Lisbon Airport sits inside the city, 7 km north of the Baixa, with the Second Circular ring road and the motorways out of town just beyond the car parks. Collect your car on arrival and you are fifteen minutes from the centre, forty from the palaces of Sintra and the Cascais coast, and an hour from the walled village of Óbidos – or across the Vasco da Gama bridge towards Arrábida and the Alentejo.
Lisbon Airport sits inside the city, 7 km north of the Baixa, with the Second Circular ring road and the motorways out of town just beyond the car parks. Collect your car on arrival and you are fifteen minutes from the centre, forty from the palaces of Sintra and the Cascais coast, and an hour from the walled village of Óbidos – or across the Vasco da Gama bridge towards Arrábida and the Alentejo.
Lisbon car hire: debit card, not credit card
You can rent without a credit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on your debit card at pick-up and released after return; the amount is on each car before you book.
Deposit and excess shown up front
Each car lists its insurance options, its excess and the refundable debit-card deposit before you book, so nothing about the cover is a surprise at the desk.
No airport surcharge
Direct prices from Portuguese partners. What you book is what you pay at pick-up, with no desk fee bolted on at the terminal.
Every motorway starts here
The airport is on the ring road. The A1 north, the A8 to Óbidos, the IC19 to Sintra and the Vasco da Gama bridge south are all within ten minutes of the car park.
Built for a late landing
Add your flight number at booking and the desk works to the real landing time, not the time on the voucher.
The airport is closer to the centre than almost any other European capital's, so the city's sights are a short drive – though not always a short park.
The riverside district the navigators sailed from: the Manueline Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Tower standing in the Tagus and the Monument to the Discoveries. Parking along the river is easier here than anywhere in the centre.
The oldest quarter, a maze of stairways and alleys below the Moorish castle walls, with tram 28 squeezing through the middle. Park at the edge and walk in: the lanes are too steep and narrow for a car.
The 1998 Expo site on the riverfront, with one of Europe's largest aquariums, a cable car along the water and the Vasco da Gama bridge stretching away to the south. The closest sight to the terminal, and easy for parking.
The statue of Christ on the south bank, looking back at Lisbon across the 25 de Abril bridge. The lift to its platform gives the widest view of the city there is. Crossing south is free; the toll is charged on the way back.
The airport is the hub of the motorway network: west to Sintra and the Atlantic, north to the medieval towns, and south over the river to the Alentejo plain.
35–45 min to Sintra
The romantic palaces of Pena and Monserrate and the Moorish castle in the forested hills, then out to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe. Parking near the palaces is scarce, so leave the car lower down and take the 434 bus up.
35–45 min to Cascais
Along the A5 to the old fishing town of Cascais, then the coast road past the Boca do Inferno sea cliffs to the wide surf beach at Guincho. Return by the Marginal coast road through Estoril for the sunset.
about 1h to Óbidos
North on the A8 to Óbidos, a whitewashed village inside its medieval walls, then on to Nazaré, where the winter swells reach world-record heights, and the vast Cistercian monastery at Alcobaça. A full and easy day.
about 1h30 one way
Over the Vasco da Gama bridge and east on the A6 across cork-oak plains to Évora, a UNESCO town with a Roman temple, a chapel lined with bones and a cathedral roof you can walk on. Add a winery on the way back.
Ask about Via Verde at pick-up
Some motorways around Lisbon charge tolls by overhead gantry, with no booth. Ask whether the car has a Via Verde device and how tolls are billed before you leave the car park.
Bridges charge one way
The 25 de Abril and Vasco da Gama bridges only charge when you drive north into Lisbon. Heading south to Arrábida or the Alentejo is free; the toll comes on the way home.
Leave the car out of the old centre
Alfama, the Baixa and Bairro Alto are steep, one-way and short of parking, with paid street zones run by EMEL. Park at the hotel and use trams, the metro or your feet.
Never park on the tram rails
A car left across or beside the tracks blocks the tram, and the city tows it quickly. Trams also have priority on the narrow streets, so give them room.
Beat the morning queue
The Second Circular and the IC19 to Sintra are slow from about 7:30 to 10:00 and again in the early evening. Leave for Sintra or Cascais after the rush.
Gasóleo is diesel
At Portuguese pumps gasóleo means diesel and gasolina means petrol. Check the label inside the fuel flap before the first fill-up, because the names are close enough to confuse.
Yes – you rent with a debit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on that debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car. Its amount is shown on each car before you book, so you know exactly what will be held.
It depends on the car and the cover you choose, and it is shown on each car before you book. It is held on your debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car; your bank may take a few working days to show it.
Your voucher names the exact meeting point and the pick-up time. Lisbon has two terminals; if you land at Terminal 2, used by several low-cost airlines, a free shuttle bus runs to Terminal 1.
The car is held for an hour past your booked pick-up time, within the station's opening hours. Give us your flight number when you book and the desk can follow the actual arrival rather than the time on the voucher.
No. The ring road from the airport to the centre is free. Tolls start on the motorways out of the city – the A1, A5, A8 and A2 – and on the two bridges, which only charge when you drive north into Lisbon.
Only to reach your hotel. The old quarters are steep, narrow and one-way, trams take priority and street parking is scarce and paid. Keep the car for day trips and see the centre on foot and by tram.
Yes, and the mileage is unlimited. The Algarve is about 2h30 south on the A2 and Porto about 3h north on the A1, both tolled. You return the car to Lisbon Airport at the end.
Twenty-one, with at least a year of driving behind you. Some vehicle categories ask for more; each car shows its minimum next to the deposit before you book.
Lisbon Airport (LIS)
Book in minutes with a debit card, see the deposit on each car before you choose, and collect at the airport when you land.
