Lisbon City Council is once again offering a “Christmas without cars”, with free parking in four EMEL parking lots, between November 23 and December 23.
There will be 30 days in which you can visit Lisbon’s downtown to see the various Christmas markets, the illuminations and, of course, do a lot of shopping in the city’s most important arteries at this time of year, such as Chiado or Avenida da Liberdade, among others.
As was also the case last year, there will also be scheduled transport to take you to the center of the capital, so that you can do your shopping in the traditional shops, away from the usual traffic stress.
“Leave the car behind and celebrate Christmas” is the name of this proposal by the municipality, which offers free parking and free transportation on a bus to Marquês and downtown Lisbon.
Where can you leave your car?
This unprecedented gift from the city council will run from November 23rd to December 23rd , every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 3pm to midnight, with stops at various places where this time of year in Lisbon is experienced most intensely.
From November 23, you can leave your car in the EMEL parking lots in Campo Grande (Jardim Mário Soares), Universidade (Avenida Professor Gama Pinto), Alcântara (Rua das Fontainhas), and Olivais (Avenida de Pádua).
From the Campo Grande and University parking lots, you’ll have a direct connection to downtown Lisbon via an exclusive free bus that leaves every 30 minutes until 9:30pm , stopping at Marquês de Pombal, where you can visit Wonderland Lisboa, Avenida da Liberdade, and Restauradores , from where you can enjoy the Rossio Christmas Market and Figueira Christmas Gourmet.
In the case of the Alcântara and Olivais free parking lots, the former will have a connection to the city center via streetcar 15E, and the latter will have free access to bus 708, with the same destination.
What you need to do
To take advantage of this free parking service, as well as exclusive transportation to the city’s Christmas entertainment, Lisbon City Council simply asks you to contact the EMEL and Carris teams that will be at each of these four locations.
This was our experience from the Campo Grande parking lot:
- You drive your car to one of the designated parks
- Talk to one of the attendants to indicate how many people are in the car
- You get a free parking ticket
- Then you take the Carris bus to one of the following stops:
- 🚏Marquês de Pombal
- 🚏Avenida da Liberdade
- 🚏Restauradores
- While the journey to the city center lasts, Santa Claus will also have various presents and gifts for all travelers.
The same source also revealed that this initiative will be reinforced by extending the hours of four other parking lots until midnight: Colégio Militar, Ameixoeira, Telheiras Nascente and Telheiras Poente, which will also be available free of charge between these dates, from 3pm to midnight, and from these there will be no exclusive transportation.