Getting Around Lisbon: Trams, Hills, and What Nobody Tells You Before You Arrive
Lisbon has hills and the hills are real. I say this because I arrived from Vienna, which is flat in the parts I lived in, and spent my first two weeks discovering muscles I had not previously located. The city is built on seven hills — the guidebooks say this without quite conveying what it means to walk uphill every time you want a coffee.
The trams: Tram 28 is the famous one and is therefore extremely crowded with tourists and should be avoided for actual transport. It is genuinely historic and genuinely slow. If you want to experience it, do so once, early morning, and treat it as sightseeing rather than commuting. The real tram you need is the 15E to Belém, which runs along the waterfront, is served by modern vehicles, and actually arrives on a schedule. Check the Carris app (carris.pt) for all tram and bus routes.
The Metro: The Lisbon Metro (metrolisboa.pt) has four lines and covers the major areas including the airport. It is clean, fast, and significantly underused by visitors who do not realise it exists. A single ticket is €1.79. A day pass is €6.80. The Viva Viagem card is reloadable and works on all public transport. Get one at the airport before anything else.
The elétricos (funiculars): there are three — Glória, Bica, and Lavra — and they exist to address the hill problem in specific locations. All are included in the public transport system with the same card. They are also genuinely charming and worth using for that reason, not just the practical one.
Walking: necessary and rewarding, but plan your route for grade. Google Maps does not flag hills. Your knees will.