Getting around Lisbon and the coastairport, trains to Cascais and Sintra, buses to Ericeira

Short answer: you can do the whole Lisbon coast without a car. Metro from the airport, the Cascais train from Cais do Sodré, the Sintra train from Rossio, and Carris Metropolitana buses from Campo Grande to Ericeira. Staying a calendar month? One Navegante Metropolitano pass (€40) covers all of it; it runs from the first to the last day of the month and is loaded on a personalised Navegante card (€7, about 7 working days by post). Hire a car only if you want the wild beaches (Guincho, Adraga) or the surf breaks north of Ericeira.

Airport to the city

The red metro line starts at the airport and reaches the centre in about 20 minutes; a taxi to the centre is €10–15 including luggage, per the airport [lisbonairport.pt]. On the metro, a contactless bank card costs €1.92 a trip (one card per passenger) [metrolisboa.pt, 9 Oct 2026]; with a reusable Navegante card (€0.50) a single Carris/Metro ticket is €1.90 and a Zapping metro trip €1.72 [metrolisboa.pt, page modified 8 Sep 2026]. Going straight to the coast, with the Ericeira bus times and night arrivals: Lisbon airport to Cascais, Ericeira and Sintra. Who flies direct: flights to Lisbon.

Trains along the coast

Route	From	Time	Every	Zapping
Cascais line	Cais do Sodré	40 min to Cascais, 33 min on the rush-hour trains; 41 and 34 min from 8 Nov 2026	Weekdays 53 trains, 05:30–21:10, every 15–30 min; Saturdays 41 trains, 05:30–20:00; Sundays only 33 trains, 08:20–19:00, every 20 min. From 8 Nov 2026: 00:00–23:30 daily, 62 trains on weekdays, 52 at weekends	€2.05 per validation
Sintra line	Rossio	about 40 min to Sintra	20–40 min on weekdays; at weekends hourly in the daytime (at :01)	€2.05 per validation

Cascais and Sintra times recounted from CP’s own timetable data on 26 October 2026, per day and per direction [CP GTFS]. Cais do Sodré → Cascais: 53 departures on Tue 27 Oct, 41 on Sat 31 Oct, 33 on Sun 25 Oct; back from Cascais 54, 43 and 33. On Sundays there is currently no Cascais train before 08:20 and the last one leaves at 19:00 — plan a Sunday beach day around that. CP’s data switches to a new Cascais timetable on 8 November 2026, because of modernisation work at Oeiras station: trains that today turn back at Oeiras will turn at São Pedro do Estoril instead, which gives Carcavelos, Parede and the Estoril stops more all-stations trains at rush hour (07:00–10:00 and 17:00–20:30) [Observador, 16 and 23 Oct 2026]. In CP’s own data the line then runs 00:00 to 23:30 every day, 62 trains on weekdays and 52 at weekends, with the ride at 41 minutes (34 at rush hour) and night departures at 00:00, 00:30, 01:00 and 01:30 [CP GTFS]. Careful with those night trains: CP and Infraestruturas de Portugal say the overnight replacement buses on the Cascais–Caxias section stay in place, which the timetable data does not show, so check the night departures on the day. Neither company has given an end date; the whole Cascais-line modernisation runs to 2028 [Observador, 23 Oct 2026]. At weekends the :31 train from Rossio only goes as far as Mira Sintra-Meleças, so in the daytime there is one Rossio to Sintra train an hour; Sintra trains from Oriente, Entrecampos and Sete Rios add a second every 30 minutes. Zapping is stored value on the Navegante card: each validation deducts a flat €2.05 and lets you ride CP urban trains in any direction for 1 h 30 [cp.pt tickets page]; CP’s 2026 price table gives 2 h for Zapping, so check at the station [CP price table]. Single tickets are priced by zones, from €1.50 for one zone [CP price table, 1 Jan 2026]. CP also sells a tourist travel card (24 h €6.70, 72 h €14.40) and a 24-hour Carris/Metro/CP ticket (€11.40). [CP]

Buses to Ericeira

Carris Metropolitana runs five lines from Campo Grande (metro, yellow and green lines) to the Ericeira bus terminal [carrismetropolitana.pt]. Ride times from the operator’s timetable data for October 2026 [Carris Metropolitana GTFS, feed of 9 Oct 2026]:

• 2801 via the A21/A8: about 44 minutes, the only fast one. 23 runs on a sample Tuesday, but just 3 a day on the sample weekend.
• 2803 via Mafra: 56 to 59 minutes.
• 2740 via the A8: 68 to 71 minutes; on the sample Tuesday it also ran the last bus, at 00:25 after midnight.
• 2741 via Freixeira and 2751: 78 to 94 minutes, a few runs a day; the 2751 is the last bus at weekends (23:55 on Saturday, 23:40 on Sunday).

An example 2801 run leaves Ericeira at 06:20 and reaches Campo Grande at 07:04 [Transit app]. The Navegante Metropolitano monthly pass covers these buses. Check the timetable for your date on carrismetropolitana.pt.

Sintra: from the station to the palaces

Bus 434 runs from Sintra station up past the Castle of the Moors to Pena; private cars are not allowed at the monument, so park in town or at the peripheral car parks [parquesdesintra.pt]. The operator sells a 24-hour hop-on hop-off ticket for lines 434 and 435 at €13.50, 8% less online [sintra434.com, read 10 Oct 2026]; the CP Train & Bus day ticket (€14.00) covers the Sintra line plus both buses [CP 2026]. The operator gives departures about every 10 minutes from 8:50 to 18:40, with the last bus leaving Pena at 19:08 [sintra434.com, read 11 Oct 2026]; check at the station.

When a car helps

• Praia do Guincho: reachable by buses 405/415 from Cascais station or by bike path [cascais-portugal.com], but a car is simpler with gear.
• Sintra beaches (Adraga, Praia Grande): a winding road down from Almoçageme, and the Adraga car park can be full in summer [pt-Wikipedia].
• Surf breaks north of Ericeira (Ribeira d’Ilhas, São Lourenço) and day trips beyond the coast.

Inside Lisbon, parking and hills make a car more trouble than help. If you hire one, read driving in Portugal first: motorway tolls are electronic only, and central Lisbon has a low-emission zone. For the airport desks, toll devices and bridge tolls, see Lisbon airport car hire.

Related

• Where to stay on the Lisbon coast
• Cascais vs Ericeira
• Paying in Portugal
• Trains in Portugal: Alfa Pendular and Intercidades to Porto and the Algarve, fares and discounts
• Flights to Lisbon