We all need a great Lisbon map to know our way around the city. A trustworthy guide that can be understood without words. A Lisbon map which tells us where should we go, what should we visit and how can we get there. Well, we are here to help you, so we collected everything that you should know in one ultimate Lisbon map guide.
Lisbon Map
Prepare yourself to learn everything you ever wanted to know about the different districts and public transportation webs of Lisbon! First of all, let’s give a look at the whole picture! A real Lisbon map must cover all the neighborhoods, even the less famous ones. And actually, just because there are no big tourist attractions in some of the districts, it doesn’t mean, they are not worth a visit at all.
The Lisbon neighborhood map
Here’s a brief guide of our colorful Lisbon map, explaining a bit about the dynamics of this amazing city.
The green area
As you can see, Santa Clara, Lumiar, Carnide, São Domingos de Benfica and Benfica belongs to the green area in our Lisbon map. These neighborhoods are a bit out of the historical center, the architecture is pretty different from the charming, tile-covered houses. We can find mostly apartment blocks, big roads and stadiums, close to the highways. But just because we are far from downtown that doesn’t mean, there is nothing to see here. First of all, we have to talk about Benfica Stadium. The Benfica football team is one of the world’s most supported football club, therefore the stadium is a famous pilgrim spot of the fans. The other attraction of the area is the Zoo in Sete Rios, which belongs to São Domingos de Benfica. During our visit to the zoo, we leave our Lisbon map behind to make a trip around the world and meet with all of our favorite animals from the dolphins to the tigers. Do you want to learn more about Benfica?Click here and read our detailed Benfica guide.
The blue area
In our Lisbon map we signed with blue Olivais, Parque das Nações, Marvila and Beato districts. This area has its own center in Parque das Nações that is actually important regarding the whole economy of Lisbon. Most of the big companies have their offices there, such as Vodafone, Sony and a lot more.
Nevertheless, they are not the best reason to visit this neighborhood. Then what is? Well, for example, the unique train station of Oriente. Or the Vasco da Gama bridge, which is the longest bridge in Europe. Just take a walk in the park and discover the futuristic buildings, concert halls and museums while enjoying nature and the proximity of the river at the same time. Oh, and don’t skip the Oceanarium either! Europe’s biggest and most breathtaking aquarium is definitely worth a visit, both for kids and adults. Read all about the Lisbon Oceanarium. You buy the ticket on Get Your Guide when you click here.
The orange area
Looking at the Lisbon map we can discover the orange area, which contains Alvalade, Areeiro, Avenidas Novas, Arroios, Campolide and Santo António. These neighborhoods are basically the ones where we are already pretty close to the center, but we are still avoiding the crowds of tourists. Safe and pretty districts where we are lucky to live if we are looking for calmer but still easily accessible areas.
The yellow area
Alcântara, Ajuda and the famous Belém are all signed with yellow in our Lisbon map. The most interesting parts of these areas are located close to the river’s coastline. There we can find the LX Factory under the 25th April bridge, with its modern restaurants as well as the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) where we can climb up to the top and look at the spectacular view. Arriving to Belém we have plenty of places to see. The Belém Tower, which is one of the symbols of Lisbon and the Discoveries Monument, which are both remembering the big discoveries that started exactly from there.
The Jerónimos Monastery is also a must see if we are hungry for culture, but if we are hungry for something totally different, we are still in a good place. Trying the famous Pastéis de Belém is obligatory. These custard tarts are really worth the few minutes waiting in the line.
The purple area
Here we are, eventually, we arrived at the most touristic neighborhoods of our Lisbon map. Campo de Ourique, Estrela, Santa Maria Maior, São Vicente and Penha de Franca. The downtown with its seven hills, viewpoints and attractions. And what are those? Get familiar with our Lisbon map for tourists and read more below! Find out more about how to guide yourself through Lisbon, subscribe to our newsletter.
Lisbon map for tourists
To understand what you can find and where, in the Lisbon map for tourists, we divided the downtown and gave a number for each neighborhood.
1. Avenida da Liberdade
In our Lisbon map, we can see how the big avenue of the city is crossing downtown. It starts up the hill at the Marquês de Pombal Monument, right under the VII Eduardo Park.
From the top of the park, we have an amazing view down to the Avenida da Liberdade and to the whole center. While walking down on the avenue, we pass by luxury shops in the shade of the fabulous palm trees.
2. Baixa
If we continue our walk down on the Lisbon map, we can see the nicest parts of the center. From the end of Avenida de Liberdade, we have to keep going down on Rossio square and enter to the famous shopping street, Rua Augusta. This leads us to the majestic square, Praça do Comércio which is facing the river Tejo.
3. Cais do Sodré
There are two things you have to know about Cais do Sodré. First of all, there is a train station where we can take the train to visit Cascais, the scenic little town only 40 minutes away. Secondly, we can find the Pink Street here, where every door leads to a club or a bar. To know more about it, read our guide for the night owls.
4. Chiado
Chiado is one of the most charming but at the same time most touristic part of our Lisbon map. The area is full of nice little coffee shops, theaters and bookstores, including the oldest bookstore in the world, called Bertrand Chiado.
5. Bairro Alto
The labyrinth of bars and clubs where locals and tourists get together for a few beers after sunset. Want to know more about the nightlife in Bairro Alto? Click here!
6. Alfama and Castelo
Alfama is an eclectic mixture of its heritage from the poor times and the artistic changes of nowadays. A beautiful and atmospheric neighborhood where we can just lose ourselves for hours.
And what do we find during our wonderings between the narrow streets? Some of the most important historical buildings in the Lisbon map. The Castle of São Jorge, the National Pantheon and the Sé cathedral are all located here.
7. Príncipe Real
Príncipe Real occupies the area above Bairro Alto. Today it is one of the most trending neighborhoods on the whole Lisbon map, thanks to the great location, the stylish coffee places, cute parks and fancy restaurants.
8. Estrela
In front of the Basílica da Estrela we can find something totally unexpected. Behind the fences hides the beautiful Estrela Park. It might seem like a detour in our Lisbon map, but totally worth a visit. We can lay down in the shadow of tropical trees or have a coffee at a table, looking at the idyllic lake with ducks and turtles.
9. Graça
Graça is basically just as nice and atmospheric as Alfama, except that the crowd of tourists is not as big here. Old houses, narrow streets and beautiful viewpoints are waiting for us at this point of the Lisbon map.
10. Mouraria
Mouraria is the center of the immigrants, coming from outside of Europe since the early establishment of the city. Surprisingly, it is also the birthplace of Fado, the most traditional Portuguese music. Would you like to see a Fado performance, check our article about the best places to listen to this sad and touching music.
11. Martim Moniz, Intendente and Anjos
Probably these neighborhoods are the most multicultural spots in our Lisbon map. In case you love Chinese, Indian or Japanese cuisine, here you will not leave the restaurants disappointed.
Lisbon Map – Metro edition
To have a clear idea in our mind about the Lisbon map and how to get from A to B, it is useful to memorize the metro routes a little bit. There are four metro lines in Lisbon. The blue one, which runs between Santa Apolónia and Reboleira, the yellow between Rato and Odivelas, the green between Telheiras and Cais do Sodré and the red one between São Sebastião and the Airport. These lines pretty much cover the whole city, having a metro station at every important spot. It makes the metro the fastest and most reliable public transport option in Lisbon.
How to change metro lines?
It can often happen that we have to change between the lines to arrive at our destination. It is not hard at all, thanks to the Portuguese and English were written instructions around all the stations. There is a Lisbon map with the metro lines in every single vehicle, from which we can be informed of where to change/get off. During the transition there are signs everywhere, telling us the right directions. Ohh, and we can even use the same ticket as long as we are not leaving the metro gates.
But how can we buy our metro ticket?
It is easier than it seems. Down in every metro station, we can find the vending machines. As a step one, we have to buy a 7 Colinas or Viva Viagem electronic card for €0.50 (7 Colinas and Viva Viagem are the same, the only difference is the name). Now we have a rechargeable card that we can use for one year. At the same vending machines we can charge it with single tickets for €1.45 each, or we can decide to buy a 24 hours ticket for €6.30. It is very important to keep our card since we will need it not only when we are entering at the gates, but for leaving as well.
Is it worth it to try the metro?
I would recommend visiting the Lisbon metro lines, even if we don’t need to use them. It is because every single metro station has a different style, decorated by different artists. In the airport station we can meet with the caricatures of famous Portuguese writers and poets, in Oriente we see all our favorite comic book heroes and in Cais do Sodré there are giant white rabbits. My personal favorite is the colorful metro station in Olaias, where a huge glass sardine is hanging from the ceilings. We can even do our metro tour outside of the rush hour since the metro runs from 6 am to 1 am. This way we can avoid the crowd and take our time to discover the stations.
Lisbon Map – Tram edition
If we give a look at our Lisbon map, we might wonder if we can get to our destination by metro. It might be difficult because inside downtown the stations are often a bit far from the important buildings, viewpoints. In case we don’t want to walk that much, the tram is a great solution.
Which tram should we take in Lisbon?
As we can see on the map, there are five tram lines operating, touching every spot that might be interesting for us. Especially, the famous tram 28E, which starts in Campo de Ourique, going through Estrela, Chiado, Baixa even up to Alfama and Graça before arriving at Martim Moniz. This line operates a charming old vehicle, which is definitely worth a try. Although, we have to be aware that the tram will be full of tourists and often pickpocketers show up as well. The other tram line which might be interesting in our Lisbon map is the 18E as this one takes us to Belém from a central station, Cais do Sodré. This line runs only modern, air-conditioned vehicles, but it is also pretty crowded during the day. Never worry about a tram, metro or bus ticket with the Lisbon Card. Get a 24h, 48 or 72-hour pass and get unlimited trips for as little as €20.
How to buy our tram tickets?
To buy our ticket to the tram, we need to charge our Viva Viagem Card in advance at a vending machine. It is very important since at the 28E line there are no machines at the stations. We can still buy our ticket from the driver, but it will cost much more. To know more about the Lisbon public transport system, read our article here!
Lisbon Airport Map
Last but not least in our Lisbon map guide, we have to talk about the airport.
In this map, we can find almost everything we might need in the Lisbon airport. However, I still have some extra information for you. In case we want to drop our luggage at the airport for some reason, there is a luggage storage department for that. It is located close to Parking 02 after the elevator and has a totally reasonable price. Other important information! When we are flying with a budget company like Wizzair or Ryanair, our departure is from Terminal 2. Good news that a bus takes us there for free from the spot signed as T2 in the map. To know more about Lisbon airport such as how to get there or how to go from the airport to the center, read our guide here!
Your Lisbon Map Guide
We hope our Lisbon map guide will help you to get around the city and find everything you want to visit easily. In case you need more inspiration and you are curious about the main attractions, read more about them here!
