Emergency information in Portugal
112 covers police, ambulance and fire nationwide and is free from any phone. Lisbon has a dedicated tourist police line on +351 213 421 634.
Emergency numbers
112 covers police, ambulance and fire across the country and is free from any phone.
- Single European emergency number (police, ambulance, fire): 112
- Lisbon tourist police: +351 213 421 634
EU citizens are entitled to necessary care with an EHIC. Third-country nationals travelling on a visa must hold insurance with at least EUR 30,000 of cover.
Not an emergency? Call SNS 24 first
808 24 24 24 is the national health line - press 9 for English. Nurses triage you around the clock and tell you whether to sit tight, see a doctor or go to a hospital.
- SNS 24: 808 24 24 24, then press 9 for English. Clinical triage, advice and referral, 24 hours a day, every day.
- It is a nurse, not a switchboard. You describe the symptoms and are told whether to treat it where you are, see a doctor, or go to an emergency department - and which one.
- Administrative questions are answered 08:00-22:00, the clinical service around the clock. Psychological support runs through the same number.
- It costs a national landline call, not a premium rate - it is a "blue number", so keep it as the default before you take a taxi to a hospital.
- 112 is still the number if someone cannot wait. Chest pain, breathing trouble, heavy bleeding, a fall from height: dial 112 and ask for an ambulance.
The line that sits between a pharmacy and an emergency room
Portugal's emergency departments triage hard, and a walk-in with something that is not urgent can mean a long wait behind everyone who is. SNS 24 exists to sort that out before you travel across a city: qualified nurses take the call, work through the symptoms with you and either advise you at home, refer you to a health centre, or tell you to go straight to hospital.
| Service | Number | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency (ambulance, police, fire) | 112 | 24 hours |
| SNS 24 health line (press 9 for English) | 808 24 24 24 | clinical 24 hours; administrative 08:00-22:00 |
Press 9 for English. The prompt is in Portuguese, which is where most visitors give up on the number.
The same line carries psychological support, and it is the route to ask about a prescription you have run out of rather than a symptom you have developed.
Storms, heat and wildfires: reading the warnings
IPMA publishes district-by-district warnings in green, yellow, orange and red for rain, wind, thunderstorms, sea conditions, heat, cold, fog and snow. In summer the fire risk map is the one that closes roads.
- IPMA is the official source, in English, at ipma.pt - warnings are issued per district, not per country, so check the one you are in.
- Four levels: green, yellow, orange and red, covering thunderstorms, coastal conditions, rain, wind, snow, low and high temperature, and fog.
- An orange or red coastal warning is about the sea itself, and it is why a beach flies a red flag on a bright day - the surf on the Atlantic coast is a stronger force than it looks.
- Wildfire season peaks in the dry months. Fires close motorways and rural roads at no notice, so a route that looked fine in the morning may not be there in the afternoon.
- Do not call 112 for information. The line is for reporting an emergency; warnings and road closures are published.
Warnings are issued by district
IPMA, the national meteorological institute, publishes weather warnings for each district in four levels - green, yellow, orange, red - covering thunderstorm, coastal event, rain, wind, snow, low temperature, high temperature and fog. The English site carries the same map as the Portuguese one, and a red warning for high temperature or coastal conditions is not decoration: it is the reason a beach is closed or a hiking trail is shut.
Fire is the seasonal risk
Rural Portugal burns in the hot months, and the practical consequences for a traveller are road closures and smoke rather than danger in a city. Two habits are worth having:
- Check before you drive inland, not after you have set off; a motorway can close in an hour.
- Never stop to watch a fire or fly a drone near one. Both are ways to obstruct the people working it, and the second one grounds the aircraft dropping water.
If you are caught near a fire, the instruction from the civil protection service is always the same - leave in the direction you are told to, not the direction you came from.
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