Electric Scooters Lisbon: How to Rent E-Scooters in Lisbon + New 2023 Regulations

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Electric scooters Lisbon offers are becoming more and more popular among tourists. When we recently visited Lisbon, we looked at hotels we likes, food we would like to try, but didn’t really think about how electric scooters would fit into our Lisbon travel. Once we arrived in the city, we realised that renting an electric scooter in Lisbon is definitely something to add to your Lisbon trip.

Riding electric scooters in Lisbon was one of the funnest things we did as a couple in Europe and it allowed us to have more time to visit some of the best Portuguese landmarks in Lisbon such as Ponte 25 de Abril and the Belem Tower.

In this guide, you will find every bit of information you need to know about how you can rent an electric scooter in Lisbon from the cost to safety practices and our experience. 

In January 2023, Lisbon’s City council entered into an agreement according to which electric scooters in Lisbon can only be parked in certain locations. In addition, the agreement states that riders must not go beyond a speed limit of 20 km/ hour. Finally, this agreement states that the maximum number of available scooters is 1,500 per operator in winter and up to 1,750 during peak season (spring and summer). The council has indicated that more regulation is to come at the end of 2023 or 2024.

Do they have e scooters in Lisbon?

Yes, there are over 7,000 e-scooters in Lisbon split between the Lime, Bolt, Voi, Link, Freenow, Bird, Frog and Hive companies. The majority of scooters is used by visitors and locals to ride from Praça do Comércio in Baixa to the Belém Tower.

Where to find the electric scooters Lisbon offers

To put it simply, Lisbon electric scooters are everywhere throughout the city (hence the current January 2023 agreement and the upcoming regulation). When we visited Lisbon, we didn’t really know about them and after a few hours we started noticing them everywhere we went. Whether that’d be in the Alfama, on Cais do Sodré or on Rossio Square, you can find Lisbon scooter rental places in every touristy spot. 

You can find several of the e-scooters parked by bicycle racks throughout the city or you can also find them parked one by one quite randomly on the sidewalks. 

Some of the main spots for electric scooter rental Lisbon has to offer include:

• Praça do Comércio,
• Cais do Sodré, and
• Avenida da Ribeira das Naus along the Tejo river. 

Apps to rent an electric scooter Lisbon offers

There are lots of different apps which you can rent an electric scooter in Lisbon with. These apps include:

• Lime: Download the app (iOS or Android)
• Bolt: Download the app (iOS or Android)
• Link: Download the app (iOS or Android)
• Voi: Use this signup link
• Freenow: Download the app here and get £10.00 for your 1st trip with FREENOW with code wgl9d790r
• Bird: Download the app (iOS or Android) and use code OFTHPU which gives you €5 off your first ride
• Frog
• Hive: Use the Freenow app.

Renting a Lime e scooter Lisbon offers is popular as the Lime app is one of the most known companies but it’s important to note that it isn’t the only company here. 

The electric scooter Lisbon app that we used while in Lisbon is Bird and we loved it. Bird scooters Lisbon offers are really nice and sturdy. We explain more about how it works in the next section. 

How does it work to rent electric scooters in Lisbon? 

What’s great about renting an electric scooter in Lisbon is that it is fairly easy and straightforward. In all honesty, it shouldn’t take you more than 5-10 minutes (depending how good you are with technology) to get set up and on your way. 

If you are looking for an electric scooter hire Lisbon offers or a Lisbon electric scooter rental place, fear not, we got you! All apps work more or less the same and is easy to navigate. You’ll just have to follow these steps:

1- Find internet (wifi or data)

Renting an electric scooter in Lisbon requires either wifi or data so you can download and use the relevant app. In that regard, we recommend the following:

• If you have an EU phone plan, those usually allow you to use a certain amount of data from abroad without fees. Check your plan before heading to Lisbon to see if it is something you can avail of.
• If you don’t have an EU phone plan, your plan might still offer data usage while abroad. This is something you should check before heading to Europe.
• If you don’t have data on your phone, you can either use the wifi from a restaurant although that would limit you as you would need to rent an e-scooter near said restaurant.
• If you don’t have data, your best option is to buy some:
  • In shops, you will find MEO sim cards. They only cost €5 and give you 5 GB data for one week and also include calling time. For one week, you can use their 4G network coverage as well.
  • You can also purchase an e-sim card here.

Budget Travel tip: If you don’t want to buy two sim card (for each partner), you can just buy one and share your data with your partner! 

Now that you have data, let’s go ahead and hire your electric scooter!

2 – Find the electric scooter you want to rent

In Lisbon, you’ll see electric scooters everywhere. The way they are spread out throughout the city can be a bit random so you never know what app you are going to need. It is likely that if you have one of the apps we listed above, you’ll be able to find electric scooters everywhere but there is no need to download the apps before you’ve found the electric scooter you want to rent.

Note that if you travel with your partner, you, each, might rent from a different company depending on where you are and what electric scooter is available or charged.

3 – Download the app that matches the electric scooter

Once you have located your electric scooter, you will be able to see the app name on the scooter itself. Download the app.

As we said above, it is possible that you and your partner will be downloading different apps depending on what e-scooters are available. This is completely fine and won’t really matter in the end. 

4 – Enter your promo code

All electric scooter Lisbon apps offer discount codes that you can share with your friends and family. Once you’ve joined the app, you will also be able to share your own code. Codes allow you to give free rides to others and to get credit for yourself in exchange. 

Our code is OFTHPU and gives you €5 off your first ride with the Bird app.

5 – Create an account and add your payment details

You will need to create an account and add your payment details to be able to rent an e-scooter. This step only takes two minutes. You can link your account to a Paypal account, or your credit card. 

6 – Scan your e-scooter

To rent electric scooters Lisbon offers, you will need to scan the QR code on the scooter with your phone. The app is able to tell you whether the electric scooter in Lisbon is sufficiently charged or not. If it’s not, you will need to pick a different one. 

7- Get going

Once you have scanned and unlocked your electric scooter in Lisbon, you will need to get it started. With Bird, we had to push with one leg while hitting the throttle to kick start the engine. It was quite easy and didn’t really need practice! Afterwards, you just need to stand on it and control your ride with the throttle and the break. 

8 – Parking electric scooters in Lisbon (Updated according to the 2023 Council Agreement)

Once you are done, you will need to park your electric scooter in Lisbon. You can no longer leave the electric scooter anywhere you’d like. The app will tell you what zone you can park your scooter in.

The app will ask you to take a photo of it once it is parked as evidence that it was not stolen or broken. Once you have entered the photo on the app and everything is validated, you are free to go. 

Cost of renting electric scooters in Lisbon

You might be searching for the lisbon scooter rental price or the cheapest electric scooter Lisbon rental place. Fair enough! Well, the good news is that renting electric scooters in Lisbon, whether that be Lime scooters Lisbon offers or Bird electric scooters, remains pretty cheap. If you are traveling on a budget, this is a great activity!

Most apps have an “unlocking” fee of about €1. After that, apps charge about €0.15 cents per minute for the ride. Sometimes the app put a hold of about €3 on your card but doesn’t actually take out the money. 

Note that costs vary from one city and country to another so the price that applies to renting electric scooters in Europe might not be the same as in the USA.

Our experience: For a 4km ride of 21 minutes, we paid €4,15. 

Safety while driving an electric scooter in Lisbon

Electric scooters Lisbon offers can ride up to 27 or 28 km per hour on a flat road which is, as you can see, pretty fast. That can quickly become dangerous and no-one wants to ruin their vacation by a stupid electric scooter accident! This is why electric scooter apps in Lisbon have safety rules you must accept before hopping on one. 

When you join the app, you will see safety recommendations which include:

• being at least 18 to ride
• only one rider per electric scooter is allowed
• you should wear a helmet (more on this later)
• watch for pedestrians
• abide by the local safety and traffic rules
• be mindful of surfaces
• speed limit of 20km/h since the January 2023 agreement

When you join the app, you will be asked to confirm, that you will be wearing a helmet while riding. Needless to say that absolutely no-one was wearing a helmet on electric scooters Lisbon offers. I wonder how many tourists go on vacation with a helmet in their suitcase!

Our experience: To be honest, if you are prudent and stick to easy rides, you should be just fine but again, the app does ask you to wear a helmet. Now, don’t go doing tricks and jumping around with those scooters, it’s not what they are for and you would probably hurt yourself. We still would recommend wearing a helmet for safety.

Getting around Lisbon on electric scooters

Lisbon is an old city built on hills so you can imagine that it comes with cobbled streets, narrow sidewalks, and few bike lanes in the heart of the city. Electric scooters Lisbon offers obviously work best on flat surfaces just like roller skates or a bicycle would.

If you ride an electric scooter on a cobbled street, things will definitely get jingly and it might not be the most comfortable ride of your life. What is good with Lisbon is that it’s not all like that.

There are plenty of bike lanes and concrete parts of the city where it’s easy and comfortable to ride. We have set out some of our favourite places to ride below. 

Best spots to ride electric scooters Lisbon is known for

As we were saying in the sections above, Lisbon is an old town so streets are hilly and made of cobblestone which makes the ride quite shaky. However, there are also a number of perfect spots where you can ride an electric scooter in Lisbon. We have listed them below.  

Avenida Infante Dom Henrique

This Avenue lays along the Tejo River and the historical centre. Close to the Alfama district, the St George’s Castle and Lisbon Cathedral, it is a great place to end your day and watch the sunset over the river. Along the avenue, you will find people playing live music, selling snacks and chilling while looking at the river. 

This is a great spot to ride electric scooters Lisbon offers as it is both flat and made of concrete. There are bicycle lanes separate from the road and from the sidewalk which makes it safer to ride the e-scooters. You can find lots of e-scooters on the avenue. 

Cais do Sodré to the Belem Tower

This is where we rode our electric scooters in Lisbon and we loved it. This Belem tower area is quite far from the historical centre of Lisbon and it takes up to 2 hours to get there by walking. That’s why we decided to ride our e-scooters here. 

Here, the road is flat and you can ride on the bicycle lanes so it is completely safe. Your first stop will be Cais do Sodré. Then you can ride to the Ponte 25 de Abril which is the red suspension bridge of Lisbon. The bridge was built by the same company as the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and is definitely a must-see. From there you can ride across the Alcantara to the Monument to the Discoveries and all the way to the Belem Tower. 

This ride took about 20 minutes and cost €4,15 for each electric scooter with the Bird app. 

Any questions on the electric scooters in Lisbon ? Drop them in the comments or on insta and we will get back to you asap.