Driving in Lisbon – find Baixa-Lisboa from the big roundabout

The Baixa part of Lisbon consists of the downtown area of Praça do Comércio (also known as Terreiro do Paço), the busy old merchant streets of central Baixa (Baixa Pombalina), the Rossio square and the Figueira square.

Often, when driving in Lisbon, you will enter and exit the Baixa area through Avenida da Liberdade; the largest avenue of Lisbon city centre with 4 lanes in each direction.

Strictly speaking the Avenida area is not part of Baixa, but insofar that the good connection between the two areas are paramount for traffic, the Avenida area is sometimes referred to as Baixa-Avenida or even Baixa.

The Marques Pombal great roundabout of Lisbon

The focal point of traffic into Lisbon and the Lisbon baixa area is the Marquês Pombal island. Roundabout is rotunda in Portuguese, and this one is famous for its beauty as well as for its congestion.

A lot of accidents of the less serious kind take place in the Marquês de Pombal roundabout, which sports 5 lanes and in the middle a square (named Praça Marquês de Pombal) containing a magnificent monument for the marquis himself.

Take care in the Marques Pombal roundabout

It is advisable not to study the Marquis Pombal statue from behind the wheel as the roundabout requires all your attention.

In a Portuguese roundabout, cars in the roundabout have right of way. Cars in the inner circles have right of way to the outer circles, but the rules seldom translates fully into reality.

It is worth noting that taxi drivers in Lisbon can fit their vehicles into any gap in traffic, and patience is not always their strongest point. On top of this, traffic lights are installed within the largest of all Lisbon roundabouts itself. Paying extra attention to cars around you is the best advice.

The Marques Pombal tunnel

The Marques Pombal tunnel entry is situated in the westernmost exit from the roundabout.

The tunnel, inaugurated in 2007, leads to motorways in the directions of Cascais (A5 – The Lisbon Coast) and South (A1) over the Vasco da Gama Bridge.

Speed cameras are installed in the tunnel (max 50 km/h) and drivers are required to switch on their headlights

Going to the Baixa area you will want to head South towards lower grounds passing the headquarters of the newspaper Diário da Notícia on your left side.

The Margues Pombal monument in the centre of the large square presents the Marques on top of a column, his hand resting on a lion – a sign of power.

If you are able to relax navigating the ‘Lions Den’ of Lisbon traffic in rush hour, you have reached a level, where you can comfortably take on all further city driving challenges in Portugal.