Lisbon by campervan: the campsite, bridge tolls and day trips

Last checked November 2026.

Lisbon (Lisboa), the capital of Portugal, is a compact city with enough to see for about four days, and two or three more if you go beyond the city to Sintra, Cascais or Ericeira. The street life is one of the main attractions. Much of the old city was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755, but the Castelo and the sights at Belém are well worth a visit, and there are several good museums and the best oceanarium Darren has seen.

Today’s Lisbon keeps its 18th-century layout. It’s built on hills along the Tejo river, with the river mouth and the sea in view from many places, and two huge bridges cross the river. The Baixa, the lower town, is the heart of the city, and the Bairro Alto is the centre of the nightlife, with restaurants, bars and clubs.

In a campervan or motorhome, the simple plan is to stay at the city campsite in the Monsanto forest park and take the bus into town.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

Portugal’s rules for campervans and motorhomes are in article 50.º-A of the Highway Code, as changed by Lei n.º 66/2021, in force since 25 August 2021:

“Overnighting” means being in the vehicle between 22:00 and 07:00.
Protected areas: campsites and authorised areas only. Overnighting is banned in Natura 2000 sites, protected areas and the coastal zones covered by the coastal plans, except in places expressly authorised for it.
Elsewhere: up to 48 hours in the same municipality, unless the local council has its own rules. The allowance is written for vehicles approved as motorhomes, so a van that isn’t registered as a motorhome may not be covered.
Fines are €60 to €300, and €120 to €600 in the protected areas.
Parking isn’t camping. Chairs, tables, an awning or steps outside the van, or emptying grey or toilet water anywhere other than a proper disposal point, is a separate offence with a fine of €30 to €150.

Around Lisbon, that rules out almost all of the coast. The whole Atlantic coast of Mafra (Ericeira), Sintra, Cascais and Almada (Costa da Caparica) is covered by the Alcobaça to Cabo Espichel coastal plan. On top of that, the Sintra hills, the town of Sintra, Cabo da Roca and the coast from Guincho round to Cascais are in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and the cliffs behind the beaches south of Costa da Caparica are the Arriba Fóssil protected landscape. The beach car parks at Ericeira, Guincho, Praia Grande and Costa da Caparica are for daytime only.

The city of Lisbon itself isn’t on the coastal plan or in a protected area, so the national 48-hour rule applies there unless signs say otherwise. Street parking in the centre is run by EMEL, the city’s parking company, and is paid and time-limited in the charging zones. In practice, stay at the campsite.

Campsites in and around Lisbon

There’s one campsite in the city, at Monsanto, and the nearest others are on the coast at Guincho, Costa da Caparica and Ericeira. All four are open all year. The Monsanto campsite’s service point, for emptying and filling up, is open to non-guests too.

Place	Campsite	Details
Lisbon (Monsanto)	Lisboa Camping & Bungalows	Estrada da Circunvalação, 1400-061 Lisboa. Tel: 217 628 200. Open all year. Buses to Belém, Cais do Sodré and Oriente
Guincho (Cascais)	Orbitur Guincho	Rua da Areia, 2750-053 Cascais. Tel: 214 870 450. Open all year. Motorhome service point
Costa da Caparica (Almada)	Orbitur Costa de Caparica	Av. Afonso de Albuquerque, Quinta de Santo António, 2825-450 Costa de Caparica. Tel: 212 901 366. Open all year. Beach 200 m away
Ericeira (Mafra)	Ericeira Camping (Mil Regos)	Av. São Sebastião, Ericeira. Tel: 261 862 706. Open all year. Pitches can’t be booked: first come, first served

Lisboa Camping & Bungalows, Monsanto

Lisboa Camping & Bungalows, Estrada da Circunvalação, 1400-061 Lisboa. Tel: 217 628 200. Reception 08:00 to 23:30.

The main city campsite, with lots of facilities and in a good position. It sits in the Monsanto forest park, about 8 km from the city centre, on a fenced site of 38 hectares with a 4-star rating. The pitches for caravans and motorhomes are spacious concrete bays, most of them shaded, each with electricity, water, a drain and a picnic table. There’s a minimarket, a restaurant, a self-service laundry and a pool, which is usually open from June to September. Darren stayed here in November 2006, and again with Abby for two nights in March 2011.

In 2026 an equipped pitch costs €34.90 a night in low season (most of October to March) and up to €53.20 from late July to mid-August, including the van, a car, two people and electricity. You can stay up to 60 days between May and October, and 90 days between November and April. Non-guests can use the motorhome service point for €7.10 to €8.90.

Two Carris buses stop at the campsite (the stop is called Pq. Campismo):

714 runs to Belém, past the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, then along the river past the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga and Santos to Cais do Sodré.
750 runs to Colégio Militar metro station (for the Colombo shopping centre), Campo Grande and the Estação do Oriente at Parque das Nações.

If you’d rather spend a few nights in a hotel in town, ask at reception about leaving the van on the site.

Getting there and driving

The Tejo bridges

Two bridges cross the Tejo at Lisbon, and both are run by Lusoponte. The toll is only charged northbound, into Lisbon; leaving the city southbound is free. Most campervans and motorhomes are Class 2: a two-axle vehicle whose height, measured straight up from the front axle, is 1.10 m or more.

Bridge	Class 1	Class 2	Toll charged
Ponte 25 de Abril	€2.25	€4.85	Almada to Lisbon only
Ponte Vasco da Gama	€3.40	€7.55	Montijo to Lisbon only

Easytoll and Tollcard don’t work on the two bridges, so unless you have Via Verde, Go Toll or a compatible toll tag, pay at one of the staffed booths. The views from the 25 de Abril bridge are worth the toll.

Other tolls

The A2 south to the Algarve and the A5 from Lisbon to Cascais have traditional toll booths, where you take a ticket or stop at a barrier and can pay by cash or card. The A21 to Mafra and Ericeira uses electronic tolls, so a UK-registered van needs Easytoll, a Tollcard or a toll device before using it. See driving in Portugal for how electronic tolls work.

Low emission zone (ZER)

Lisbon has a low emission zone, the Zona de Emissões Reduzidas, which applies on weekdays from 07:00 to 21:00. In zone 1, along the Avenida da Liberdade and the Baixa, vehicles registered before 2000 can’t enter. In zone 2, the wider city centre, the limit is vehicles registered before 1996. Most UK vans will be new enough, but if yours is older, keep out of the centre on weekdays. Fines are €60 to €300.

Parking

Darren’s advice: don’t try to drive and park in the centre. Leave the van at the campsite and take the bus, or the train from Cascais to Cais do Sodré if you’re staying at Guincho.

Sights and attractions of Lisbon

The Gulbenkian Museum is free on Sunday afternoons. Free entry at the national museums and monuments is now only for residents of Portugal.

Castelo de São Jorge

The Castelo is Lisbon’s most splendid monument, both to look at and for the incredible views, right across Lisbon and the Tejo and out to sea. Within the old Moorish walls are gardens, terraces, walkways, fountains and peacocks. It’s perched up on the hill above the Alfama, which gives the walk up to it an extra atmosphere.

Alfama

The oldest part of Lisbon, and one of the few districts to come through the 1755 earthquake. Narrow, atmospheric streets run down from the castle towards the Tejo. Take a walk around to see old Lisbon, with steep streets, narrow houses and rattling trams.

Baixa

The Baixa is the heart of the city, home to offices and banks but also shops, cafés and restaurants. It was rebuilt on a grid after the earthquake, and some of the street names, such as Rua do Ouro (gold) and Rua da Prata (silver), recall the trades that once filled them.

Under a bank in Rua dos Correeiros, the Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros shows Roman remains, including fish-salting tanks and a mosaic floor. Visits are guided and free; book through the Fundação Millennium bcp.

Sé

Lisbon’s cathedral is a large, fortress-like Romanesque building. Inside it isn’t very exciting, but it’s worth a stop if you’re walking back from the Alfama.

Bairro Alto

At night, the home of Lisbon’s nightlife, with the greatest concentration of restaurants, bars and clubs. By day it’s much quieter, a maze of narrow, steep streets with some impressive churches. Darren had an excellent steak dinner here.

Museu do Chiado

The Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado has Portuguese art from 1850 to the present day, with good paintings and sculpture. It’s in part of the old Convento de São Francisco, and part of the building was once a biscuit factory.

Belém

Vasco da Gama set sail from Belém for India in 1497, and the grand Mosteiro dos Jerónimos celebrates the age of the discoveries. The Torre de Belém is an intricate tower that once guarded the entrance to the port; the river bank has since moved, so it now stands at the water’s edge. The tower reopened in May 2026 after a year of restoration, with timed entry and a daily limit on visitors, so book ahead. The Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) is also worth a stop.

Visit the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém and try the pastéis de Belém, delicious flaky tarts filled with a custard-like cream. Bus 714 from the campsite stops at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Gulbenkian Museum and Centro de Arte Moderna

An excellent museum with great collections, including Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Islamic, Oriental and European art, in the grounds of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. In the same grounds, the Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) has a well laid out collection of some of Portugal’s biggest names in 20th-century art. Entry to both is free on Sundays from 14:00. They’re closed on Tuesdays.

Basílica da Estrela

A vast domed church away from the city centre. Across the road is the lovely Jardim da Estrela, a garden with a pool of giant carp, a bandstand and a café.

Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Portugal’s national gallery, with a great collection of Portuguese, European and Oriental paintings and art. A must for art and museum fans; Darren particularly liked the biblical paintings. Bus 714 from the campsite stops outside, in Rua das Janelas Verdes.

Parque das Nações and the Oceanário

The Oceanário de Lisboa is in the Parque das Nações, the old Expo 98 site, with great views of the Tejo. It’s one of the biggest oceanariums in Europe, and the best Darren has seen. In the same park are the Pavilhão do Conhecimento, a science centre that’s great for kids big and small, and the Vasco da Gama shopping centre. Avoid weekends, which are the busiest. Bus 750 from the campsite runs to the Estação do Oriente, next to the park.

Mercado da Ribeira

A real, bustling market in a domed building at Cais do Sodré, with amazing sights, smells and sounds. Half of the building is now the Time Out Market food hall, and the other half is still a market selling fresh fish, fruit and vegetables in the mornings.

Eating and drinking in Lisbon

Seafood is the speciality, and Brazilian food is also excellent: Darren had a great Brazilian meal at the Colombo shopping centre (Colégio Militar metro) in 2007. It’s easier to find a cheap meal in the Baixa than in the Bairro Alto, where the restaurants fill up quickly in the evening. See Portuguese food and drink.

Around Lisbon

Sintra

Sintra is a beautiful town, the former residence of the kings of Portugal, set among steep, wooded valleys in the hills west of Lisbon. The town, its palaces and the hills around it are a UNESCO World Heritage site and part of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park.

Parking in Sintra is a big problem. Since 2023 the core of the historic centre has been closed to unauthorised vehicles, with camera-controlled gates; one of them is on the Volta do Duche, where many motorhomes used to park on the meters. In 2026 the council went further, trialling limits on traffic into the centre and sending visitors to car parks on the edge of town:

Lourel: about 540 free spaces, with buses 434 and 435 to the Pena Palace, the Moorish Castle and Monserrate.
Portela de Sintra, by the station: Darren’s tip in 2006, when it was a big free car park, busy at lunchtime, with room for smaller motorhomes but not large ones.

The easiest way to see Sintra from Lisbon is to leave the van at the campsite and take the train from Rossio station. The town is inside the natural park, so you can’t stay overnight there in a van. The nearest campsites are Orbitur Guincho and Lisboa Camping.

West of Sintra, the beaches at Praia Grande and Praia das Maçãs have paid parking from 1 June to 30 September. They’re also in the natural park, so they’re for daytime visits only.

Cascais and Guincho

Cascais, at the end of the train line from Cais do Sodré, is a resort town with a marina and an old centre. A few kilometres north-west, Guincho is a long, exposed beach backed by dunes, known for windsurfing and surfing, and part of the natural park.

Orbitur Guincho, Rua da Areia, 2750-053 Cascais. Tel: 214 870 450. A nice campsite among low pine trees behind the Guincho dunes, close to the beach. Open all year, with a motorhome service point, a restaurant and a supermarket.

Costa da Caparica

Across the 25 de Abril bridge, Costa da Caparica has miles of sandy beach facing the Atlantic, backed to the south by the fossil cliffs of the Arriba Fóssil protected landscape.

Orbitur Costa de Caparica, Av. Afonso de Albuquerque, Quinta de Santo António, 2825-450 Costa de Caparica. Tel: 212 901 366. Open all year, 200 m from the beach, with a minimarket and snack bar. It has a lot of permanent units.

There are several other campsites along the beach front, some of them club sites. The coastal plan marks the Costa da Caparica campsites for eventual relocation, so check before you go.

Carris Metropolitana buses run from the Costa da Caparica terminal into Lisbon: route 3708 to Cais do Sodré, 3709 to Marquês de Pombal and 3710 to Areeiro. Allow about an hour, depending on traffic on the bridge.

Ericeira

Ericeira is a small, attractive resort town on the cliffs north of Sintra, and one of the centres of Portuguese surfing; its coast is a World Surfing Reserve. North of the town is the famous break at Ribeira d’Ilhas, where Darren stopped in November 2006 to photograph surfers on big waves on the outer and inner reefs. Darren found the town smaller than expected, but much nicer than Peniche.

In 2006 Darren spent the night in the car park at Praia do Norte with a Belgian surfer who had been there three weeks. The whole coast here is now covered by the coastal plan, so overnighting outside the campsite is banned.

Ericeira Camping (Parque de Campismo de Mil Regos), Av. São Sebastião, Ericeira. Tel: 261 862 706. The municipal campsite, open all year. Pitches for tents, vans and motorhomes can’t be booked; check in from 12:00, first come, first served. In 2026 a pitch with electricity costs €13 to €18 a night for a motorhome, or €14 to €21 for a campervan, including one person, plus €7 for each extra person over 11 and the Mafra tourist tax. The lowest rates are from January to May and from November to Christmas, the highest in July and August. You can stay up to 30 days at a time.

Mafra

Mafra, about 10 km inland from Ericeira, is home to the Palace-Convent (Palácio Nacional de Mafra), a vast palace, basilica and convent built by one of Portugal’s most extravagant monarchs, João V. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Darren stopped here on the way from Ericeira to Sintra in 2006, and found spaces right outside the palace and around the side. For the night, Ericeira Camping is the nearest campsite.

Travelling south from Lisbon

To head on to the Alentejo or the Algarve you’ll need to cross the Tejo. Both bridges are free southbound.

Toll road

Take the 25 de Abril bridge and stay on the A2, which becomes the main motorway to the south. It’s tolled, with traditional toll booths.

Non-toll roads

Cross the 25 de Abril bridge, then take the N10 to Setúbal and on to Marateca, and the IC1 south through Alcácer do Sal and Grândola. In 2006 Darren took the toll-free route and ended up on small, narrow and badly kept roads around Setúbal, so stick to the main roads.

To save time, take the car ferry from Setúbal to Tróia, run by Atlantic Ferries. The crossing takes about 25 minutes. A motorhome costs €34.10 one way including the driver, plus €5.50 for each passenger (fares since January 2025).

From the north of Lisbon

Coming from the north rather than the west, cross the Vasco da Gama bridge, which brings you to the A12 towards Setúbal and Palmela.

Darren’s trips

I finally leave Peniche and go on to Ericeira (2006)
Mafra, Sintra and nearly Lisbon (2006)
Lisbon to Porto Covo (2006)
Lisbon day 1 (2007)
Lisbon day 2: Baixa, Castelo, Alfama and Chiado
Lisbon day 3: Gulbenkian, Estrela and Belém
Lisbon day 4: the Oceanário
Lisbon day 5: Colombo shopping centre
Darren’s 2011 trip through Spain, Portugal and France, with two nights at the Lisbon campsite

More on Portugal

Portugal by campervan
Camping in Portugal, with the overnight rules
Driving in Portugal, including electronic tolls
Estremadura and Ribatejo, the coast north of Lisbon
The Alentejo, south of Lisbon
The Algarve

Sources: Lei n.º 66/2021, Diário da República; Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 66/2019 (Alcobaça to Cabo Espichel coastal plan); ICNF (Sintra-Cascais Natural Park); Lisbon’s street parking regulation (Aviso n.º 3856/2021); RTP report on Lisbon’s low emission zone (2025); Lusoponte; Portugal Tolls (Infraestruturas de Portugal); Brisa; Carris and Carris Metropolitana; Parques de Sintra; Atlantic Ferries; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Lisboa Camping & Bungalows, Orbitur and Ericeira Camping; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.