list that most visitors try. The table gives the gist of each page.

The bifana, a pork sandwich many guides name, has no page on the tourist board's site, so we leave it out as a recommendation.

What a meal costs is not published as one figure. We found no official city-wide meal price. The tourist board's restaurant pages give a band per restaurant instead. Pica-Pau, a traditional restaurant, lists €20 to €50 and offers dishes of the day. Check the menu at the door before you sit down. To taste several dishes with a guide, see our Lisbon food tours.

Five mistakes to avoid on a first visit

Five slips cost first-timers the most time and money. Each one has a plain fix.

1. Visiting Belém on a Monday. The doors are shut, so go on Tuesday to Sunday.
2. Planning around the Santa Justa Lift. Carris lists it as temporarily closed.
3. Going to the Sé on a Sunday. The cathedral is closed on Sundays and holy days.
4. Buying a Lisboa Card for transport alone. The €7.25 day ticket is cheaper.
5. Leaving a bag open on a tram. Keep it closed and in front of you.