Tickets online for Belem and Monastery

Both are covered by the Lisboa card which you can buy while there. https://www.golisbon.com/Lisboa-Card/

According to Rick Steves Portugal (9th Edition) “The card is unnecessary if you’re a student or a senior, for whom most sights are free or half-price. Since I am a senior I did not plan on purchasing the card and I am in Lisbon for 5 days so I would be spreading out my visits to Belem, Sintra and just a few others from the list which means I would have to buy the 40 euros card. I don’t think it works for me.

My wife and I attempted to visit the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos last April 25 (Freedom Day in Portugal). The queue was quite long and moved very slowly, and it was very hot. Perhaps it was because it was a national holiday (free admission to Portuguese citizens). Just getting to Belem was a nightmare. Like many, we decided to take the 15E tram, it was a very bad choice (again, perhaps due to the national holiday, but I have to wonder). You might look into taking the train for the trip to Belem.

Take a taxi! We suffered a crammed hot long 45 minute ride on the tram, luckily we had a seat, & were shocked a taxi back to Rossio area only cost us €7 & took 15 minutes!!!
We used a 24 hr Lisboa card, under €20, which covered everything in Belem & train plus admission discount at Pena Palace in Sintra the following morning. As a side note, we did notice that the Belem attractions did not activate the Lisboa card when we were there in 2016. My husband’s card wasn’t activated on the tram due to crowds & was valid past the 24 hrs.

Thanks all for your replies - gotta love Rick’s push of the trolleys, but sometimes common sense, sanity and ease of travel outweighs other options. I am definitely thinking the taxi is a good idea - he does mention the taxi option in his book as have a few posters here, so I will try to grab a trolley ride in some other situation and take the easy fast option of taxi to Belem. I love travel forums. Here’s a plug for trip advisor and a FYI - a person on there was very helpful for my questions re: train vs. bus regarding travel in the interior of Portugal. People are just so darn helpful generally on here and when I travel - makes me feel good about humanity. Okay that’s enough emoting and wine tonight. :)

For seniors: I'm seeing that quite a few places in Europe offer special deals for seniors only for EU citizens. So what is the deal for seniors who are US citizens getting into Belem and Monastery of Jeronimos? Do we need to stand in line for tickets or is there a discount on the Lisbon card?

I have no idea if the discount is just for EU people over 60/65 - it doesn’t say that in RS’s Portugal book - also if you look at the replies up above the Lisboa card will help with ticket purchase. Maybe someone will give you more information about this, but these forum questions have a short life span so not sure you will get a reply. I do know that there is no online purchasing so lining up may be a possibility.