Contactless in Lisbon

Yes on the metro, on Carris's buses, trams, funiculars and Santa Justa lift, on Carris Metropolitana's regional buses, on MTS's south-bank trams and on Fertagus's trains. Each operator charges you separately, though: the tap that got you onto the metro does not get you onto a bus. The metro names Visa, V Pay and Mastercard, and the card can be in Apple Pay or Google Pay. Carris Metropolitana's page names Visa and Mastercard; the reader on board also shows Multibanco, the Portuguese bank-card network, and Apple Pay and Google Pay.

On the metro and Carris, every tap is a full fare and nothing caps what you pay. The metro's “fare optimisation” only groups your taps into fewer lines on your bank statement; it does not lower the price.

On the metro you touch in and out at the gates. It is €1,92 anywhere on the network, Aeroporto included. If you never touch out — a phone whose battery dies before the exit gate is the usual way — you can be treated as travelling with no ticket, and that is a fine of €120–€350.

On Carris you tap the small machine just inside the door, with no touch out. It is €2,30 on a bus and €3,30 on a tram, and there is no transfer, so every change of vehicle is a new fare. Carris Metropolitana's tap, branded Tap&Ride, works only on lines numbered 1, 2 or 3; lines beginning with 4 are not in it yet. MTS takes one tap as you board. On Fertagus, always tap in: tap out without having tapped in and you are charged the maximum fare from that station.

CP's urban trains do not take a bank card, and on the ferries only one gate does: the Algés pier on the Trafaria–Porto Brandão–Belém route, a weekday trial running since July 2026.

So tap in and out with the same card on the metro, and tap again every time you change operator.

Yes, across the whole Metropolitano de Lisboa network. Tap a Visa, V Pay or Mastercard contactless card — or that card in Apple Pay or Google Pay — on the small machine at the entry gate, wait for the green light and the doors to open, and do the same at the exit gate on your way out. Both taps are compulsory, and they have to be the same card or device: start on the card and finish on the phone and the journey never closes. Nothing to buy first, nothing to register.

One fare covers the whole network, Aeroporto station included, at €1,92 a journey. It is worth knowing that a bank card is the dearer way to ride the metro: the same journey on a navegante card's zapping purse costs €1,72. There is no cap and nothing accrues, so a heavy day of metro travel stays at full price per journey.

The touch out is the part to get right. If you never touch out — most often because a phone runs out of battery before the exit gate — you can be treated as travelling without a valid ticket, which carries a fine of €120–€350, reduced to €60 if you pay within 15 working days of the notice. So keep the card you tapped in with to hand and charged, and touch out even when the gate is standing open.

Yes, on both bus networks, and the movement is the same on each: one tap on the machine on board as you get on, with no touch out. What differs is which buses are covered.

On a Carris bus you tap the small machine just inside the door. The fare is €2,30 and it buys that one vehicle: Carris gives no transfer, so the next bus is another €2,30.

Carris Metropolitana runs the regional buses out to the wider Lisbon area, and its tap is branded Tap&Ride. Its page names Visa and Mastercard; the reader on board also shows Multibanco, the Portuguese bank-card network, and Apple Pay and Google Pay. Tap&Ride runs on lines numbered 1, 2 or 3; lines beginning with 4 are not in it yet, so on those a bank card buys you nothing.

So look at the number on the front of the bus before you rely on a tap. If it starts with a 4, carry coins and pay the driver, who prints you a single-journey ticket for that bus; on anything else, tap as you board.