Lisbon airport car hirethe desks, toll devices, bridge tolls, the ZER and parking (2026)

Checked on 10 October 2026. Hire rates change daily, so this page gives none. It covers what decides the real cost in Portugal: the desk, the deposit and cover, the toll device fee and where tolls apply around Lisbon. Check your own booking’s terms before you pay.

Lisbon airport has six car hire companies in the terminal, all before security [1]. The Portuguese twist: every hire car must carry an electronic toll device, so you never have to deal with Portugal’s gantry-only motorways yourself, but each company charges for the device on top of the tolls [4][5]. The other questions are the usual ones: the deposit and which card it needs, full-to-full fuel, and whether you need the car at all. For Lisbon itself, the metro, trams and trains do most of the work [14].

The desks at Lisbon airport

Company [1]	Desk hours [1]
Avis and Budget	06:00 to 24:00
Europcar	06:00 to 24:00
Goldcar	06:00 to 24:00
Guerin	06:00 to 01:00
Hertz (also Dollar, Thrifty, Firefly)	06:00 to 24:00
Sixt	06:00 to 24:00 (Terminal 1)

All are before security [1]. Guerin’s own station page gives 06:00 to 24:00 rather than the airport’s 01:00, so on a late landing confirm the hours in your booking [15]. Firms not on this list usually meet you with a shuttle to an office outside the airport. That can be cheaper, but with children and luggage the extra transfer counts; the voucher says “in terminal” or “shuttle”. If you land after midnight, check how your company handles late pick-ups before you book.

Deposit, cover and fuel

• Excess and deposit. Basic cover leaves an excess that can run into hundreds or thousands [3]. Either buy the company’s full cover at the desk, which removes the excess and often shrinks the deposit, or buy standalone excess insurance before you travel (MoneySavingExpert: from as little as £2 a day) and leave the full deposit blocked on your card [3].
• Credit or debit card. Rules differ by company. Guerin, one of the six in the terminal, says a physical credit card is always needed for the deposit [2]. Some firms accept debit cards only with their full cover. Check the terms of your booking, not the comparison site’s summary. Card fees and currency choice at the desk: paying in Portugal.
• Fuel. Choose full-to-full: you pay only for the fuel you use. With full-to-empty you pay for a whole tank up front [3]. Recheck the fuel policy on the final booking page [3].
• At pick-up photograph the car all round and get every scratch on the form [3].

Tolls: the device, the bridges and the gantries

The device is compulsory; check the billing terms. Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022 requires every car rented without a driver in Portugal to carry an electronic toll device [4][16]. Hertz Portugal says the rule has applied since 8 January 2023 and charges €2.21 a day, up to €22.14 per rental, plus the tolls you use; if no toll passages are recorded, it refunds the device fee 10 days after the contract closes [5]. The company bills the tolls used plus any administrative costs for the toll service; articles 27 and 43 leave those costs to a ministerial order and link them to use of the service. Check the rental terms for the charges quoted by your company. [16] In practice this means you can drive any motorway, including the gantry-only ones, without registering anything: the company bills you afterwards.

Bridge tolls into Lisbon only. Both Tagus bridges charge in one direction. The 25 de Abril toll plaza is in Almada, for traffic heading to Lisbon; the Vasco da Gama plaza is in Montijo, also towards Lisbon [7][8]. Leaving Lisbon to the south is free. The plazas take cash, bank cards and Via Verde [7][8]; in a hire car the device pays. We do not quote amounts.

Electronic-only gantries. Several Portuguese motorways have no booths, only gantries that read your plate [6]. That matters only if you drive your own foreign car: then set up EasyToll or a TollCard before you drive on them (€0.32 admin per trip), neither of which works on the two Lusoponte bridges [6]. Full detail, the motorways that went toll-free in 2025, and what to do if you drove through without paying: driving in Portugal.

Lisbon’s low-emission zone (ZER)

Lisbon’s reduced emission zone applies on working days from 07:00 to 21:00 [9]:

• Zone 1 (Avenida da Liberdade and the Baixa): only cars meeting Euro 3, in general built from January 2000 [9].
• Zone 2 (south of Avenida de Ceuta, the Eixo Norte-Sul, Avenida das Forças Armadas, Avenida EUA, Avenida Marechal António Spínola and Avenida Infante Dom Henrique): Euro 2, in general from January 1996 [9].

The council calls this third phase the one currently in force [9]. A hire car meets it easily. What the zone does not change: the Baixa, Alfama and Bairro Alto are steep, narrow and short of parking.

Parking in Lisbon

Street parking is run by EMEL, and the simplest way to pay is its ePark app, which charges per minute after a 15-minute minimum [10]. Rates differ by zone, so check the sign and the app for the current price rather than old price lists. For a stay of a week or more, ask your accommodation about a garage space before you book it; a hire car in central Lisbon mostly sits still.

Child seats and licences

• Child seats. Under Article 55 of the Código da Estrada, children under 12 and shorter than 135 cm must use an approved child seat, normally in the back; a child under 3 may sit in front only in a rear-facing seat with the airbag off. The fine is €120 to €600 per child [11][17]. Book seats with the car and check the type, or bring your own.
• EU licences are valid as they are. UK drivers can drive in Portugal on a photocard licence for up to 185 days without an international driving permit; GOV.UK adds that you should check whether the hire company asks for one [12].
• US drivers. The State Department says a US licence is valid in Portugal for up to six months and points to AAA for an IDP [13]. Hire companies can be stricter: ask before you book.

Do you need a car at all?

For Lisbon, mostly not. The red metro line runs from the airport to the centre in about 20 minutes [14], trains run to Cascais from Cais do Sodré and to Sintra from Rossio, and buses go to Ericeira. Private cars cannot drive up to Pena Palace in Sintra. A car does help for Guincho, the Sintra beaches, the surf coast north of Ericeira and the Arrábida coast south of the river. Line by line, with fares: getting around Lisbon and the coast. Day trips with and without a car: day trips from Lisbon; with children: Lisbon with kids.

A common pattern for a longer stay is no car in the city and a car for a few days on the coast. The deposit stays blocked for the whole hire, so shorter hires also free up your card.

Planning a loop through the country by car: Portugal road trip.

Sources

Numbered references match the source list on this page. Read on 10 October 2026 unless stated.

1. Lisbon Airport: Car rental
2. Guerin: Alugar carro sem cartão de crédito, read 9 October 2026
3. MoneySavingExpert: How to book cheap car hire
4. Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, art. 27.º
5. Hertz Portugal: Via Verde obrigatória para alugar um carro
6. Portugal Tolls
7. Lusoponte: Ponte 25 de Abril
8. Lusoponte: Ponte Vasco da Gama
9. Lisbon City Council: Private vehicle, ZER
10. EMEL: ePark
11. Código da Estrada, art. 55.º, read 9 October 2026
12. GOV.UK: International driving permit
13. U.S. Department of State: Portugal, read 9 October 2026
14. Lisbon Airport: Public transportation, read 9 October 2026
15. Guerin: Aeroporto de Lisboa
16. Diário da República: Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, art. 27.º, read 11 October 2026
17. Diário da República: Código da Estrada, art. 55.º (consolidated), read 11 October 2026