Lisbon User Guide

Location HERE . Mainly, this nowadays means the Praça Dom Pedro IV, where you can while away a few minutes sitting, chilling and people watching. This grand square has upmarket shops and food outlets around its sides, and full-on tile pavement patterns at its centre; just to the east is the Praça da Figueira, or Fig Tree Square (location HERE ), which has become notorious, especially in the afternoon, for desperate TukTuk pilots hassling passers-by. You want a tour? Anyone might get the idea that there was an oversupply of them. One plus point - the food outlets are, generally, on the less expensive side. So are the hotels - a Pensão or three, rather than the upmarket, and usually more expensive, dormitories elsewhere. Praça da Figueira is also where you catch the 737 bus up to the Castelo de São Jorge. This is the best way to get up there. Rossio station, where you board trains to Sintra, is off the north-west corner of the Praça Dom Pedro IV. Check out the ornate arches at street lev...

Location HERE . Walk through the grand arch at the south end of the pedestrianised Rua Augusta, look to your right, and there is the entrance to the lift (elevator if you prefer) which takes you most of the way to the top of the arch. This is a pay attraction; a modest €4.50 per person. From the lift, there are straight steps up to the Bell Room, then spiral steps up to the top. Before tackling either flight of steps, make sure you have a green signal on the light post. Good views over the Praça do Comércio and out over the river, and north along the Rua Augusta. And yes, just as with London buses, Carris have fleet numbers in very large type on the roof of every bus. You can even ring the bell, should you be so inclined. [ HOME ]

Location HERE . Look round to the east, and you’ll see if any cruise liners are visiting. Closer and more modestly sized seaborne transport comes in the form of the catamarans working the Barreiro ferry service. Next to the ferry terminal - and closer to the square - is the Terminal Fluvial Sul e Sueste, originally called Estação do Sul e Sueste. A railway station without tracks or trains: until The Bridge was rebuilt to include a rail deck, you would start your journey here if travelling by train to the Alentejo or Algarve, travelling by ferry to Barreiro, then changing there to a waiting train. After long distance trains were diverted to run over The Bridge and into Oriente, a new ferry terminal was constructed and the old building fell into disrepair. Now it has been restored to its 1931 original state. Designed by José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo, who gets a bad rap because of his allegedly too close relationship with the Estado Novo, it has an arched façade on land and river sides to ...

Location HERE . We’re starting from the Praça do Comércio at the south end of the Baixa Pombalina, or Pombaline Downtown. It’s where the city meets the river, and you should spend a few minutes taking in the view across to the South Side. Unless the weather is seriously bad, it’s easy to pick out Cristo Rei, the monument to Christ The King, which is meant to echo Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) in Rio de Janeiro. The Bridge, which began life as Ponte Salazar and is now Ponte 25 de Abril, is also easily identifiable. The area is also known as Terreiro do Paço; this is a pre-1755 allusion, as it is talking about the Land of the Palace. The palace that once stood at the west side of where Praça do Comércio is now was flattened by the Great Earthquake in that year. Even so, the current ferry terminal and adjacent Metro station still use that name. At the north-west corner of the square is a plaque commemorating the regicide of 1 February 1908: Carlos I and his heir apparent were assa...

How to, public and private, what to expect ... it's all here. Taxis Private Hire (includes TVDE and TukTuks) Public Transport (Bus, Tram, Metro, Elevadores, and Ticketing) Inclusive Tours The Lisboa Card And not forgetting ... Toilets [ HOME ]

Lisbon's buses, trams and funiculars are operated by Carris (pronounced Ka-reesh). Ferries are operated by Transtejo and Soflusa, and use the joint acronym TTSL . The Metro is operated by Metropolitano de Lisboa . Suburban trains are operated by Comboios de Portugal (CP), except those that link north and south banks of the river via the Ponte 25 de Abril, operated by Fertagus . Ticketing See Section 3.5 for the Lisboa Card. If you’re going to make more than very occasional use of Lisbon’s public transport system, DO NOT pay for each journey in cash via the driver, or by contactless. JUST DON’T. It will work out a lot more expensive, especially if you use trams, or any of the funiculars. One-off journeys cost €3.20 for trams, €4.20 for two trips on a funicular, and €6.10 for two trips on the Santa Justa lift. A 24-hour ticket for all buses, trams, metros, funiculars and that lift costs €7. Have a think about it. Ticket machines - which will give you instructions in English - can b...

City centres and a lack of public toilets. Same story in so many destinations. There are public toilets around central Lisbon, but two cautions. One , they might not open late, especially on weekends and public holidays. Two , they will inevitably be pay toilets, charging a minimum of 50 cents, perhaps one Euro. The greatest inconvenience of this is having change ready - some machines give change, but some don’t. Best to have the right change beforehand. Alternatively, if you’ve stopped off at a Pastelaria like A Padaria Portuguesa, use theirs - no additional charge. All the craft beer outlets mentioned in Section 6 have toilet facilities. [ HOME ]