Lisbon Metro Tickets: A 5-Step Guide

Buying a Lisbon metro ticket comes down to five decisions. Get the card, pick the ticket, buy it, ride, and decide whether a pass or a transfer is worth more. This guide takes them in that order.

Prices and hours below come from the Metro de Lisboa, Carris and CP pages read on 21 October 2026. Check them again at the machine before you pay.

Step 1: Get the reusable card

You need a card before you can load a ticket. The navegante occasional card costs €0.50, can be topped up as often as you like for one year, and works on every member operator. Those include the Metro, Carris (the city's bus and tram operator) and CP (the national railway).

The card is personal, so two people cannot share one. You also cannot hold two kinds of ticket on it at once. Carris says you can only load one type of ticket at a time, so use up one before you load another. Keep the receipt, because Metro staff need it if the card stops working.

You may still read the old name, Viva Viagem, in guides. Metro and Carris no longer use it.

Step 2: Pick the right Lisbon metro tickets

Metro and Carris sell the same set of tickets. This is what each costs on the card, plus the €0.50 for the card itself.

Zapping is the cheapest way to ride the Metro a few times, because €1.72 is less than €1.90. The 24-hour ticket wins from the fifth ride. Four zapping journeys cost €6.88, and five cost €8.60, which is more than €7.25. Four €1.90 tickets already cost €7.60.

Key Takeaway Pay-as-you-go credit at €1.72 beats the €1.90 ticket for the Metro, and the €7.25 24-hour ticket wins from the fifth ride in a day.

The Tagus ferry to Cacilhas

The ferry from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas is run by Transtejo Soflusa (TTSL, the Tagus ferry company). Its fare page, which is in Portuguese, lists a single ticket at €2.00 on a navegante occasional card and pay-as-you-go zapping at €1.60 a crossing. Children up to 5 travel free, and bicycles are carried free. The €10.35 24-hour ticket in the table includes this crossing.

TTSL's timetable page gives an average crossing of 10 minutes. On weekdays boats leave Cacilhas from 05:00 until after 02:00, and in the daytime three to six leave each hour. TTSL's sales page lists vending machines at Cais do Sodré from 5:15 to 1:40 and a ticket office from 8:15 to 23:15 that takes no cash. Cacilhas has machines from 5:00 to 1:20 and an office from 7:15 to 21:45.

The Carris/Metro ticket and zapping count differently on a change. On the Metro, one journey includes changing lines inside the network. Metro's page says the 60-minute ticket cannot be used for two Metro journeys in a row, so leaving and re-entering is a second journey.

Step 3: Buy your Lisbon metro tickets

Buy at the ticket vending machines or the ticket offices in the stations. Metro's page for buying also lists Multibanco cash machines and a contactless bank card. Use the machine's language button if you want English.

If you tap a bank card at the gates, Metro's contactless page sets four rules. Tap in and tap out with the same card or phone. Take the card out of your wallet, so the gate does not read the wrong one. Use one card per person. Expect a temporary €1 hold on your bank statement, which is cleared once the trip is charged.

At the airport, the Aeroporto station is on the Red line, right by the arrivals area. Its station page lists ticket machines and Multibanco, and shows its own sales point as temporarily closed. It opens at 6:30 and closes at 1:00, and buses 705, 722, 744 and 783 and the Aerobus stop next to it.

Trains are different. For CP's Lisbon urban trains, such as the Sintra and Cascais lines, CP lists ticket offices, automatic vending machines and Multibanco, which only loads tickets. The same page lists its app and online ticket office for other train types but not for these. You must hold a valid ticket before you board. The one exception is a station with no sales point within 200 metres, where you can pay the inspector in cash.

Step 4: Ride the metro

Touch the card on the reader and wait for the gate to open. Under normal conditions the Metro runs from 6:30 to 1:00 every day, including weekends and holidays, and you can travel to any station on your line if you board before 1:00.

Trains are frequent. On the Red line, the one that serves the airport, the average wait on weekdays is about 6 minutes at the morning and evening rush and about 7 minutes in between. After 22:30 it is about 9 minutes 45 seconds, and Metro says these are averages. For a map, Metro's diagrams and maps page has a network diagram, a network map and an accessibility diagram to download.

Pro Tip Load pay-as-you-go credit if you will ride the Metro fewer than five times in a day. Load a 24-hour ticket on the first morning when you will hop between Metro, tram and bus.

Step 5: Decide whether a pass or a transfer is worth it

For moving around the city, the card and a €1.72 or €1.90 ticket beat any pass. The Lisboa Card is a different product. It costs €31 for 24 hours, €51 for 48 and €62 for 72, and includes the metro, trams, buses and trains. A 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket costs €7.25, so the card adds €23.75 for the sights.

Whether that pays off depends on what you see. The Jerónimos Monastery costs €18 and the Belém Tower €15, and both are free with the card. The Castelo de São Jorge costs €17 for adults and is free for adult card holders. Two of those three cover the €23.75, and the Jerónimos is closed on Mondays. Both Belém sights also need a booked time, and you can only book it once you hold the physical card.

Things to Do in Lisbon's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found five city-card listings, from €18 to €43. Only one is the Lisboa Card itself.

The Lisboa Card, 24, 48 or 72 hours is from €31 per person on GetYourGuide, rated 4.4 from 18,520 reviews, and its page says it is non-refundable. The card itself is Turismo de Lisboa's official city pass, which its own shop sells at the same €31. GetYourGuide's page does not say who sells the card there. It lists free entry to top museums and attractions, and free use of public transport. Palaces in Sintra are only discounted, and you pay the difference at the ticket office.

For the airport, the Metro is the cheapest way into the city. A group of four tapping four contactless cards pays 4 × €1.92, or €7.68. A private airport transfer is from €25 per group of up to 4 and takes 40 to 45 minutes. Its page names the operator as Menzel Travel Portugal, and rates it 4.6 from 943 reviews. The driver waits in the arrivals hall with a name sign. One piece of luggage per person is included, and the destination must be in central Lisbon, or it is €10 per person extra. Free cancellation runs until 24 hours before.

For more passes and sights, see our Lisboa Card and attraction tickets page.

The cheapest ticket in a city is the one you load before you need it.

When a pass or transfer is the wrong choice

The Lisboa Card is the wrong choice if you only want to get around. The metro, a €7.25 day ticket and a few paid sights cost less. A transfer is the wrong choice if you travel alone, land between 6:30 and 1:00 and carry one bag, because the Red line goes from the arrivals area to the city for about €2.