Public transport passes in Portugal: €20, €30 and €40 a month
A monthly pass here costs from €12 to €40, and which one to get depends not on the city but on where you travel every day. There are essentially three kinds of pass. The municipal pass covers a single municipality: in the Lisbon metropolitan area it costs €30, in Porto also €30, and in Braga the city buses cost €12. The inter-municipal pass covers the whole metropolitan area, with all its buses, metro, trams, suburban trains and ferries: €40 in both Lisbon and Porto. And separately there is the Passe Ferroviário Verde rail pass for €20 a month — it covers CP trains only, but across the whole country. None of them can be bought on its own: first you get a personal card that the pass is loaded onto, and each system has its own — Navegante in Lisbon, Andante in Porto, Cartão CP on the railway. Children and young people up to 23 travel free across the country, over-65s pay half price, people on a low income get 25% or 50% off, and since July 2026 residents of the city of Porto itself have travelled free across the whole metropolitan area. Below, in order: where to start; the kinds of pass; what the €20 pass does and doesn't give you and how to book seats with it; how to buy it from home; Lisbon; Porto; free travel for Porto residents; the rest of the country; children and young people; discounts by age and income; from what date a pass is valid and when to renew it; why you must validate every time; and a sober calculation — pass, single journeys or car.
Card first, then the pass
The first thing to understand: a pass here is not a piece of paper or an app, but a record on a personal plastic card. Until you have the card, there is nothing to buy.
There are three cards, and they don't replace one another:
— Navegante — Lisbon and its whole metropolitan area, 18 municipalities: metro, buses, trams, suburban trains, ferries; — Andante — Porto and its metropolitan area, 17 municipalities: metro, buses, tram, urban trains; — Cartão CP — the railway card. CP's own passes are loaded onto it, including the €20 one.
One system's tickets can't be loaded onto another's card: you can't put a monthly metro pass on a Cartão CP, or CP's nationwide pass on a Navegante. If you live in Lisbon or Porto and travel by train plus bus or metro, you'll most likely end up with two cards in your wallet.
Cards are either personal or anonymous. A personal card is made with your photo and details, and only a personal card can hold monthly passes and discounts. A machine issues an anonymous card on the spot, but it's only good for single journeys and pay-as-you-go credit.
What you need for a personal card: an ID document, a NIF, an address in Portugal and a photo. At the office they often just scan the photo from your phone screen. A foreigner without a Portuguese NIF won't be issued a card at all — CP says so plainly.
What it costs and how long it takes: Navegante — €7 in ten working days and €12 urgently, the same day or the next (home delivery costs the same, plus €2 postage); Andante — €6, printed while you wait in an Andante shop; Cartão CP — €6 plastic, 50 cents purely digital in the app, plastic in up to ten working days. The youth profile is cheaper: Cartão CP €3, Navegante €3.50 in ten days and €6 urgently.
“There are personal passes, they take a few days to make. But you can order them on the website, you don't have to go to the metro in person. And the anonymous ones the machine gives you straight away.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa07.08.2026
“So it turns out we'd booked at exactly the Loja de cidadão Saldanha, which has a Carris desk. Sharing my experience: you don't need to book in advance, because there isn't really a queue. You need to bring the child's ID and the ID of whoever's applying. They also asked me for a photo, but I think they'd have done it without one, it's just that the new pass now has a new photo. €6, they print it really fast. They issued it valid until 2030 (the lost pass ran out in 2026).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal11.11.2025
The kinds of pass and how they differ
There's no national price list: prices are set by each metropolitan area or inter-municipal community. But passes work the same way everywhere.
Municipal — travel within a single municipality, on any transport and with any operator. In the Lisbon metropolitan area it costs €30, and you choose a specific municipality: navegante Lisboa, navegante Sintra, navegante Almada. In the Porto metropolitan area it's also €30.
Inter-municipal (in Lisbon and Porto it's called metropolitan) — the whole metropolitan area. €40 in both. With it you can live in Sintra and work in Lisbon, or live in Gaia and work in Matosinhos, and pay nothing extra.
Passe Ferroviário Verde rail pass — €20 a month, CP trains only, but across the whole country. More on it in the next step.
Pay-as-you-go credit (zapping) — not a pass: you put money on the card, and the fare for each journey is deducted. Good if you travel now and then.
There are also family passes: a family pays no more than for two passes, however many people are in it. In Lisbon that's €60 for the municipal and €80 for the metropolitan, in Porto exactly the same, except that the family must have at least three people and one tax address.
Why it's so cheap. Prices are held down by the state programme PART — money that since 2019 has been paid to operators so that passes don't go up. Before it, 87% of monthly passes in the Lisbon metropolitan area cost more than €40; since then the price hasn't gone up once.
“Depends what you mean by neighbouring towns. In the so-called Greater Lisbon area there are navegante passes, you can buy them from a machine at any metro, suburban train or ferry station. You can top up there too. And if you need to go further, then as people already suggested above, FlixBus and Rede Express, they've got apps in the stores, you buy tickets there to a specific town.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa07.08.2026
“For public transport — only in your own town, every town has its own passes. On trains there are discounts for children and students, but it's not free”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal04.04.2025
The €20 pass: what's included and what isn't
Passe Ferroviário Verde is a monthly pass for the trains of the state railway, CP. €20 for 30 days, €40 for 60 days, €60 for 90. It's for Portuguese citizens and for foreigners living in Portugal; you can buy it on any day of the month, not just from the 1st.
What's included: Intercidades trains (second class only and only with a seat booking), regional and interregional trains, Coimbra urban trains, and of the Lisbon and Porto urban trains only the sections not covered by the city passes: Carregado — Azambuja near Lisbon, Vila das Aves — Guimarães, Paredes — Marco de Canaveses, Paramos — Aveiro and Lousado — Braga near Porto.
What isn't: Alfa Pendular — the high-speed train isn't included at all. First class isn't included. And, most importantly for anyone living in Lisbon or Porto, urban trains where Navegante and Andante apply aren't included: you can't use it to get from Sintra to Lisbon or from Gaia to Porto. Metro, buses, trams and ferries are never included — it's a train-only pass.
So the €20 pass isn't good value for everyone. It's for people who travel by train between cities: to work from Coimbra to Aveiro, to family from Porto to Lisbon, around the country at weekends. For the daily journey within a metropolitan area it's usually useless.
On 17 September 2026 the Council of Ministers decided to change this: the pass is promised to include the Lisbon and Porto suburban trains and the Fertagus line across the 25 de Abril Bridge, at the same price of €20. The decision is explained in the article The €20 rail pass is being extended to Lisbon and Porto suburban trains and to Fertagus. The government announcement doesn't say when this will take effect, and as of today the CP page still says that urban trains in the Navegante and Andante zones aren't included in the pass. For now, go by what CP says.
“Passe Verde cp.pt/info/en/w/green-rail-pass You need to get the CP card itself (in Lisbon that's at least a day's wait) and the pass itself is €20 a month. Doesn't work where Navegante and Andante work, doesn't work on AP. On IC you need to get a free ticket 24 hours or less before departure. Other trains you just get on and go.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa03.01.2026
“Have a look at Passe Verde Ferroviario. €20 a month, valid on all trains in Portugal except Alfa Pendular”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal14.09.2026
Book your Intercidades seat in advance — or you're travelling without a ticket
This is the one rule of the €20 pass that gets people fined.
You board regional, interregional and urban trains just like that: tap your card on the validator and off you go. But on Intercidades you have to book a seat in advance, and the booking is compulsory. Without it you count as a passenger without a ticket, and you get a fine.
How it works:
— the booking is free, but it's made within the 24 hours before departure — counting from when the train leaves its starting station, not yours; — you can book at the online ticket office, in the CP app, at the station ticket office and at the new machines at stations in the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the app it goes like this: choose the train, second class, enter the pass in the discount field — and the amount to pay comes to zero; — the booking must be for exactly the journey you're going to make; — two bookings a day, no more; — a booking can be cancelled no later than 15 minutes before the train leaves its starting station. A cancelled booking doesn't count towards the two a day.
Hence the pass's main drawback for long journeys: there may simply be no seats. 24 hours before departure the popular Lisbon — Porto train is sometimes already full, and planning an important trip around it is risky. The people who use the pass to get to work for a set time are those for whom a regional train, which needs no booking, is enough.
One more thing: the pass can't be exchanged or refunded. You only get your money back if the train is cancelled through CP's own fault.
“You can book a ticket 24 hours before the train leaves. You just click buy ticket, choose the train and then there'll be a section like DISCOUNT and there you pick green travel pass, if you put it in Russian, and enter its number. In the end it'll say €0 to pay. Then choose a seat and that's it.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto18.12.2024
“with it you can only buy tickets a day before, and there might not be any tickets for the exact time you need In that situation relying on the green pass is a stupid risk”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto27.10.2025
How to buy and renew the €20 pass without leaving home
The cheapest and quickest way is the digital CP card. It costs 50 cents, lives in the CP app and on the website, and it's all you need for the Passe Ferroviário Verde: it can't hold any other tickets anyway.
Here's how:
1. Apply for the card. You do this on the CP website using Chave Móvel Digital — the state digital signature — or at any station ticket office. At the ticket office you show an ID document for the digital version. 2. Choose exactly what you need: the digital card alone for 50 cents, or plastic plus digital for €6. The plastic card takes up to ten working days and is handed over at the station you choose or sent by post (plus €2.50). 3. Buy the pass: in the CP app or on cp.pt, under myCP → “Carteira > Cartões de mobilidade” → “Adquirir título”, choose the period — 30, 60 or 90 days — and pay. 4. Renew it in the same place. The 90-day pass for €60 saves you doing this every month.
If you already have a plastic CP card, its digital version will appear in the app by itself — but only if the email you gave when getting the card matches the email of your myCP account. Other passes loaded onto the plastic card will only be visible in the digital version; you can't travel with them on it.
Who it doesn't suit: anyone who doesn't have Chave Móvel Digital and isn't prepared to go to a ticket office. Then it's the station — and there they'll tell you which ticket office to collect the card from later, because cards aren't always handed out at the same one that takes the application.
“At any ticket office you can hand in the application for a pass, but where to collect it they'll tell you which ticket office, because it's a separate one. Better check straight away where you'll pick it up later, otherwise I stood in a whole queue and had to go to another ticket office.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatsetubal31.03.2023
“Registration there is by email. But you can't buy the pass there without CMD. At the ticket office at the station they'll sell it to you with a residence permit, you pay €6 for the card, it'll have your photo and you can load passes onto it”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal04.05.2026
Lisbon and its metropolitan area: Navegante
navegante municipal — €30. Travel within one of the area's 18 municipalities, on any transport and with any operator. When you buy it, you choose your municipality.
navegante metropolitano — €40. The whole metropolitan area: from Setúbal to Mafra, from Alcochete to Odivelas, with all operators at once.
navegante +65 — €20. Half the price of the metropolitan pass for anyone aged 65 or over. Pensioners can get it before 65 too, if household income is no higher than the minimum wage.
Family — €60 and €80. A family pays no more than for two passes, however many people are in it; you need proof of residence in the metropolitan area.
Pay-as-you-go credit (zapping) — for people who travel rarely. You top it up in amounts from €3 to €40, and it works with almost every operator: Carris, Carris Metropolitana, CP, Fertagus, the metro, Metro Sul do Tejo, Transtejo and Soflusa ferries, Barreiro buses. Each has its own fare: metro and Carris city bus — €1.72 (on Carris that's an hour across the whole network, changes included), CP urban train — €2.05 for two hours, Metro Sul do Tejo — 85 cents. With Fertagus you must select your destination station on the machine before travelling, otherwise the journey won't count.
Where to do all this: in the navegante app, at Carris Metropolitana offices, at self-service points, at operators' ticket offices, at CP, metro, Metro Sul do Tejo, Transtejo and Fertagus machines, at Multibanco cash machines and at Payshop agents. Next month's pass goes on sale from the 26th — the best way to avoid queuing on the 1st.
“In Lisbon it's the Navegante card, you can buy it in the metro, from a machine. It costs, I think, 50 or 70 cents (you buy one for each passenger separately). Since you'll be there 5 days, as the payment option you pick not a day pass but Zapping (a top-up wallet). Don't put too much on it, because leftover money isn't refunded. The card works on Lisbon public transport and suburban routes (look it up online for details). With it you can get to Sintra on the suburban trains (fare is 2-something euros). But there it's a separate public transport network.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat01.07.2025
“The navegante office has moved within the Cais de Sodré ferry terminal building - it's now at the very end of the building.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa12.05.2025
Porto and its metropolitan area: Andante and its zones
In Porto prices are the same as in Lisbon, but the system is different: here it's all about zones.
Andante 3Z / Municipal — €30. A set of up to three zones or your whole municipality.
Andante Metropolitano — €40. The whole Porto metropolitan area, 17 municipalities.
There are also versions marked IR — €40 and €50: they add the intercity buses of operators that have joined Andante, and interregional trains.
Family — as in Lisbon: €60 for 3Z/Municipal and €80 for Metropolitano for the whole family. The conditions are stricter: at least three people, one tax address in one of the 17 municipalities, everyone has a silver Andante card, and everyone buys the same pass. The profile is granted for 12 months, then confirmed again.
There are two cards. The blue one is for single journeys, the silver personal one for monthly passes. It costs about €6 and is printed while you wait in an Andante shop: you need an ID document, an address and a photo, which they often just scan from your phone screen.
On zones — the main warning. A single journey is counted in rings of zones from the one where you got on: Z2 — your zone and the next one, Z3 — one ring further, and so on up to Z9. The 3Z monthly pass is also tied to the zones you chose. Get the zone wrong and it's a fine, and working out from the station which zone you're in isn't always easy. If you always travel the same route, check the zones once with the journey planner on the metro website and stop worrying about it; if your route is different every day, the €40 metropolitan pass is safer than the €30 three-zone one.
“I bought an Andante card — the one with a photo, so I could buy the €30 monthly pass. At Casa da Música I just turned up with my passport, the guy wrote down my name, asked for the address where I'm living now so he could enter the postcode, asked me to open any selfie on my phone, scanned it and gave me everything. I don't think he even asked about temporary protection. The card six euros plus thirty euros for this monthly pass.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto20.09.2025
“In Lisbon it's all simpler, I think. Zipping or something like that. Throw money on it and ride. But in Porto they've made a whole science out of it”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat01.09.2025
Transport is free for Porto residents — but only for residents
Since July 2026 the city of Porto has had its own scheme: Passe Metropolitano Gratuito. It lives on the municipal Cartão Porto. card and gives free travel across the whole metropolitan area. By 11 September 2026 more than 100,000 people had got the card.
Who's entitled: people whose tax address is in the municipality of Porto, and students at the city's educational institutions who live in Porto, even if their tax address is elsewhere. The students need a certificate of enrolment and one of two documents in their own name — a receipt for rent on a home in Porto or a water, electricity or gas bill.
Who isn't: people who work or study in Porto but live in a neighbouring municipality. The pass is tied to where you live, not where you work. You can live in Porto and work in Matosinhos, though: the pass is valid across the whole metropolitan area.
What's included: the metro, STCP and Unir buses, CP urban trains, the tram, the Guindais funicular and the Lada lift, the Porto — Gaia river crossing. There are no limits on the number of journeys or the time of day.
How to activate it. The card itself is free; you apply for it on the Cartão Porto. website or in person — at the Gabinete do Munícipe, the municipal library, swimming pools, the Rivoli theatre and a few other places. Then check whether the card has a chip: if it does, go to a Payshop agent or an Andante shop and swap single journeys for the free pass; if not, activate it on the website.
Two conditions people forget. First: when the card arrives by post, you must confirm receipt via the link in the SMS. If you don't, the pass may be switched off after 30 days. Second: the pass is issued for a year, and after a year you'll have to prove again that you still live in Porto. You don't need to load it every month.
People aged 4 to 23 are entitled to the Passe Jovem instead of this pass — it's also free and also lives on the Cartão Porto.
“If you already have a Porto Card and only travel occasionally, you can go to an Andante shop or a Payshop agent and ask to upgrade to the free Metropolitan Pass;”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto10.07.2026
“All you need is your international passport and an address in Porto, and also, I think, any phone number. Travel on Andante is free for everyone up to and including 23, you don't have to be a student any more. You don't need temporary protection either. The card costs €6, I think for everyone, even under 23.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto13.03.2026
The rest of the country: get your pass from the local operator
Outside the two metropolitan areas there's no common system: you buy a pass from the city operator or the inter-municipal community, and prices there are their own.
An example of why it's worth checking rather than taking anyone's word for it: in Braga a monthly pass for the TUB city buses costs €12 for one ring and €24 for two — two to three times cheaper than Lisbon's €30. Young residents and students there get 25% off (€9 and €18), pensioners pay €3 and €6, and schoolchildren and students with the free youth pass pay nothing.
What to do in a new place:
1. Find out who runs public transport in your town. It's either a municipal company (TUB in Braga, SMTUC in Coimbra) or the inter-municipal community's network. 2. Look on its website for the monthly pass and concession fares — they're almost always on one page, “Tarifário”. 3. Ask at the town hall. In small towns the card is issued right at the town hall's citizen service centre, not at the operator's office.
And check whether your town is part of a bigger city's metropolitan area. The boundary of a metropolitan area isn't where the city ends: Santo Tirso, for example, is in the Porto metropolitan area, and the ordinary Andante works there.
If you need to travel by train between towns rather than within one, CP has monthly season tickets for a specific line — they go on sale from the 21st of the previous month, and anyone aged 25 or under gets 25% off.
“Andante is the public transport pass for the Porto metropolitan area, which includes Santo Tirso; you can use it on buses, trams, the metro and trains. In Santo Tirso the pass can be bought and topped up at the citizen service centre in the town hall. The Andante Z3 pass is valid within the municipality of Santo Tirso and up to three neighbouring zones.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto20.11.2025
Children and young people up to 23 travel free
This is the biggest thing the state gives you on transport, and it's the thing people most often don't know about.
Who. Everyone aged 4 to 23 inclusive — until the last day of the month in which they turn 24. You don't have to be a student, and up to 23 no certificate from school is needed. Students on integrated programmes — architecture, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine — have free travel extended to 25, and they do need a certificate of enrolment.
What you get. On the railway — Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra urban trains, and regional and interregional trains. In the Lisbon metropolitan area young people under 24 get a 100% discount on navegante metropolitano, which means all transport in all 18 municipalities for free. In the Porto metropolitan area Andante gives the same.
Where to apply. For Lisbon urban trains — the Navegante card, for Porto — Andante or Cartão CP, for Coimbra and regional trains — Cartão CP. You still have to buy the card itself: €3 for Cartão CP, €3.50–€6 for Navegante. You can apply at the operator's office, at a Loja de Cidadão and in the app.
Where's the catch. You get only one free pass: you can't have free travel on both Navegante and Cartão CP at once. And the geography is limited: one metropolitan area, or one inter-municipal community, or a metropolitan area with a neighbouring community, or two neighbouring communities — and in the last two cases you have to prove that you live in one region and study or work in the neighbouring one; the card is then issued only at a CP ticket office. So “free from Coimbra to Lisbon” won't work: they aren't neighbouring communities.
The free pass still has to be validated on every journey — a price of zero doesn't mean you can skip tapping the card.
School transport is separate: if the school is far away, the council itself sometimes pays for the child's pass. That's a different matter and a different form — ask at the school and at the town hall.
“Our experience of getting free navegante® escola passes for the kids: We went to the Loja de Cidadão do Saldanha, it's in the Mercado 31 de Janeiro building on the first floor. Among other organisations there's a Carris office there. The guy at the desk spoke English. He pulled up the NIF, checked the address, scanned the photo, took payment (by card), handed over the finished pass. The school certificate, form 4_18, wasn't needed. The whole thing took about 15 minutes for three kids. 💡The secret of success is preparing your documents properly. Don't know how - ask me.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal30.09.2025
“Same situation for us, I got a free bus pass on the website of the local bus company. I wrote a report about it, search for ‘passe Mare’. Go to the school as well, they can send a request on their own behalf: I said it's very far for the child to walk, more than 3 km, and we have no money for fares. On the 4th attempt they even put in a request for a metro pass.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal14.11.2023
Over 65, on a low income or with a disability
Three different discounts that people lump together when they talk about them.
navegante +65 — €20 instead of €40. Half the price of the metropolitan pass for everyone aged 65 and over. You can apply 30 days before your birthday and load it from the month you turn 65. Pensioners can get it before 65 too, if household income is no higher than the minimum wage. And if your tax address is in the city of Lisbon itself and you're 65, the city's “third age” pass is free.
Circula PT — 25% or 50% off. This is a nationwide discount that replaced the former Passe Social +. Tier A, 50% off: recipients of the social supplement for older people, recipients of RSI, and people with a disability of 60% or more — temporary or permanent. Tier B, 25% off: pensions and unemployment benefit up to 1.2 IAS, long-term unemployment, households with income per person up to 1.2 IAS. In 2026 the IAS is €537.13, so 1.2 IAS is €644.56.
What they ask for: an ID document, a copy of your latest income tax return with the tax assessment, and for a disability — the AMIM medical certificate (then the tax return isn't needed). Families and the unemployed need certificates from Social Security issued no more than 15 days before applying.
Two catches that leave people cross with the ticket office. First: the Circula PT discount doesn't apply to the Passe Ferroviário Verde at all — €20 is €20. Second: if you already have a CP card, you'll be asked to get a new card for the discount.
Cartão Dourado — 50% off train tickets. This isn't a pass but a discount on single tickets across the whole CP network, Intercidades included. It's given to pensioners of any age if monthly household income is no higher than the minimum wage. It's loaded onto the Cartão CP. It suits people who take the train several times a month: for them a monthly pass doesn't pay for itself.
“Best to go to the loja andante and ask there. But yes, pensioners usually need a residence permit to get a concession pass. And show their income bracket”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal18.01.2023
From what date a pass is valid and when to renew it
There are two different logics here, and mixing them up costs money.
City pass — a calendar month. From the first to the last day of the month it was bought for. Buy it on the 20th and it still ends on the last day of the month, and half the money is wasted. If you start travelling mid-month, it's cheaper to get by on pay-as-you-go credit until the 1st.
The €20 rail pass — 30, 60 or 90 days from the date you choose. You can buy it on any day, and the date in the month doesn't matter.
CP line season ticket — also a calendar month, but it goes on sale from the 21st of the previous month.
When to renew. In Lisbon next month's pass goes on sale from the 26th — that's when to buy it, so you don't have to queue on the 1st. You renew it at a station machine (insert the card, and towards the end of the month a button for the next month appears), in the app, at a Multibanco cash machine, at a Payshop agent and at the ticket office.
Free passes don't need renewing every month: free youth travel in Lisbon is loaded once and for a long time, and the free Porto resident's pass is issued for a year. But if your pass really is free and the machine asks for money when you renew — that's not your concession being cancelled, it's a known machine fault: go to the operator's office, they'll sort it.
And about the card itself: a personal Navegante is valid until the month and year printed on it — usually five years from issue — and doesn't expire just because you haven't used it for a while.
“At any metro station at the terminal. You insert the pass, and there at the end of the month (I don't remember exactly how many days before) a button ‘top up next month’ appears.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto31.05.2024
“Got a dose of Portuguese zen today. In January we switched my son's school pass to a free one, today he tried to renew it — no chance, the machine in the metro wanted money. I went to the Loja da cidadão, all set to stand up for my rights the Russian way. The nice young man at the Carris desk explained with a smile that yes, I'm not the first one like this in the last couple of days, it really does look like some machines don't recognise free passes. When I asked where the machines do work, he shrugged and said that if all else fails I can always come to them and they'll do everything. That's Portugal for you.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal31.01.2024
Validate every journey — even a free one
A pass in your pocket proves nothing. You tap the card on the validator at the start of every journey and at every change — to another line, to another kind of transport, when changing direction. In Porto this is written in black and white: validate no earlier than 10 minutes before boarding and always when changing line or kind of transport.
This applies to free passes too. For free youth travel in Lisbon the website says exactly that: loading is free, but validating on every journey is compulsory. The same goes for the free Porto resident's pass.
What happens if you don't validate: you're treated as a passenger without a ticket and given a fine. The same happens if you've travelled outside your Andante zone or boarded an Intercidades on the pass without a booking.
What to do about a fine. The ticket gives an address where you can send an explanation. People do write, and sometimes the fine is dropped or halved if you pay quickly. But that's the operator being kind, not a rule: you can't count on it, and the fine itself is a good deal more than a monthly pass.
Two more small things people get caught out on. Keep the top-up receipt until the pass runs out — both CP and Andante explicitly require this. And on Porto urban trains with the €20 pass you show the inspector proof of purchase.
“Well, the card confirms your right to free travel and has to be validated on every journey”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto10.07.2026
“Didn't notice I'd already gone out of my zone on the Cartão Porto — I was literally on my way to activate the free pass — and they gave me a €60 fine. I wrote an appeal to the metro.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto30.07.2026
Do the maths before you buy
A pass doesn't always pay for itself — it's worth working it out on paper before you go to the ticket office.
Pass or single journeys. In Lisbon a journey on pay-as-you-go credit costs €1.72. The €30 municipal pass pays for itself at around the eighteenth journey in a month, the €40 metropolitan one at the twenty-fourth. Working five days a week means 40–44 journeys, so the pass works out twice as cheap. But if you travel two or three times a week, pay-as-you-go is cheaper.
City pass or rail pass. The €20 pass is cheaper, but it's train only. If after the station you also need a bus or the metro, you pay for those separately, and €20 quickly turns into €35. Switching only pays off when the whole commute there and back is by train.
Pass or car. Two metropolitan passes for a family come to €80 a month, and with children under 23 even less: they travel free. Compare this not with the price of petrol but with the whole cost of a year of owning a car — tax, insurance, inspection, parking, wear and tear. How to work that out is covered in the guide Which car to buy in Portugal, and what's happening with the price per litre — in the guide Fuel in Portugal: the price per litre and how to pay less.
What to factor in for the first month. Add the card to the price of the pass: €6–€12 in Lisbon, €6 in Porto, €6 on the railway or 50 cents for a digital one. It's a one-off cost, but in the first month you'll notice it. What else is worth doing in the first weeks is gathered in the guide The first weeks in Portugal.
“A taxi for two often costs about the same as the fare, and given how mediocre the buses are, it comes out ahead. A pass is for people who go somewhere every day.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto03.09.2024
“Rent 1600 Utilities 200 Health insurance for three 100 (basic) Bus and metro passes 80 (2×40, child free) Mobile and internet 60 Groceries for three 900 (30×30) Total approx. 3000 ------ That's the bare minimum, a modest life with no restaurants, not counting clothes, furniture, appliances, hospital visits, medicines etc. etc.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal11.02.2025
What it costs, according to community conversations
| Andante card with photo plus a monthly pass for your municipality | €6 + €30 | source |
| first pass for the whole Lisbon metropolitan area, card included | €52 | source |
| fine on the Porto metro for travelling outside your zone | €60 | source |
What to bring
- ID document: passport, residence permit or Cartão de Cidadão
- NIF — the Portuguese tax number. Without it a personal transport card won't be issued at all
- An address in Portugal; in Porto the resident's card requires a tax address in the city itself
- A passport photo — at the office they often just scan it from your phone screen
- For a free pass for a student aged 23–24 — a certificate of enrolment for the current academic year
- For travel between two neighbouring inter-municipal communities — proof of address and a certificate from your place of study or work
- For the Circula PT discount — a copy of your latest income tax return with the tax assessment, and for a disability of 60% or more — the AMIM certificate
- For Cartão Dourado — a household composition certificate from the tax office and a document showing the amount of your pension
- For a free pass for a student living in Porto with a tax address elsewhere — a certificate of enrolment and a rent receipt or a water, electricity or gas bill in your own name
Where people most often trip up
- The €20 pass doesn't work where Navegante and Andante apply: you can't use it to get from Sintra to Lisbon or from Gaia to Porto
- A seat on Intercidades with this pass must be booked, and no earlier than 24 hours ahead; without a booking you're travelling without a ticket, and by then there may be no seats left
- A city pass is valid for a calendar month: one bought on the 20th ends on the last day of that same month
- Young people get only one free pass — either on Navegante or on Cartão CP, but not both at once
- The free pass is limited to your own metropolitan area or neighbouring communities: “free from Coimbra to Lisbon” won't work
- A free pass still has to be validated on every journey — otherwise it's a fine
- Get the Andante zone wrong and it's a fine; if your route is different every day, the €40 metropolitan pass is safer than the €30 three-zone one
- The Circula PT discount doesn't apply to the Passe Ferroviário Verde at all
- To get the Circula PT discount you'll have to get a new CP card, even if your old one is still valid
- Free travel for Porto residents depends on where you live, not where you work: people who work in Porto but live nearby aren't entitled
- When the Cartão Porto. arrives by post, confirm receipt via the link in the SMS: without confirmation the pass may be switched off after 30 days
- The €20 pass can't be exchanged or refunded
- A foreigner without a Portuguese NIF won't be issued a personal card
How it went for people
Ticket office refused a student a free pass between Coimbra and Lisbon
Parents were looking for a free pass for their son — the one everyone up to 23 is entitled to — for the Coimbra — Lisbon journey. At the ticket office they were told: impossible. This isn't the cashier being awkward, it's the rule itself: free travel is given within one metropolitan area, one inter-municipal community or two neighbouring ones, and Coimbra and Lisbon don't count as neighbouring. Worth remembering for anyone whose child has gone to study in another city: better to find this out before you build free travel into the budget. September 2026.
Metro machine refused to renew a free school pass and demanded money
A mother in Lisbon switched her son's school pass to a free one, and a month later the metro machine demanded payment when renewing it. At the Loja de Cidadão, at the Carris desk, she was calmly told she wasn't the first: some machines don't recognise free passes, nobody knows which ones do work, and if all else fails you just come to them and they'll sort everything. The practical lesson: a machine refusing isn't your concession being cancelled, and arguing with it is pointless; go to the operator's office and don't leave it until the last days of the month. January 2024.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.