A Day Visit to Lisbon by Car (and the Car Park That Nearly Broke Me)
Driving into central Lisbon didn’t look like fun. One glance at the map and the tangle of narrow one-way streets was enough to convince us: park on the edge, let the Metro do the rest. Google Maps pointed us to the car park at Gare do Oriente, and it seemed the sensible choice.
Finding the Metro (Eventually)
The car park sits beneath a major bus and train station, and it took us a little while to actually find the Metro entrance buried within it. Ticket purchased, we hopped on the red line to Alameda, switched to the green line, and rode it to Campo Grande — which turned out to be a perfectly central spot to start exploring. Simple, cheap, and about as stress-free as city travel gets.
We returned later from Telheiras, one stop further along, and simply reversed the route back to the car. Easy.
The Car Park’s Revenge
The car itself, though, had other plans for us.
Back at Gare do Oriente, there seemed to be only one payment machine working, and its card reader had given up for the day. Naturally, we had no cash. I scraped together a handful of coins, only for one particularly stubborn 2 euro piece to flatly refuse to be swallowed by the machine.
Frustration mounting, I decided to just try the exit barrier instead, hoping there’d be a payment option there. There wasn’t. In the confusion, we thought we’d dropped our ticket, picked up what we assumed was ours, and took it back to the machine — which cheerfully told us it was already paid. It wasn’t until later that we realised there were two tickets: the paid one we’d just found, and the real one, still sitting in my pocket, still unpaid.
Thankfully there was a cash machine in the station foyer. A ten-minute diversion later, cash in hand, we finally paid our way out of the darkness and back into daylight.
First Impressions: Not Love at First Sight
Lisbon itself didn’t win us over immediately. Close to the harbour, the main avenues felt a little grubby, with hawkers working the crowds and a restaurant tout on every corner trying to steer us in for lunch.
But the further we walked — and the more hills we climbed — the more the city opened up. The quieter backstreets had real charm: quaint little shops, unexpected corners, and no shortage of photo opportunities. We spent hours just wandering, and the longer we explored, the fonder of it we grew.
Through a 10-Year-Old’s Eyes
Travelling with a 10-year-old gives you a completely different tour of a city, and Lisbon delivered plenty for him too. The Sardine Tin shop was a genuine highlight — as much an attraction in itself as anywhere we visited, with wall after wall of colourful tins to pore over. The vintage shops caught his eye as well, and he loved the park near the market, with its outdoor stalls and a bit of a party vibe going on.
The hawkers didn’t go down so well — especially the clowns, who he could have happily done without. He was a big fan of the hills (even if his legs weren’t always convinced) and the trams, which we admired but never actually rode.
A City That Grows On You
Nothing we saw was particularly headline-grabbing — no single sight we’d point to and say “that’s the reason to go.” Lisbon is more like a well-worn blanket: unremarkable at first glance, but it gradually grows on you the longer you’re wrapped up in it.
We’ll definitely be back — next time to tick off a few of the must-see sights we didn’t get to this time round.
If you are looking for an organised visit – check out here.
