Taking a Tuk Tuk Tour of Lisbon – Cost, Itinerary and was it worth it?

Our month long visit to Portugal began in Lisbon; we had scheduled a three day layover there just in case we had a bit of jet lag after our flight from Costa Rica and because we didn’t want to rush getting to the train that would take us to Faro. And because the city is built on seven hills; we booked ourselves a tuk tuk tour of Lisbon and lived to tell you all about it!

What is a tuk tuk?

If you’re like us, you may never have heard the word tuk tuk until you decided you wanted to visit Lisbon. Think of a three wheels scooter with an open air cabin in the back. Well they say open-air but some do have a rain shield they can deploy should the weather turn for the worse.

Is Lisbon Walkable?

I bring up this question because we typically do quite a bit of walking as we travel but Lisbon is a huge city built on seven hills. Seven. While there is a wide, flat walkable section of the city along the riverfront, everything beyond that is uphill and downhill. So yes, we could have seen a lot of the sights just by walking around or by using the trams, funiculars and lifts to get around the steeper parts. (And we did on our return trip)

But on our first, short visit, we wanted to cover a lot of ground. We also knew from our research that chances are we’d want to come back after our visit Faro so we figured our best use of time was to book ourselves a tuk tuk tour so that we could get the lay of the land and see for ourselves if we needed to plan another visit after Faro.  

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Here’s what we learned while researching Tuk Tuk Tours in Lisbon

Quick Tips For Your Tuk Tuk Tour

1. Book in advance for the best options
2. Book your tour for as early in the morning as you can (more on this later)!
3. The tuk tuk you see in the pics of your tour may not be the one you get. Some tour companies have a fleet of tuk tuks. Confirm with your tour company if that is important to you.
4. Wear layers. The morning can be cool but afternoons are hot and there’s very little if any shade in a tuk tuk and if there is shade, it might be blocking your view!
5. Pay attention to the details of the “What to Expect” section
6. Check the minimum age requirements (some don’t allow young kids or car seats!)
7. Look for a tuk tuk that the roof and windows that can be completely removed, especially if someone in your group is tall as the rain shield and rolled up windows can block part of your view.

Planning a trip to Lisbon? We recommend booking your tuk tuk tour ahead of time through this company!

What to look for when booking your Tuk Tuk Tour

1. Stops vs Passing By – When selecting a tuk tuk tour we highly recommend that you pay attention to the details of the “What to Expect” section and the STOPS on the itinerary, not just the name of place you’ll stop. The itinerary for the tours should indicate a time at each location you’ll be stopping at or whether you’ll be pass by. The stops ranges from a few minutes to an hour and a half (what for this one! You may not want to spend an hour of your four hour tour getting lunch. Pass by means you’re not getting out of the tuk tuk, the driver will slow down but keep moving. If you are particularly interested in a thing – like, I really wanted to walk on the Pink Street – you need to make sure it’s actually a Stop.
2. How long will you be at each stop? While doing our research we found a few tours that spent quite a lot of time at two or three stops.
3. What’s included in the price? All the ones we researched didn’t include admission to any of the stops nor did they cover the cost of snacks or treats. Just because you are stopping at Ginjihna da Ribeira and Pasteis de Belem and your driver takes you in to get a sample doesn’t mean you won’t be paying extra for the samples. Tip: Every place we went in Lisboa accepted credit cards, even for absurdly small purchases, so you don’t really NEED to have cash except to tip your driver at the end.
4. Pick up or Meeting Spot? Check to see where your pickup and drop off points are. Will the tuk tuk driver be picking you up at your hotel/lodging? Is your accommodations listed as one of the places they will pick up from? Is the place you’re staying on a road accessible by cars? (We learned this one the hard way)

The Tuk Tuk Tour of Lisbon We Picked

We chose a particular half-day tour (well, okay, 3-½ hours is how it’s advertised) based on a couple of primary things. We wanted to see a variety of neighborhoods in the city and we wanted our tour to end at Time Out market just in time for lunch! So we booked our tour to start at 10 am, with hotel pickup and Time Out market as our end stop.

Bonus Tip: Start or end your tour at Timeout Market! You can explore the Market and enjoy lunch at your our leisure rather than making it a stop along your route.

Another Lesson learned

The tour advertised ‘hotel pickup’ and covered all the sights we wanted to see. We figured if they ‘picked up’ they would come get us, right? Wrong, what we didn’t realize at the time that we booked our tour was that our accommodations was on a street which wasn’t accessible to vehicles, not even a tuk tuk. (Lesson learned!) So even though we were able to confirm our pick up point when we booked the tour, the night before our scheduled tour the company reached out to arrange a pickup point. We negotiated to meet the driver at another location just down the hill from us – so it’s all good.

Our Tuk Tuk Tour Itinerary

Our Lisbon tuk tuk tour kicked off at Rossio Square, also known as Praça Dom Pedro IV and was suppose to start at 10 am, which would have worked out really well because it allowed time for a leisurely breakfast and a bit of wandering around our neighborhood before getting started. However, our driver texted early that morning and suggested that we delay our start time because of the fog and he wanted to make sure we could actually see what we came to see – which we thought was very thoughtful!

Our driver was very knowledgeable about the various landmarks in the city and was able to point out quite a few things we may not have noticed on our own. Which is the whole reason we are willing to pay a guide. 

The first major landmark we passed by was Elevador de Santa Justa which is one of a half dozen lifts in the city and the one that people queue up to go and see the view from the top. As mentioned earlier, the city of Lisboa is basically made of hills and the combination of lifts, funiculars and trams allow people to move easily between the different elevations. (Our driver also explained that you can see the same view without having to stand in line to ride the elevator!)

The first actual stop on our tuk tuk tour of Lisbon was at Arco da Rua Augusta. This is a very impressive bit of architecture.

This 150 year old baroque revival structure dominates the Praça do Comércio. We didn’t climb the tower but apparently it offers quite a view of the city. There are many sculptures in the square aside from what’s carved into the building itself. We returned the next day and spent a bit more time on the details of the square.

Next stop the Pink Street. As it was still fairly early in the day, many of the cafes were just setting out their tables for the day in anticipation of opening for lunch. It is a hive of activity and I think that is probably pretty much always the case. The Instagram and Pinterest photos you see of the Pink Street where it looks all vacant are pretty cleverly staged, framed and edited. It reality there are massive amounts of people vying for the best spot to take a photo.

The main motivation to see the Pink Street is going to sound odd but, I didn’t understand why it is such a big deal. It’s an iconic tourism spot in Lisboa, it seems like everyone and their great aunt Martha comes and gets a photo on the the Pink Street so I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I still don’t get it. Is it cool? Sure. Is it a ‘must see’ stop in Lisbon? We didn’t feel that way. If you don’t have to go too far out of your way and you have 15 minutes to kill, it’s cute. See it as part of your tuk tuk tour of Lisbon, ya know?

We then stopped a Ginjihna da Ribeira for an ACTUAL ‘must do’ activity. Sampling one of the taste treats Lisboa is known for – Ginjihna, sometimes just called ginja – which is a cherry liqueur (reminiscent of kirsch but not as sharp) and served in a chocolate cup. Our driver let us know the best way to appreciate ginja is to drink about 80% and then pop the chocolate cup with remaining liquid into your mouth as a single bite. We didn’t do any split testing to try and find a better method but that was certainly a pleasant way to do it

We were also very interested in the TIme Out Market next door; and our next 15 minute stop we there so we headed directly into the food court area to scope out what we might be eating later for our lunch. We made no decisions except that dessert was almost certainly going to be from Crush donuts. Time Out Market was established in 2014 and features 2 dozen restaurants, a half dozen bars and a dozen or so other specialty stores. There is a massive food court area, their primary claim to fame, and then on the other side of the building is a flower and vegetable market as well as meat and fish markets. We had read so many rave reviews of the place that, as I mentioned earlier, we picked a tuk tuk tour that ended here to make sure we had an opportunity to sample the food.

Several established viewpoints called Miradouros  play a central role the exploration of Lisbon. We stopped at 3 of them on our tour. We had seen some photos when we were doing our initial travel research but weren’t quite prepared for the reality; while the views can be stunning and the city is gorgeous, tourism definitely has an impact. The prime viewing spots are sometimes occupied by ‘influencers’ ensconced (and even their associated photographers) for extended periods. Trying to duplicate that beautiful shot you saw on the interwebz may become an exercise in patience as you discover that it had to be taken from a literal one square foot vantage point that is currently hosting a photo shoot (another reason to go early!)

I say this not to dissuade you from visiting, you definitely should explore the Miradouros, but to help set your expectations. We visited in the middle of February, not exactly high season for tourism, and saw quite bit of this sort of behavior (influencers hogging the spot). It didn’t really impact us as we are happy with average photos as visual reminders; if I ever call myself an influencer, feel free to slap me down. It’s okay for some but definitely not our jamm.

Miradouro de Santa Luzia offers a beautiful sweeping view over Alfama and the Tagus River.

The pergola and the tile walls in the courtyard make it one of the most impressive vantage points over the city. It is a very popular spot, when we went the pergola area was packed and all of the benches in the courtyard were occupied.

It’s a short walk around the corner (along a cobblestone sidewalk that narrows considerably as you round the corner) to Miradouro das Portas do Sol. Still overlooking the Alfama area, it is basically a giant courtyard. You can access both of these miradouros on the iconic Tram 28 if you decide to embark on that popular tourist adventure.

Bonus Tip: Because Tram 28 is so well known, it’s usually pretty crowded. For a similar experience, try Tram 18 which runs from the waterfront (quite near Arco de Rua Augusta, in fact) up into the Adjuda district above Belem. The Tram 28 route is considered to be more scenic but Tram 18 is less likely to be standing room only. So if the old school tram experience is what you’re after, it might be a better choice. 

Our next scenic stopping point was Miradouro da Senhora do Monte; another Alfama district overlook with great tile floors and shade from mature trees.

From here our journey took us to LX Factory in Alcantara. This renovated industrial complex is home to a wide variety of shops, galleries and cafes. My comment as we were wandering through was “If Lisbon were a hipster, this is where he would be”. They’ve done a beautiful job converting the old industrial site to a modern, thriving retail emporium. Inside the narrow hallways you can still get a feel for the history or sit at one of the many outdoor tables and enjoy a coffee or perhaps a designer lunch. 

From LX Factory, we took the ‘long’ drive over to Belem. If you are a history buff, this is probably the district where you’ll spend most of your time. We stopped in for a quick snack at Pasteis de Belem.

A couple blocks further down the road is Jerónimos Monastery or Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Remember all those monks and nuns I just mentioned?

This is their place. The building is massive, impressive and ancient. It is an amazing example of late Gothic architecture (Manueline) and is truly stunning to look at. Construction began in the very early 1500’s and took about 100 years to complete. Home to the Order of St Jerome until it was secularized in 1833, you can tour the interior if you wish. This is one of the attractions included (free entry) on the Lisboa card which we’ll talk about in a later post.  We passedby because the line to get in is way too long to do during a tour. (We didn’t make it inside on either of our visits as the line for entry was hundreds of people deep every time we went by here and we aren’t into standing in lines.)

Belem tower is the next stop on our tuk tuk tour of Lisbon.

Fairly close to the monastery if you’re on foot, not so close if you driving as can’t cross the road here so you end up going a fair distance down the road before you can get on the Av Brasilia to access the tower.  (If you are going to be spending time on foot, keep an eye out for our Belem walk post. When we came back to Lisboa in March we spent a day checking out the gpsmycity walking tour of the Belem district) 

The Belem tower is an imposing site, prior to the 1755 earthquake that devastated much of Lisboa, the tower was on an island in the Tagus River. The tower tour is also included on the Lisboa card as a free entry (more about that in a future post) We skipped the interior tour here because of the number of people who have told us that the view from the tower is the only real high point of going inside (get it? high point, LOL). Impressive views of the Tagus River abound in this city so we saw no benefit to waiting an hour in line to see a different one.

The MAAT – the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology was the penultimate stop on our tuk tuk tour of Lisbon. This is an amazing building. MAAT is high on our list of activities planned for our next visit to Lisboa. One of the impressive views of the Tagus River that I referred to above is from the roof of this building

Our tour finished up at the Time Out Market where we enjoyed a pretty nice sandwich and a couple monster donuts from Crush Donuts.

Our tuk tuk tour of Lisbon ended up covering over 15 miles which is waaaay more than we are comfortable walking in a single day even on flat ground. 

Was a tuk tuk tour of Lisbon worth it?

I was initially not excited about parting with over US$150 to have someone drive us around for a few hours but in the end it was a very good value. We saw places we might not have gone to if we were just wandering around town on our own and we got some good historical information. 

All in all, it was a fun way to get an overview of the city.