Lisbon airport to city centre: metro, bus, taxi

Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport is one of the few big European airports that lies almost inside the city: about 7 km north of the old town, according to Visit Lisboa. That makes arriving easy. You have three good options – the metro, a city bus, or a taxi or ride-hailing car. The short answer: take the metro if you travel light and arrive during the day, and a taxi if you land late, travel as a group or have heavy luggage.

Lisbon airport to the city centre: the options

The taxi ride to Rossio, the square at the heart of the Baixa, is about 7 km and about 11 minutes of pure driving time according to OpenStreetMap routing – in Lisbon's traffic plan with 15 to 30 minutes.

The metro: the simplest way into town

The Aeroporto metro station is the eastern end of the red line (Linha Vermelha) and lies directly at Terminal 1 – follow the signs "Metro" from arrivals. Trains run every day from about 6:30 am to 1 am, according to Metro de Lisboa, and on weekdays every 6 to 10 minutes.

The red line does not run straight into the old town, so for most hotels you change once:

• Alameda: change to the green line for Baixa-Chiado, Rossio and Cais do Sodré – the classic route to the Baixa, Chiado and the riverside.
• Saldanha: change to the yellow line for Marquês de Pombal and Rato, or the business district around Avenida da República.
• São Sebastião: end of the red line; change to the blue line for Avenida, Restauradores and Baixa-Chiado.

Many visitors stay on the Avenida da Liberdade or around Saldanha – both are on the metro directly or after one change. Going east instead, the red line stops at Oriente, the station for trains to Porto and the Algarve, and the Parque das Nações by the river.

Tickets: at the machines in the station you buy a reusable navegante occasional card and load single trips or zapping credit onto it. According to Metro de Lisboa, you can also tap a contactless bank card at the gate; zapping is a little cheaper per trip. Keep the card – it also works on buses, trams and the Santa Justa lift.

Here is how often the red line runs on weekdays, in minutes between trains (rounded), according to Metro de Lisboa:

At weekends and on public holidays the wait is 7 to 10 minutes all day.

City buses: cheaper, slower

Carris, Lisbon's city bus company, runs several routes from the bus stops outside Terminal 1 towards the centre. They are useful when the metro is closed or if your hotel lies near a bus stop rather than a metro station, but they share the road with the traffic and are less comfortable with big suitcases. Routes and timetables are on the Carris website; the navegante card works on the buses too.

If you arrive at Terminal 2, used by several low-cost airlines, a free shuttle bus takes you to Terminal 1 and the metro station.

Taxi and ride-hailing: fast and simple

Licensed taxis wait at the rank outside arrivals at Terminal 1. They run on the meter; luggage and night rides can cost extra, as shown in the taxi. Because the airport is so close, a taxi is often good value for two or more people, and the fastest way to reach the hilly old town with its steep, cobbled streets, where walking from a metro station with a suitcase is no fun. Ride-hailing apps also operate in Lisbon and pick up at a separate area of the airport, signposted in the terminal.

If you prefer a fixed price and a driver waiting with your name, a pre-booked transfer from Lisbon airport^* (Welcome Pickups) is the most relaxed option, especially late at night or with children. Our article on when an airport transfer pays off compares the options.

Which option suits whom?

• Hotel in the Baixa, Chiado or near Rossio: metro with one change at Alameda (green line), or a taxi if you arrive with heavy luggage.
• Hotel on the Avenida da Liberdade or near Marquês de Pombal: metro, change at São Sebastião (blue line) or Saldanha (yellow line).
• Hotel in the Alfama or high up in the Bairro Alto: taxi – the last stretch is steep and the metro does not go there.
• Onward train to Porto or the Algarve: red line to Oriente, no change needed.
• Late arrival after 1 am: taxi, ride-hailing or a pre-booked transfer.

Visitors from outside the EU, for example from the UK, can set up mobile data before landing – a travel eSIM for Portugal^* (Airalo) is usually cheaper than roaming, and our eSIM price index compares the prices per gigabyte.

On the day you leave

The way back is just as simple: any metro line to Alameda, Saldanha or São Sebastião, then the red line to Aeroporto. Allow for the change and for queues at the ticket machines at busy times. If you have checked out and your flight leaves in the evening, you can leave your suitcases at a luggage storage point in central Lisbon^* (Radical Storage) and take one last ride on tram 28.

How long to stay and what to see is in our article how many days in Lisbon, with plans for one to four days.

Lisbon trip planDay by day, with map and tips

How YesTrip helps you plan

In YesTrip you add your flight and hotel to the trip and plan each day around them, with a map of your places in Lisbon and the weather for your travel days. The ready-made plans for Lisbon can be copied into your trip with one tap, and with the offline package you have the map without a connection – handy on the metro from the airport. YesTrip is free.

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