Tram 28

How to ride it without the crush

Tram 28 is the wooden-seated vintage line that grinds up and down Lisbon’s hills between Martim Moniz and Campo de Ourique, threading through Graça, Alfama, past the Sé cathedral, down through Baixa and Chiado and out to Estrela. The single most useful trick: don’t join the queue at the Martim Moniz terminus, where coach groups stack up and you can lose 30–40 minutes standing in the sun. Instead take the metro or a bus to Campo de Ourique and board at the Prazeres end — you’ll get a seat, and the carriage only fills up after you’ve already rolled through the prettiest Alfama and Graça stretches.

On the money side, load a prepaid Navegante (Viva Viagem) card at any metro machine before you board: that drops a single trip to €1.90 (about £1.65) versus €3.30 cash from the driver, and on-board purchases are cash only anyway. If you’re also using the metro and other trams that day, the €7.25 24-hour pass pays for itself after three or four rides. Go before 09:00 if you can — the queues are short, the light on the azulejo tiles is best, and you avoid the mid-morning standing crush.

Is the ride worth it — and when to board

One blunt warning: Tram 28 has one of the highest pickpocket rates of anywhere in Lisbon, and the danger is purely about crowding, worst from roughly 09:00 to 18:00 between March and October. Wear your bag on your front, keep your phone in an inside pocket, and never carry a wallet in a back trouser pocket near the doors. The tram itself is fine; the jam-packed carriage is where things go missing.

It’s worth it as a slow, scenic ride through the old hills — but only if you go early or board from the quiet Campo de Ourique end. Squeezed in standing at 11am, it’s a hot, claustrophobic disappointment that’s mostly other tourists’ backpacks. The full run takes 40–50 minutes; treat it as the sightseeing itself, hop off at a miradouro in Graça or Alfama for the view, and don’t expect it to be a quick way to get anywhere.