Is the Lisboa Card (Lisbon Card) worth it?

When the Lisboa Card is worth it

Start with the tickets you’d buy anyway. These are the big ones the card includes, with what they’d cost you without it:

Three of the six are in Belém, so one day there does most of the work. Once the entries have covered what the card cost, every metro, bus and tram ride is a bonus, the ride out to Belém and tram 28 included.

That’s why it suits a first visit so well: two or three days of sightseeing, with the castle and Belém on the list and maybe a train out to Sintra.

When the Lisboa Card isn’t worth it

On the other hand, it does little on days of neighbourhood walks, viewpoints and long lunches. For those, a 24-hour metro, bus and tram pass, sold at any metro station, costs €7.25.

The same goes for a trip built around places the card only discounts. At these it takes money off the ticket, but entry isn’t included:

The card does nothing for Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra or the ferries across the Tagus.

24, 48 or 72 hours: which Lisboa Card to buy

If the card makes sense for you, count your sightseeing days, not your nights. Belém fills a 24-hour card. Add the castle on a second day and you want the 48-hour, and a third day, in Sintra, makes it the 72-hour, the cheapest per day.

The hours run from your first ride, so on an evening arrival, pay for the metro into town and start the card the next morning. The airport desk’s hours are on where to buy the Lisboa Card.

Children from 4 to 15 get the cheaper child card, though a 13 to 15-year-old still pays their own ticket at 12 of the included places.

Lisboa Card time slots and closing days

Plan the Belém day first. Jerónimos and Belém Tower each want a time slot, booked at no extra cost with the card’s number. The card has its own allowance of slots each day, and it can run out, so book as soon as you’ve collected the card.

Then check the closing days, because Monday is the one to avoid:

Sintra and Cascais with the Lisboa Card

Outside Lisbon, the best thing the card gives you is the train: Rossio to Sintra and Cais do Sodré to Cascais, as often as you like.

In Cascais that’s all it gives. In Sintra you also get the Myths and Legends centre in the village included, plus money off the palaces, though only when you buy at their ticket desks:

The 434 and 435 buses up to the palaces are a separate fare. For a day spent only in Sintra, a return train ticket is €5.10, plus €0.50 for the navegante card it goes on (2026 fares), much less than the Lisboa Card.