Santa Justa Lift (Elevador de Santa Justa)

Why the Santa Justa Lift is closed, and what Carris says

The lift stopped carrying passengers in September 2025, after the Glória funicular, another of Lisbon’s historic hill lifts, crashed on 3 September. Sixteen people died, and the city’s lifts were taken out of service to be checked.

Santa Justa had nothing to do with the accident, and it had been fitted with new motors in 2024. In March 2026 a technical commission appointed by the city judged it safe, and the press expected it back by the summer.

The summer came and went without it. In September 2026 the head of Carris, Rui Lopo, said the lift’s assessment was further along than the Lavra funicular’s but would still take time. On 25 October 2026 Carris still listed the lift and its rooftop viewpoint as temporarily closed.

Of the other hill lifts, the Graça funicular has been running again since April 2026. The Bica is still out of service, and the Glória is waiting for a new car, which the press says Carris expects in 2029.

The Santa Justa Lift’s tower and stations, from outside

Closed or not, the tower stands on Rua do Ouro, in the Baixa, with the lower station at its foot. In 2017 that entrance got a new front, with an information panel and a metal frame that brings back the original design.

At the other end, the upper station is on the Largo do Carmo in Chiado, where the walkway from the top of the tower comes in.

What to do instead of the Santa Justa Lift

Without the lift you lose two things, the ride up to Chiado and the view from the top, and you can get both another way.

For a view over the Baixa, the Rua Augusta Arch, at the river end of the downtown, has an open rooftop. Higher up, the walls of São Jorge Castle look out over the whole of it.

Both are included in the Lisboa Card, from €31 for 24 hours, along with the metro, buses and trams.

For a free view, São Pedro de Alcântara, a viewpoint in Bairro Alto, is a walk uphill now that the Glória funicular is stopped. In Graça, the Senhora do Monte viewpoint sits on the highest ground in the historic centre, and a tile panel there names what you’re looking at.

Up in Chiado, next to the lift’s upper station, stand the ruins of the Carmo convent. Nuno Álvares Pereira, the general who fought for Portugal against Castile in the 1380s, founded it in 1389.

Its old church holds the Carmo Archaeological Museum, open Monday to Saturday, and the Lisboa Card takes 20% off. To get up there without the lift, the museum points you to Baixa-Chiado metro station or bus 758, both on the card.

Santa Justa Lift tickets, for when it reopens

When it runs, you pay on board, with nothing to book, and the ride is included in the Lisboa Card. The last fare before the closure was €6.10.

The viewpoint at the top had its own ticket, €5, paid by bank card only, and Lisbon’s tourist board says the Lisboa Card doesn’t cover it. It was open from 9:00 to 21:00, for 20 people at a time.

The ride itself takes about three minutes. In 2025, before the closure, one visitor waited about half an hour to get on.

Who designed the Santa Justa Lift

You’ll read that Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, had a hand in it, but Carris names the engineer Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard as its designer. It opened on 10 July 1902 as the Ascensor Ouro-Carmo, after the two places it joined, Rua do Ouro and the Carmo.

It first ran on steam, and in November 1907 it got electric motors. Its two wooden cabins have brass fittings, and Carris gives the lift’s capacity as 20 seated and 15 standing.

More than a century on, it’s still listed as a Carris route, number 54E.