Lisbon Metro
Metro · Lisbon · Metropolitano de Lisboa
4 lines · 50 stations · 8 interchanges
Every line drawn through its stations. Tap a line in the legend to hide or show it.
Lines
Quick facts
- Operator
- Metropolitano de Lisboa runs the four-line metro network.
- Payment
- Use a Navegante/Viva Viagem card, zapping credit, or a direct bank-card tap at metro gates for a one-off metro ride.
- For a mixed Lisbon day with trams, buses, lifts, and trains, the stored-value card still keeps the city simpler.
- ContactlessViva Viagem
- Airport
- The Red Line starts at Aeroporto and runs to Sao Sebastiao, with transfers for most central hotels.
- It is a very good cheap arrival if you are traveling light. With bags and hills, a taxi or rideshare can still win.
- Airport linkRed Line
- Network type
- A compact metro spine under a hill city, useful for airport, Oriente, Saldanha, Baixa-Chiado, Cais do Sodre, and Santa Apolonia.
- MetroAirport link
- Trams still matter
- The metro does not replace the surface city. Use Carris trams for Belem, Alfama, and the hill texture.
- Lisbon Tram
Mike’s notes
Lisbon has a useful metro, but it is not the whole city. The real trip is still hills, viewpoints, trams, riverfront, and a few rail day trips. Think of the metro as the clean spine underneath that.
The line most visitors learn first is the Red Line from Aeroporto. It gets you into the system quickly, then you transfer at Saldanha, Alameda, or Sao Sebastiao depending on where you are staying. If your hotel is in Baixa, Chiado, or Alfama, remember that the last piece may involve stairs, cobbles, or a hill with a suitcase.
How to pay
For a simple metro ride, Lisbon is now visitor-friendly: you can tap a contactless bank card at the metro gates. For a real Lisbon day, I would still keep the Navegante/Viva Viagem card model in mind because buses, trams, lifts, and regional trains are part of the same planning problem.
If the trip is mostly central walking plus one or two metro rides, bank-card tap is fine. If you are using Tram 15E to Belem, Tram 28E, lifts, buses, or the train to Sintra/Cascais, the loaded card is less mental bookkeeping.
Network character
Lisbon Metro is useful because it avoids the hills, not because it reaches every pretty part of town. The stations that matter most to a visitor are Aeroporto, Oriente, Saldanha, Sao Sebastiao, Baixa-Chiado, Cais do Sodre, and Santa Apolonia.
Then the surface city takes over. Lisbon Tram is working transit for climbs and older streets. The built-environment lesson is the mismatch: a modern metro under a city whose visible movement still runs through steep streets, tight turns, and yellow trams.
Short history
1959
The metro opens
Lisbon gets its first metro, a small system built for the lower and newer parts of the city rather than the steepest old quarters.
1998
Expo-era Red Line
The Red Line opens toward Oriente for Expo 98, giving Lisbon a modern eastern axis.
2012
Airport station opens
The Red Line reaches Aeroporto, making Lisbon one of the easier European capitals for a cheap rail arrival.