Ferries from Belém

Most ferries start early. This one does not: the Belém service to Trafaria and Porto Brandão runs on an afternoon-and-evening timetable, roughly 13:30 to 22:00, which makes it one of the few scheduled crossings in this guide you cannot catch before lunch.

The route

Boats run from Belém to Porto Brandão and Trafaria on the south bank of the Tagus, operated by Transtejo & Soflusa. Porto Brandão takes about 10 minutes and carries 20 sailings out and 21 back in our timetable; Trafaria takes around 15 minutes with 4 sailings each way. Forty-nine in total.

Trafaria sits at the mouth of the river near the Costa da Caparica beaches; Porto Brandão is the smaller stop between.

⚠ Do not plan a morning crossing

The published pattern starts in the early afternoon. A visitor planning to see the Belém monuments in the morning and cross at midday will find the terminal shut.

If you need an earlier boat across the Tagus, Cais do Sodré runs to Cacilhas from before six in the morning — but that lands you several kilometres east of here, in a different part of the south bank entirely.

Where the terminal sits

Belém is Lisbon's monument quarter: the Jerónimos monastery, the Torre de Belém and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos are all within a short walk of the ferry ramp, along with the Coach Museum and the cultural centre.

The ferry is a working link that happens to leave from the middle of all that, which is why the terminal is easy to walk past without noticing it.

Getting to the ramp

The Cascais suburban railway and the tram line both serve Belém, and the ferry terminal is on the river side of the tracks. That crossing of the railway is the fiddly part — allow a few minutes more than the map suggests.

What it is good for

Trafaria is the practical route to the northern end of Costa da Caparica without going round by road, and the crossing itself gives the view of Belém from the water that the monuments were designed to be seen from.

As a piece of transport it is minor. As a way of ending an afternoon in Belém, it is better than the bus.