I'll be visiting Lisbon for a week in late fall and I'v read NOT to use the taxi to and from the International airport into Old town because the drivers are notorious for ripping tourist off. So what is the best way in and back out ? what about in the city? I'll be hoteling in the Old section called Baixa and maybe Alhama. if not taxi how does one find the hotel on the hilly areas.?

Not my experience....I was in Lisbon in Oct last year
Read the same opinions, but did not find it to be true.
Took taxis to and from airport and in town( late at night).
No problems at all.
Metro is very good and safe. I was not fond of street cars...very slow.

I hadn't heard that about Lisbon taxis, but my experience with them is a bit dated. Lisbon has excellent public transport. There is a bus in from the airport, or the metro now goes out there. There are also buses and trams around town, although if you have much luggage I would be inclined to take the airport bus to Praca dos Restaurodores and a taxi from there.

See: http://www.ana.pt/en-US/Aeroportos/l...Transport.aspx

Where did you read about the taxis being untrustworthy? It was not my experience. Frankly, taxis in Lisbon are so inexpensive and the airport is so close to the central part of Lisbon that it should not be very expensive even if the driver were padding the fare.

We took taxis some places (mostly when it was hot and we were tired of waiting for buses) and used buses other times. In both cases some were great and occasionally some of the drivers were rude or unhelpful. (only in one case did I feel ripped off by a taxi driver) probably the same as in any large city. definitely helps if you take the time to learn a little portuguese, people responded really favorably when I made the effort to chat with them a bit in their own language.

We got out of our first taxi while still on airport property as he refused to use his meter. We were picked up quickly by an honest driver. We bought a transit pass that covered almost every type of transportarion, metros, trams, elavadores.

Dear charman

In fact you’re correct, some problems may occur, but only when you take the taxi from the Airport, fortunately inside the city that problem will not happen so there are 2 options:

1st – You strongly let the drive know that you will not pay more than 15€ (more or less the maximum fare)

2nd- You take alternative means of transportation, Subway or the Aerobus.

Best regards

Let me tell you one of my experiences with a taxi in Lisbon.

Myself, DH and two DF were returning to the Baixa area from a delightful dinner at a friend's house late one evening.

The driver was really not quite sure how to get to our hotel. He spoke very little English and we were having a difficult time explaining just how to get there.

When he was about to go around the same block for a second time he TURNED THE METER OFF until he found our hotel.

We used all kinds of transportation in and around Lisbon. Except for the attempted pickpocketing experience on Tram 28 we found the transportation system to be good and inexpensive including and especially taxis.

thank you all....gosh I wonder why taxi people are as such around the world, except in japan...cuz that really makes the visit right away with some pressure to not enjoy the experience...gosh..!! I can't remember where I read the tip ( I may have on Trip Advisor)....but the suggestion was to take the red line metro to town and taxi from there...I will be staying in Baixa maybe Chiada area...so as you say they shouldn't rip me so bad , if they ever do. And I will be taking Tram 28 for a ride so I will watch the pick pocketers....I always carry nothing anyway...just wallet in my inside jacket pocket...no packages or camera bags etc...I try to look as local as can be although I already look foreign.

Any more comments and suggestions are welcome..thanks again all...

We've had great experiences with taxis in Lisbon. We even had one shut off the meter because he was embarrased that he didn't know the exact location on a new restaurant he was unfamiliar with.

If heading out to the airport, reserve your taxi in advance.

thank you Robert

I took taxis all over Lisbon (they are cheap!) and never had a problem caused by the driver. But in our case, since we don't speak Portuguese and many drivers don't speak English, we found it really helped to write down the address of our destination on a piece of paper to show to the driver because we tended to completely mispronounce the Portuguese, puzzling the first few drivers who took us.