Tram 28, Lisbon

Lisbon's trams began as horse cars in 1873 and went electric in 1901; the 28 was inaugurated in 1914 and is one of six lines left of a network that once had two dozen. The cars are 'Remodelados', numbers 541 to 585, built in the 1930s and rebuilt in the 1990s with new motors and brakes inside the old wooden bodies; 45 of them serve every historic route. They survive on the 28 because the streets of Alfama and Graça are too narrow, steep and tightly curved for a bus or a modern tram — on Rua das Escolas Gerais the car passes within arm's reach of the doorways.

The route is a little over seven kilometres from Praça Martim Moniz, below the castle hill, east and up through Graça, along the ridge to São Vicente, down through Alfama past the Sé, across the Baixa on Rua da Conceição, up to Chiado and Praça Luís de Camões, along the edge of Bairro Alto, down Calhariz and up to Estrela, ending at the Prazeres cemetery in Campo de Ourique. It is single track for long stretches, which is why a double-parked car stops the whole line.

The stops that matter are eight. Board at Martim Moniz if you want a seat and the full ride; board anywhere else and you stand. The stretch everyone photographs is between Graça and the Sé; after Rua da Conceição it is a handsome but ordinary tram ride through Chiado and Estrela.

There is no tram-28 ticket. The 28 is a Carris route and takes every Carris fare, and the difference between the fares is the difference between a tourist and a resident. Pay the driver and it is €3.30, valid only in the vehicle where you bought it, and Carris says cash is not accepted on the articulated trams (numbers 501–505, 507, 510 and 601–615, which run the 15 to Belém, not the 28) — contactless, MB Way and the Via Verde app are.

Buy a navegante occasional card for €0.50 at any metro station machine, load it with zapping credit (€3 to €40) and the same ride is €1.72, or €1.90 as a single ticket valid 60 minutes across Carris and metro. Load a 24-hour pass instead for €7.25 and every Carris tram and bus and the metro are covered for the day; €11.40 adds the CP trains to Sintra and Cascais, €10.35 adds the ferry to Cacilhas. None of the 24-hour passes includes the funiculars or the Santa Justa lift, which are closed anyway. Tap the card on the validator inside the door on every boarding; a card with credit but no tap is a fine.

The Lisboa Card includes unlimited Carris and metro for its 24, 48 or 72 hours, so the 28 is free with it; for a card-holder the queue is the only cost. Children under 4 travel free.

Carris' route page for the 28E, read on 29 August 2026, was showing its August timetable: first departure 06:45 and last departure 22:30 from the Graça end of the line, roughly every 9 to 11 minutes between 07:00 and 14:00 and less often early and late. The page also carried a service-alteration notice, which in August 2026 meant the eastern end was working from Graça rather than Martim Moniz on the timetable shown — check the page on the day, because the terminus you queue at may have moved. Guides put the end-to-end ride at 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic; Carris prints no journey time.

The queue at Martim Moniz is the tram's real timetable. From about 10:00 to 18:00 in the season there is a line round the square and a Carris marshal loading each car to standing capacity; forty minutes' wait is normal, an hour is not rare. Before 09:00 you walk on. After 19:00 the light on Alfama is better and the tram is emptier, and the last cars after 22:00 are nearly local.

Strikes: Portuguese law requires at least five working days' notice, ten where minimum services apply, and Carris posts them under service alterations. None was listed for September or October 2026 when we checked; the strikes page explains where to look.

• Emptiest: before 09:00 from Martim Moniz; after 19:00 from either end
• Worst: 10:00–18:00 at Martim Moniz, and cruise-ship days (our observation)
• Do not: board mid-route at the Sé at noon expecting to get on — two or three full cars pass before one has room

Where to sit

Board at a terminus and take a window on the right going west from Martim Moniz — the castle side through Graça, the river side through Alfama. Standing passengers block the windows for everyone, which is the case for boarding early. Doors open on the right only; the back door is exit, the front is entry past the driver, and on a full car the driver simply does not stop.

Pickpockets

The 28 is the most-worked line in the city by pickpockets, who board with the crowd at Martim Moniz and work the crush at the Sé and Portas do Sol stops where people push to get off. Phones from back pockets and wallets from open bags are the standard losses. Front pocket, zipped bag in front of you, nothing in a jacket hung on your arm; the PSP tourist police at Palácio Foz on Praça dos Restauradores takes reports, and the safety page has the numbers.

Guides say the same, Carris says nothing on its page, and the police station is the one that exists.

Instead of queuing

Tram 12E runs a short clockwise loop from Praça da Figueira up through Alfama's Portas do Sol and Santa Luzia and back — the same cars, the best part of the same hill, a fraction of the queue. Tram 24E runs vintage cars from Cais do Sodré up through Príncipe Real with almost nobody on it. The Yellow Bus hop-on hop-off ticket runs its own hills tram on a similar loop for 72 or 96 hours with the buses and a boat thrown in; it is a tour product, and it is not the 28.

And the honest alternative: the tram 28 ride and walking tour meets at Praça Luís de Camões, rides the stretch worth riding and walks the rest with a guide, cancellable to 24 hours before.

Use it once, early, as transport: the 07:30 car from Martim Moniz to Portas do Sol puts you at the castle gate for 09:00 opening with the ride done and nobody on it. Then walk. Alfama, the Sé and the Baixa are all downhill from there, and the tram would only carry you past them.

Ride it a second time in the evening if you want the photographs: the light on Alfama after 19:00 is the light in every picture of the 28, and the cars are half empty. On a day with the Lisboa Card it costs nothing either way; on a day without, load a navegante card at the metro before the first ride and the whole day's trams and metro run under €8. The one-day itinerary starts with exactly this ride, and the getting around page has the rest of the network.