Lisbon Funiculars and Elevators

What happened

On the afternoon of 3 September 2025 one of the two cars of the Ascensor da Glória left its rails on the descent of the Calçada da Glória and struck a building. Sixteen people died and dozens were injured; the dead included residents and visitors from several countries. The Glória is a true funicular: two cars fixed to the ends of one buried cable that loops over a pulley at the top, each acting as the counterweight to the other, with electric motors on the cars themselves fed from overhead wires. The official investigation was still open when we wrote this; we do not summarise causes that have not been published by the authority investigating them.

Carris stopped the Glória, the Lavra, the Bica and the Santa Justa Lift the same day. On 11 September 2025 it announced a mission team to design a new technological system for the Glória, and on 2 October 2025 it published the note that still stood on 29 August 2026: inspections continue, the reports go to a commission of experts from LNEC, the Instituto Superior Técnico and the Ordem dos Engenheiros set up by the city, and the resumption date will be decided after that validation.

The reopening timelines, and why we print more than one

On 18 March 2026 CNN Portugal and TVI reported that the independent technical commission had cleared the Santa Justa Lift and the Bica funicular to come back before the summer, because the lift had been re-motorised in 2024 and the Bica's motors sit under the pavement with a braking system that does not depend on the driver, while the Glória and the Lavra, whose motors and brakes are in the cars, were described as more problematic and would need changes to their braking and to the cars' crash resistance while keeping the historic look. The Graça funicular was to return in April and move from EMEL, the municipal parking company, to Carris; RTP reported it back in service on 30 April 2026.

The summer passed with the Bica and the lift still shut. On 28 August 2026 Executive Digest, citing the weekly Nascer do Sol, reported that the Santa Justa Lift should reopen in January 2027, that the new Glória cars should reach Lisbon in 2029, and that the Lavra will get new cars on the same principle, with the old ones retired to museum pieces. Carris's own status site, equipamentos-historicos.carris.pt, says the closed machines will be returned 'as soon as possible' while evaluation and adaptation continue. Our reading for a 2026 or early-2027 visit: none of the three historic funiculars will be running, the lift might be from January 2027, and the Graça is the only ride you can count on.

Bus 51E is the Glória substitute and the one visitors use: a loop from Praça dos Restauradores through Rossio, Rua do Ouro, Rua da Conceição, Rua Nova do Almada and Rua Garrett, up Calçada do Sacramento to Largo do Carmo and Largo da Trindade, along Rua da Misericórdia past the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, and down Rua das Taipas to the Avenida da Liberdade. It runs 07:00 to 21:30 and Carris's notice of 11 September 2025 gives no frequency. Bus 22B replaces the Bica: Cais do Sodré, Rua do Alecrim, Praça Luís de Camões, Calhariz at the top of the Bica, Príncipe Real, the São Bento palace garden, Conde Barão and the Mercado da Ribeira, 07:00 to 20:25 with a departure every 30 minutes.

Bus 19B replaces the Lavra: Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, Praça da Alegria, Avenida da Liberdade, Restauradores, Rua das Pretas, Rua do Telhal, the Torel lanes and Rua Câmara Pestana, weekdays 07:30 to 21:00 and weekends and holidays 10:00 to 20:30, adjusted from 14 September 2025 for as long as the Lavra stays suspended.

Walking the three hills instead

Each funicular saved a climb of between three and eight minutes. The Glória's street, the Calçada da Glória, is closed as a crime scene and works site for long stretches; use Rua das Taipas or the Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara steps from the Avenida da Liberdade side, about eight minutes from Restauradores to the viewpoint. The Bica's street, Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo, is open to walkers and is the photograph everyone wants, with the parked yellow car at the top: from Rua de São Paulo to Largo do Calhariz it is 245 metres and about six minutes.

The Lavra's Calçada do Lavra is the steepest of the three at 22.9 percent and the least visited; the Jardim do Torel at the top is a quiet viewpoint over the Avenida. None of the three is a route for a wheelchair or a rolling suitcase, which is what the accessibility page is for.

Ascensor do Lavra, the oldest

The Lavra opened on 19 April 1884 and is the oldest funicular in the city. It climbs 188 metres from Largo da Anunciada, a side street off the Avenida da Liberdade near Restauradores, to Rua Câmara Pestana beside the Jardim do Torel, at an average gradient of 22.9 percent on 900 mm track. It started as a water-balance machine, went to steam after a year and was electrified in 1915, drawing 600 V DC from overhead wires.

The two cars were built by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen in Germany: a steel frame, a wooden interior with two long benches, yellow-and-white paint. It was the least-ridden of the three and the one locals used most.

Ascensor da Glória, the busiest and the one that crashed

The Glória opened on 24 October 1885 on a concession granted in 1875 to the Nova Companhia dos Ascensores Mecânicos de Lisboa. It runs 265 metres, or 275 by Wikipedia's measure, from Praça dos Restauradores up the Calçada da Glória to Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara at the edge of the Bairro Alto, a gradient of 17.7 percent, crossing above the railway tunnel into Rossio station halfway up. The ride took about three minutes and each car carried 42 people plus the conductor.

Water power lasted one year, steam ran from 1886, and electrification came in 1915, when the rack-and-pinion braking rail of the steam era was removed. It was the funicular the tourists rode, because the viewpoint at the top is the classic view of the castle, and it was the car of this line that derailed on 3 September 2025.

Ascensor da Bica, the photograph

The Bica opened on 28 June 1892 and runs 245 metres from Rua de São Paulo, near Cais do Sodré, up Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo to Largo do Calhariz on the Calçada do Combro, a gradient of 11.8 percent. Its lower station is hidden inside a building on Rua de São Paulo, which is why people walk past it. Converted to electric power between 1914 and 1916, it came back into regular service in 1927 after a reconstruction accident.

It is the one on the postcards: the yellow car framed by the narrow street with the Tagus at the bottom, and the car parked at the top of the closed line still gives that shot. All three were classified National Monuments on 19 February 2002, with the Santa Justa Lift.

The on-board funicular fare is €4.30 (about $5.05) and is valid for up to two rides; the Santa Justa Lift is €6.20 (about $7.25) on the same terms. Both are sold in the vehicle. The navegante 24-hour ticket at €7.25 covers Carris buses and trams and the Metro but, in Carris's own words, not the ascensores and the elevador; the €11.40 version adds the CP trains to Sintra and Cascais and still excludes them.

The Lisboa Card, from €31 for 24 hours, does include the funiculars and the lift ride. A tram on board is €3.30 and a bus €2.30, and the €1.72 zapping fare on a €0.50 navegante card is the cheapest way onto any of the replacement buses. Whether zapping is accepted on the funiculars themselves is not stated on the tariff page, so we do not say it is.

The 2027 tariff is due on 1 January 2027 and may change every figure here; the getting around page carries the full network table.

They fit as a walk, not a ride. Start at Restauradores, take bus 51E or the Rua das Taipas steps to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara for the castle view, cross the Bairro Alto to Largo do Calhariz, and walk down Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo past the parked Bica car to Rua de São Paulo and the Time Out Market at Cais do Sodré: about an hour, downhill after the first ten minutes, and the best free loop in the centre. That is the afternoon of the second day in the two-day itinerary.

The one ride you can still take, the Graça funicular from the Mouraria, sits on the Alfama side of the Baixa and pairs with the Miradouro da Graça. Every fare on the network is on getting around, and the rest of the Lisbon guide starts from the homepage.