Free Museums in Lisbon: What Is Still Free for Tourists

The Four Routes That Still Work

First, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum opens free to everyone, resident or not, every Sunday from 14:00 until it closes at 18:00. It reopened on 18 Jul 2026 after more than a year of works, and its museum ticket costs €16 ($17.84) on other days, so the Sunday window is a real saving.

Second, the Money Museum in Baixa charges nothing on any opening day. Third, children travel cheap or free: up to 12 at national museums including the Coach Museum and the Ajuda Palace, 0 to 6 at the Royal Treasure Museum, up to 12 at the Fado Museum, and under 18 at the Gulbenkian.

Fourth, the Lisboa Card turns around 50 sites free, from the Coach Museum to the Puppet Museum, for €31 ($34.57) per adult for 24 hours. The details for each route sit in the sections below, and the Lisboa Card for Museums page compares the card against single tickets.

The Acesso 52 Rule

Since 1 August 2024, free access at Museus e Monumentos de Portugal and Ministry of Culture sites works through Acesso 52. Portuguese citizens and residents in Portugal get 52 free days a year, on any weekday, across 37 sites. They show the Cartão de Cidadão at the ticket desk and the first visit registers the NIF. Several sites on the same day count as one of the 52 days.

Tourists do not qualify for any of those 52 days. The free Sunday morning walks into Jerónimos, Belém Tower, the Coach Museum or the Ajuda Palace that older blog posts still describe stopped on 1 August 2024. Children up to 12 stay free at national museums for everyone, which keeps families covered.

Municipal Museums Keep a Resident Sunday

EGEAC, the city's museum body, kept a separate rule of its own. Lisbon municipality residents enter EGEAC museums free on Sundays and holidays until 14:00. Museu de Lisboa sites such as Palácio Pimenta follow it. Visitors from outside the municipality pay: Palácio Pimenta is €5 ($5.58), Santo António €4 ($4.46), Teatro Romano €4 ($4.46), or €8 ($8.92) for a joint ticket valid 2 months.

Portuguese press reports that the rules will be reviewed, and the EU has opened an infringement case over the scheme. Nothing has changed for visitors so far.

The Rules Side by Side

The table lines up each free-entry rule, who qualifies and when it started, using the government announcement and the museums' own ticket pages.

Museu do Dinheiro, Free All Week It Opens

The Money Museum in Baixa is Banco de Portugal's museum in the former São Julião church, with Roman wall remains, and entry is free. It opens Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 with last entry at 17:30, and a call to +351 213 213 240 confirms the day you plan. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.

The Money Museum does not appear on the Lisboa Card free or discount lists, which does not matter because it is free anyway. Its full details sit on the Money Museum page.

Gulbenkian Museum, Free on Sundays

The museum is free for everyone on Sundays from 14:00. It closes on Tuesdays and on 1 Jan, Easter Sunday, 1 May and 24-25 Dec. For what is inside the collection, the Gulbenkian Museum page covers it room by room.

Windows for Everyone

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum charges nothing for everyone, resident or visitor, every Sunday from 14:00 to 18:00, last admission 30 minutes before closing. Under-30s holding a Cartão Gulbenkian also get the museum and all exhibitions free on Saturdays from 18:00 to 21:00, when the museum stays open late.

Museu do Oriente opens free to all on Fridays from 18:00 to 20:00. Its full ticket normally costs €10 ($11.15), so the Friday window saves the whole entry, and the museum also lists occasional free-entrance days. Check the hours before you go, because the Museu do Oriente page carries the current times. MACAM opens free on the first Monday of the month from 10:00 to 14:00. MACAM opens free on the first Monday of the month from 10:00 to 14:00.

Resident-only Windows

MAAT opens its first Sunday of the month free from 10:00 to 13:00, but only for Portuguese residents. MAC/CCB opens free to Portuguese residents every Sunday until 14:00. EGEAC municipal museums, including the Museu de Lisboa sites, open free to Lisbon municipality residents on Sundays and holidays until 14:00.

Visitors without Portuguese residency pay at all of these.

Free Windows Compared

The table compares each free window with who qualifies and what the museum charges at other times, using the museums' own ticket pages.

The Under-12 Rule

Children up to 12 inclusive enter national museums and monuments free. That covers the National Coach Museum, where the Coach Museum ticket costs €20 ($22.30) for an adult, and the National Palace of Ajuda, where the palace ticket costs €15 ($16.73) and 13 to 24-year-olds get 50% off at the desk. The Royal Treasure Museum sets its own bar: children 0 to 6 free, no weekly free day, adult ticket €11 ($12.27).

The Fado Museum, a municipal museum in Alfama, is free up to 12, and Lisbon residents under 23 enter free at all times. The Gulbenkian is free under 18, with 25% off ages under 30. At the Carmo Archaeological Museum the adult ticket is €7 ($7.81), and students, seniors and Lisboa Card holders pay €5 ($5.58). Ask at the desk about children.

Free Ages and Adult Prices

The table shows each museum's free child age next to the adult ticket price, from the museums' official ticket pages.

What the Card Makes Free

The adult Lisboa Card covers free entry at the National Coach Museum, the Royal Treasure Museum, the National Palace of Ajuda, the Chiado Museum, the National Tile Museum, the National Museum of Ancient Art, the Fado Museum, the Aljube museum, Casa Fernando Pessoa, the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum, the Puppet Museum, four Museu de Lisboa sites, the Lisboa Story Centre, Pilar 7 and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Prices run €31 ($34.57) per adult for 24 hours, €51 ($56.87) for 48 hours and €62 ($69.13) for 72 hours, with children's cards at €21 ($23.42), €28 ($31.22) and €35 ($39.03).

The card does not make everything free. The Gulbenkian gives card holders 20% off, not free entry. The Carmo Archaeological Museum gives €5 ($5.58) instead of €7 ($7.81). MAAT, MAC/CCB and Museu do Oriente take discounts of 15% to 20%. The Lisboa Card for Museums page works the 24-hour card against single tickets site by site.

Closed for Works

The National Tile Museum, the National Museum of Ancient Art, the National Costume Museum and the National Archaeology Museum are closed for works. All four sit on the Lisboa Card free list, so card holders lose those sites until they reopen. The Tile Museum's page carries its status: see the National Tile Museum and National Museum of Ancient Art pages for what to visit instead.

The Gulbenkian is the good news: it reopened on 18 Jul 2026 after more than a year of works, with a new numismatics room. Free entry ran to 26 Jul only, so Sundays from 14:00 are now the free slot again. The Carmo Archaeological Museum closes on Sundays entirely, which matters because Sunday is the main free day. The Carmo Convent page lists its Mon-Sat hours.

Sunday, the Tourist Free Day

Sunday afternoon at the Gulbenkian is the only big free tourist slot in the week. Arrive close to 14:00, because last admission falls 30 minutes before the 18:00 close. Sunday morning works around paid sites: the Coach Museum and the Ajuda Palace both open on Sundays.

Monday is the trap. Most national, EGEAC and municipal museums close, including the Coach Museum, the Fado Museum, the Puppet Museum, Museu de Lisboa and MAC/CCB. The Money Museum also closes Monday and Tuesday. What opens Monday: the Gulbenkian, MAAT, MACAM, the Royal Treasure Museum daily, Museu de Marinha from 13:00 in the colder months, and the Oceanário. Only MACAM is free on Monday, and only on the first Monday of the month from 10:00 to 14:00. The rest charge, so a Monday free-museum plan barely exists. Tuesday kills the Gulbenkian, MAAT and MACAM instead. The homepage week table maps every museum's day.

Free Options Against Closures

The table sets the free options for each day against the museums that close that day.