I have an 8 pm flight out of Lisbon. I will be touring the city before the flight. Does afternoon rush hour go in the direction toward the airport? What time should I leave the city center? Am I better off taking a pre-arranged cab or the metro? Thanks in advance!
One more question - for a different trip to Lisbon - If my flight arrives at 4:55 p.m. and I have no baggage, is it possible to be in the city center by 6:30 p.m? Is a pre-arranged cab or metro faster at that time?
Rush hour traffic is all over. What time do you need to be at the airport? If you need to be at the airport at 5 pm (recommended for a non-Schengen flight and with luggage), you might miss the traffic. It's about 1/2 hour by car from the center. The metro is fast and easy, IF you're hotel is near the line that goes to the airport. Note that you may have to go down a flight or two of stairs to the train platform and if you have to transfer, you may have to go up and down a flight at the transfer station. I left at 6 pm (in rush hour) and my hotel (not convenient to the metro) suggested that I should leave at 6. They said the private driver they could arrange would be about the same price as a taxi (unless the taxi hit traffic and the meter started spinning). In the end the driver used Waze and we missed nearly all the traffic and I got to the airport in 1/2 an hour.
The metro is likely faster. And, if you change at Alameda, there are escalators and elevators so no need to climb stairs. A couple of the elevators aren’t really obvious so you might have to search a bit. Not certain about changing at other stations but the metro map is pretty good at indicating if it’s handicapped accessible or not.
That said, during rush hours the metro will be very crowded, too.
