Museu da Carris

Carris runs Lisbon’s buses, its yellow trams and the city’s funiculars and street lift, and this is its own museum. It opened in January 1999 in the Santo Amaro depot in Alcântara, which is still a working depot. That means real trams come and go around you, which for a transport-mad child is half the excitement.

The best part comes after the first building. You climb aboard a tram from the museum’s own collection, dating from 1901, and ride it through the depot to two big halls in the old workshops. For a small child who loves anything on wheels, a tram ride plus the chance to walk right up to real trams and buses is a very good morning.

The museum is split into three parts.

The first building tells the company’s story in date order, with models, documents, uniforms and a reconstructed company office. It is the quietest part and the one small children rush through. Older children can follow how Lisbon got around, from horses to electricity to buses. Look out for the displays on the city’s funiculars and lifts, which Carris also runs.

The tram ride. A short trip on a historic tram links the first building to the workshop halls. It’s the moment most children remember.

The two workshop halls hold the vehicles. The first has the oldest ones, from horse-drawn trams of the late 1800s to electric trams up to the 1940s. The second has later trams and buses, including double-deckers, plus some of the old workshop machinery. Visitors can climb into some of the restored trams and double-decker buses, which is where toddlers tend to want to stay.

A third space shows vehicles waiting to be restored, from work vehicles to old buses, and ends in a gallery for temporary exhibitions. When we checked, the museum was showing 125 Years of Electric Traction in Lisbon, made with the city’s urban art gallery, where street artists painted work based on archive photos of trams. Lisbon’s first electric trams ran in 1901, the same year as the tram you ride.

The oldest trams in the first hall were pulled by horses or mules along rails, because a wheel on a smooth rail rolls far more easily than a cart on cobbles. When electricity arrived, a pole on the roof picked up current from a wire above the street and fed a motor under the floor. Ask your child to find the pole on each tram and follow the wire in their head. On the ride, notice how the tram steers itself: the rails do the steering, and the driver only controls speed.

Children aged 8 to 14 can go further on the museum’s Museum Secrets: Bogies and Trams from the Inside game tour, which uses a hidden trapdoor to look at a tram’s bogie (the wheeled frame under the body). Like most tours, it is set up for groups, but the museum says families and individuals can book too; ask by email.

The museum’s educational team runs a long list of activities. The one designed for families is the family ticket tour: a game-based tour led by a monitor for up to six people of any age, costing €35 and lasting about an hour. Book it by emailing museu@carris.pt.

Other tours are priced per person and cheaper in groups of 15 or more (from €4 per child when checked in September 2026, or €6.50 in smaller groups). They include a Sound Visit for ages 3 to 5, where children invent the sound of each object and act it out, a History Tour for ages 6 to 12, a quiz game-tour for ages 12 to 18, and a theatrical Staged Visit for ages 6 and up where a guide in Carris uniform plays out scenes from daily life on public transport.

The hands-on workshops, such as building a mini cardboard tram (ages 6 to 12), a go-kart workshop (8 to 12) or making a mosaic tram from rubbish (5 to 12), are for groups of 15 to 25 children. A home-education group could fill one; ask the museum. A few art workshops (cyanotype prints with weeds, Japanese floating-ink painting) are open to families from April to September for €9 a person.

• Toddlers and under-6s go free and love the tram ride and the big vehicles. The halls are calm, with plenty of space.
• Ages 4 to 7 enjoy spotting the horse-drawn trams and double-deckers and working out which is oldest.
• Ages 8 to 12 get the most from a game tour and the story of how electricity changed the city.
• Teenagers interested in design, cities or sustainability can book the Path to Sustainability tour, which covers 150 years of transport choices.

Tickets were €4.50 for adults and €2.50 for ages 6 to 18 and over-65s when checked in September 2026. Children under 6 go free. The museum is open Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 12:30 and 17:30. It closes for lunch and is closed on Sundays and public holidays, so plan a weekday or Saturday.

It’s at Rua 1.º de Maio 101 to 103 in Alcântara. Plenty of Carris buses stop nearby, including the 714, 727, 732 and 742, and the 15E and 18E trams run past. The museum lists parking, a cloakroom and a shop.

It’s cheap and short, so it fits into a day with something else. Under-6s go free and an hour or so is enough for most families. Arrive well before 12:30 or 17:30, because the lunchtime closure and the last-entry times catch people out. The halls are former workshops, so they can feel cool in winter.

Alcântara sits by the river, a short hop from Belém. Take the 15E tram towards Belém and pair the museum with MAAT and the old Central Tejo power station, the Museu de Marinha or the Museu Nacional dos Coches, where the carriages are the horse-drawn ancestors of the trams you have just seen. The Pilar 7 Bridge Experience is right by the 25 de Abril bridge in Alcântara, and a stop at Pastéis de Belém rounds it off.

Do you ride a real tram at the Museu da Carris?

Yes. A short ride on a historic tram from 1901 links the first building to the two workshop halls where the vehicles are displayed.

Is the Museu da Carris open on Sundays?

No. It opens Monday to Saturday and closes on Sundays and public holidays, with a lunch break from 13:00 to 14:00.

How much does it cost for children?

Under-6s go free, and ages 6 to 18 paid €2.50 when checked in September 2026. Adults paid €4.50.

Is it good for toddlers?

Yes, it suits them well: free entry, a tram ride, big vehicles and calm halls. Budget about an hour.

Can families book a workshop?

Most workshops are for groups of 15 to 25 children, but the €35 family game tour is designed for families, and some art workshops accept families from April to September. Book by email.