How to successfully acquire and pay for Navegante Familia public transportation cards in Lisbon, Portugal. This post is all about what to do to get the Family Navegante passes in Lisbon, Portugal.
Are you a family that lives in Lisbon, Portugal? If so, I can imagine that you spend a lot of time traveling on public transportation, which quickly adds to the budget. The answer: Navegante Familia.
Below is a comprehensive guide on how to successfully acquire Navegante Familia public transportation cards in Lisbon.
I’ve been attempting to acquire our Navegante Familia passes for over 2 months. I would definitely consider it my Everest! The bureaucracy of getting these travel cards was, at times, overwhelming. I had to take a few weeks off to recover from my frustration!
So, in an attempt to help you successfully acquire the passes with less frustration and more ease, I’m going to give a step by step guide on what we did.
For those that aren’t sure what Navegante Familia is, they are 80 Euro/month travel cards that you can use on all modes of public transportation in the Lisbon Metropolitan area (this includes Sintra, Cascais, Ericeira and much more). Considering we spent $225 on public transportation for the 4 of us in September, I felt the need to quickly get our Navegante Familia cards. For more information, click here. 
The guide to getting your Navegante Familia passes:
- Go to the Financas website to make sure your NIF has the correct address. Our NIF’s still had the address of the attorney who helped us get them. Click here to learn how to change your address on the NIF.
- While you are waiting for the Tax Authority to respond and change your address, fill out the application for the VIVA cards (you can get the applications in front of the cashier’s box at metro Marques de Pombal, Campo Grande, Entrecampos and others) and turn them in. There are several locations where you can turn in the application and you are almost guaranteed to have a long line, unless you go right when the counter opens. We turned our applications in at the Campo Grande Metro office. You can pay 12 Euros each to have them back in 24 hours or 7 Euros each to have them back in 10 working days. We chose the cheaper option.
- After 10 working days, we returned to Campo Grande Metro to pick up our cards. We mistakenly waited in the wrong line where we had dropped off our applications and then had to go to another area where we took a number and waited about an hour to pick up our cards. If this seems a bit chaotic and unorganized, you are right! It seems like they would have a more efficient process for this. At any rate, go right when the office opens, usually 8:00 a.m. to have the shortest wait time.
- Log into the Financas website again https://www.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/at/html/index.html to make sure that they responded to your address change request. You have to click on contacte-nos to see if they have responded. Once that is taken care of, you have to print out your certidão de domicilio fiscal. Basically, this shows your address and verifies that you are a family all living at the same location. Todos os Serviços > Pedir Certidões > Efetuar Pedido > certidão de domicílio fiscal > Obter
- Once you have your VIVA cards, you can apply for your Navegante Familia passes. Don’t make the mistake I made by filling it out by hand and waiting in a long line at Entrecampos only for the cashier to tell you that you don’t have the correct information! Oof .. that was NOT fun! Fill out the pdf application online, save it and submit along with copies of your residence cards and the certidão de domicílio fiscal. The main person applying (in this case, it was me) also needs to submit a declaration of representation for the other adult (in our case, Fernando) on the passes. Minors don’t need this form.
- After you have all of the correct information needed, email the application and your documents (we printed some of the documents and used CamScanner on my phone to save it as a jpeg) to: navegantefamilia@metrolisboa.pt
- Once you receive an email back from the transportation authority, take your VIVA cards and your residence card (or passport) along with 80 Euros or your Portuguese ATM card to any of the participating locations to pay for the cards. I tried to pay for this at the VIVA Kiosk at Alameda metro station, but the machine would only take citizen cards, not the residence cards. So, I ended up going as early as possible to the Arco do Cego location. Even going right after opening, I still had to wait 20 minutes to go inside to pay for the cards. Click here for a list of locations where you can pay for the cards. HOT TIP: There’s almost never a line at the Roma Areeiro CP desk and at the kiosk outside Campo Pequeno. This is where I now renew our cards.
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- Merrell women’s light hiking shoes – these are amazing because they are lightweight, but are extra grippy and helpful! I also have this pair that I always get compliments on: Merrell Rainbow shoes. Fernando loves his Asics trail runners which are also grippy and perfect for walking on cobblestone streets.
- Thermoflask water bottle – like a Hydroflask, but more affordable! We don’t go anywhere without these water bottles full of purified water.
- North Face Aphrodite 2.0 capris – I seriously wear these pants every.single.day! I couldn’t live without these ultra-comfy, lightweight pants that dry so quickly. They are 100% worth the money!
- Osprey Day Pack – this is an awesome lightweight backpack that we can easily put the belongings we need at hand for traveling around the city and on public transportation.
- N95 face mask – we bought a 50 pack of these before moving to Portugal. Until Covid is under control, we will continue to use face masks.
Celebrate that you had the fortitude to finish this monumental task and go somewhere using your new cards! Congrats! Where you can use the Navegante Familia cards – basically all of Lisbon and surrounding areas, including all 18 municipios Modes of transportationMetro (underground subway): see photo aboveBusses Metropolitan/commuter trains (ie Sintra, Cascais, Setubal) Ferries
Tram
Trolleys (even the famous 28 one): see photo above
Funicular
Any questions? Feel free to ask them below! Here is the FAQ section (in Portuguese) for the cards: FAQ
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THE 5 ITEMS WE WERE SO HAPPY TO HAVE FOR ALL OF OUR TRIPS:
- Merrell women’s light hiking shoes – these are amazing because they are lightweight, but are extra grippy and helpful! I also have this pair that I always get compliments on: Merrell Rainbow shoes. Fernando loves his Asics trail runners which are also grippy and perfect for walking on cobblestone streets.
- Thermoflask water bottle – like a Hydroflask, but more affordable! We don’t go anywhere without these water bottles full of purified water.
- North Face Aphrodite 2.0 capris – Seriously, I wear these pants every.single.day! I couldn’t live without these ultra-comfy, lightweight pants that dry so quickly. They are 100% worth the money!
- Osprey Day Pack – this is an awesome lightweight backpack! We easily put the belongings we need at hand for traveling around the city and on public transportation.
- Travel-friendly chewable toothpaste tablets – these are so fantastic for keeping your teeth clean on the go!
OUR FAVORITE EUROPEAN SERVICES:
- DISCOVER CARS – If you want to rent a car while you’re in Europe, our favorite car rental aggregator is Discover Cars. We frequently rent cars, and they always have the best prices and great quality vehicles.
- iTalki – if you want to learn another language before traveling to Europe or while you’re there, we love iTalki. We highly recommend their language services.
- NORD VPN – perfect to use your technology in other countries!
- Airalo E-Sim – this let’s you use your phone anywhere in the world without having to get a physical sim! We use this all the time when we travel outside Europe!
- For fun activities in each city, check out Viator and their recommendations.
- Big Bus Tours – the perfect way to see the city when you first arrive!
- Get Transfer – transfers between all of the airports and cities
Question, you mention needing your residency card. It’s currently June, our SEF appointments aren’t until September. Do you know if we can get the pass with our atestido da residencia certificate or do we need to wait for our SEF appointments and when we have our residency cards? Thanks!
You could try to get the Navegante cards using your atestado de residencia. I would suggest emailing them at the email listed here and see what they say. Try to do your communicating in Portuguese, if possible. I used the deepl.com translator. Good luck!