Car Hire Lisbon

Lisbon is an exciting and beautiful city to explore, with a number of main streets that make the city easy to navigate, some picturesque riverside drives opening out on to the Atlantic coast, and winding cobbled-streets snaking through atmospheric neighbourhoods.

There are a couple of key rules to bear in mind. As you’re in mainland Europe, you’ll have to drive on the right-hand side of the road, with all overtaking on the left. While this is a car-friendly city, you may want to be avoid the old town where possible – streets are narrow, parking scant and cable cars hurtle up and down. Park up close by and explore the Bairro Alto on foot.

Inside the city, the limit is usually 50km/h (31mph), and there’s a national speed limit of 90km/h (55mph) on standard roads. If using the motorway – or autoestrada – the top speed is 120km/h (74mph), but be aware that these roads – often the quickest way between cities – are toll roads. If you’re planning to use them –perhaps if you’re going to Porto or the Algarve – our local staff can advise you on how best to pay for them.

To enjoy the coastal drive, take Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, with the city on one side and first the River Tagus and then the Atlantic on the other. Go west of the city on the IP7 or drive across the stunning Ponte Vasco da Gama on the A12 in the city’s east. This is the longest bridge in Europe, and a must-drive if you’re here. Note that it’s toll-free southbound, but a toll applies when driving north. Another beautiful bridge, the Ponte 25 de Abril, takes you across the Tagus on the A2 to Setubal.

With UNESCO highlights, the ebb and flow of the hills and traditional fado music leaking out of the barrio, it doesn’t take long to fall in love with Lisbon, or to understand its attraction for visitors from around the world. It’s become a big hit with the city break crowd, but dip your toes into Lisbon and you’ll soon discover there’s way more than enough to keep you here for a week and longer. It’s one of Europe’s great capitals.

Embrace the old world

Traditions die hard in Lisbon, as in the rest of Portugal, which is why old buildings are so wonderfully preserved. None more so than Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the city’s great monastery in the Belém area. This World Heritage site opened at the close of the 15^th century, a grand Gothic edifice that once housed monks, before it turned into a school and orphanage. There are tombs of the great and good here, including Vasco da Gama, the famed explorer.

Nearby is the Belém Tower, another UNESCO site, built in 1515 to defend the city. You can climb the narrow stairs of the fortress for sensational views of the city, while there’s history around corner.

The night starts here

Two great neighbourhoods, which sit next to each other, come alive at night. Chiado is a delight to wander around, with its grand, dusty buildings, azulejo tiles and Bertrand bookshop, the oldest in the world and a place of pilgrimage for bibliophiles.

Bairro Alto is a warren of streets that buzz after dark – and are sleepy by day. Leave the car back at your hotel and get here on the Gloria funicular railway (the city of hills has two others), plying its trade since 1885. There are shopping streets, old convents, restaurants and museums, but the area is best known for the unparalleled nightlife. Modern clubs mingle with rough and ready bars that sailors have been spilling out of for generations. You’ll hear the local, traditional and melancholic fado, you’ll hear rock, you’ll hear modern music – just join in the dance.

Plazas and palaces

The maritime history of Lisbon made it a rich place, one where squares were built on a grand scale. Take a guided tour of the Castelo de São Jorge, an 11^th-century fort that has been held by Christians, Moors and Visigoths – there are traces of the old 11^th-century Moorish settlement here.

Head inside Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira – the Fronteira Palace – a 17^th-century hunting pavilion that mixes Portuguese style with Renaissance touches and remains a royal building, where the Marquesses still live. There are beautiful landscaped gardens, ponds and, stepping inside, a fountain and elaborate decoration, paintings and antiques.

With many other sublime sights to see in this city, Lisbon car hire is the perfect way to cram them all in.