By Harry Nara · Last updated
Plan Lisbon as a vertical city rather than a flat one and it becomes the easiest of the Western European capitals to like. It is built across seven hills on cobbles polished to a shine, the historic lifts and funiculars that exist to solve exactly that problem have been almost all out of service since a fatal accident in 2025, with one of the five running. Knowing which machines work, and which hills you are choosing to walk, is most of what a first visit needs.
Lisbon rewards very little planning and punishes one specific kind of unpreparedness. The food is good almost everywhere and cheap by Western European standards, English is widely spoken, the city is safe, and nothing requires booking months out in the way Rome or Barcelona do.
What it asks of you is legs. This is a city where two points four hundred metres apart on a map can be separated by a climb that changes your afternoon, and where the charming solution to that, the funiculars and the great iron lift, is for now mostly closed, whatever the postcards imply.
How long do you need in Lisbon?
Three full days in the city, four with Sintra. Lisbon is smaller than Madrid or Barcelona and you can see the shape of it quickly, but the hills mean you cover less ground per day than the map suggests, and Sintra genuinely needs its own day rather than an afternoon.
Before you go
The card is now called the navegante occasional, which is the same thing older guides call a Viva Viagem. It costs 0.50 euros, stays valid for a year and can be topped up as often as you like. The useful part is the pay as you go option, called zapping, which is credit rather than a fixed ticket and works across Carris buses and trams, the metro, the river ferries and the suburban trains, so one card covers the whole trip including the run out to Sintra or Cascais. Loading money rather than a specific ticket saves you from guessing your itinerary at a machine on your first morning.
On 3 September 2025 the Glória funicular derailed, killing sixteen people, and the city’s other historic lifts were shut for inspection. A year on, Carris lists the Glória, the Lavra, the Bica and the Santa Justa lift as temporarily closed, the viewing platform at the top of Santa Justa included, and gives no date for the last three. Only the Graça funicular is back. The Glória will not return as it was: Carris plans a new funicular in its place and expects to open it in 2029. This matters practically as well as sombrely: the Glória was the direct connection from Restauradores up to Bairro Alto, and without it that is a steep walk you need to know about in advance. Check the operator’s own site close to your dates rather than trusting any guide, including this one.
The calçada portuguesa, the white limestone mosaic paving that makes Lisbon look the way it does, turns slick when wet and is laid on gradients that would be stairs in other cities. Smooth soles are a bad idea here in a way they are not in Rome or Paris.
Once you are there
It runs a lovely route through Graça, Alfama, Baixa and Estrela on original 1930s cars, and it is also the single most concentrated pickpocketing environment in Portugal, because it is packed, it lurches, and everyone on board is a distracted visitor holding a phone up to a window. Ride it early in the morning from the Martim Moniz end if you want a seat, keep your bag in front of you, and consider that tram 12 covers part of the same ground with a fraction of the crowd.
The bread, olives, cheese or sardine paste that arrives unasked at the start of a meal is charged per item if you touch it. This is completely normal Portuguese practice rather than a trick, it is usually inexpensive, and saying no thank you costs nothing and causes no offence. Problems only arise in heavily touristed places where the couvert is priced ambitiously and nobody mentions it.
The miradouros are the organising feature of Lisbon rather than a bonus, and they cost nothing. Walk between two or three and the hills stop being the obstacle and become the reason you came.
What it costs
Lisbon remains one of the better value capitals in Western Europe, though less so than the reputation formed a decade ago. Food and transport are cheap, accommodation has risen sharply, and the gap between a tourist-facing restaurant in Baixa and a neighbourhood tasca two streets uphill is wide enough to be worth a deliberate walk. A pastel de nata and a coffee standing at a counter is still change rather than money.
Tipping is modest and uncomplicated. Rounding up, or five to ten percent for a proper meal, is plenty. Cards are accepted nearly everywhere, and the multibanco network is dense, but the smallest and most characterful places are also the most likely to be cash only.
Going with children
Lisbon with small children is a question about the hills and very little else. A pushchair on the calçada is hard work and on the steeper streets is impractical, which pushes families towards a carrier for the youngest and towards planning routes along the flat Baixa and riverfront rather than through Alfama. What the city gives back is generous: the Oceanário is among the best aquariums in Europe and sits in the flat, modern, buggy-friendly Parque das Nações, the ferries across the Tejo are cheap transport that children read as a boat trip, and the castle is a castle. Portuguese restaurants are warmly disposed to children and nobody minds them being up late, which suits a trip where the afternoon is for a nap and the evening is for the miradouros.
Going alone
Lisbon is very comfortable alone. It is safe, it is small enough that you can walk home from most places, and the miradouros are designed for sitting on your own at the end of the day. The fado houses in Alfama are worth knowing how to approach as a solo traveller: the ones with a doorman calling people in from the street are performing for coach parties, and the ones worth finding are small, take a booking, and expect silence during the singing, which is the opposite of an awkward room to be alone in. The practical caution is the same one that applies on tram 28 and around Cais do Sodré late at night, which is your pockets rather than your person.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Of the five historic lifts and funiculars, only the Graça is running, and Carris has given no return date for the Lavra, the Bica or Santa Justa. Check with Carris before you assume a hill has a machine to climb it.
Single fares bought from the driver on trams and funiculars cost far more than the same journey from a loaded navegante card. Buy the card on arrival.
It is charged per item. Perfectly normal and usually cheap, but in tourist-facing restaurants it is priced to catch you, and you are entitled to wave it away.
It is a full day: the train, the hill, the queues at Pena, and a village that deserves more than the gap between two other things. Going late means seeing one palace badly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lisbon worth visiting for a first-time traveller?
Yes, and it is among the easiest capitals in Western Europe for a first trip: safe, affordable by regional standards, widely English-speaking, and free of the advance-booking gauntlet that Rome and Barcelona impose. The one thing it demands is physical. Lisbon is built on steep hills and polished limestone paving, and it should be planned as a vertical city.
How many days do you need in Lisbon?
Three in the city and four if you are adding Sintra, which needs a day of its own rather than an afternoon. Lisbon is compact, but the gradients mean you cover noticeably less ground in a day than the map implies.
Is the Glória funicular running in Lisbon?
No. The Glória derailed on 3 September 2025 in a fatal accident, and Carris plans to replace it with a new funicular that it expects to open in 2029. The Lavra, the Bica and the Santa Justa lift are closed too, with no date given, which leaves the Graça as the only one running. Because the Glória was the direct link from Restauradores up to Bairro Alto, its absence turns a short ride into a steep climb, so check the Carris site close to your travel dates.
What transport card do I need in Lisbon?
The navegante occasional card, which older guides call a Viva Viagem. It costs 0.50 euros, lasts a year and can be reloaded as often as you want. Load it with zapping credit rather than a specific ticket: it then works as pay as you go across Carris trams and buses, the metro, the river ferries and the suburban trains to Sintra and Cascais, which saves you predicting your itinerary in advance.
Is tram 28 worth riding?
The route is lovely and the crowding is bad, and it is the most concentrated spot for pickpocketing in the country for exactly that reason. Ride it early from the Martim Moniz end to get a seat, keep bags in front of you, and know that tram 12 covers some of the same ground with far fewer people.
What is the couvert on a Portuguese restaurant bill?
The bread, olives, cheese or paste brought to the table before you order, charged per item if you eat it. It is standard practice rather than a scam and usually costs very little, and declining it is completely acceptable. Be more alert in heavily touristed restaurants, where it is sometimes priced to be lucrative and never mentioned.
Is Lisbon good for families with young children?
Yes, with one large caveat: the hills. A pushchair on the mosaic paving is hard work and on the steep streets is close to impossible, so plan flat routes along Baixa and the riverfront and carry the smallest children. In return you get the Oceanário, one of Europe’s best aquariums, in the flat and modern Parque das Nações, cheap ferries that children experience as boat trips, and restaurants that welcome children at any hour.
Is Lisbon safe to visit alone?
Very. Violent crime against visitors is rare, the city is small enough to walk home across, and the viewpoints are natural places to spend an evening by yourself. The real caution is petty theft, concentrated on tram 28, in crowded Baixa and around Cais do Sodré late at night. Keep your phone and wallet where you can feel them and the city presents no other difficulty.
Checked against Metro de Lisboa, navegante occasional card, Carris, funicular fleet and service status, Parques de Sintra, official site.
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