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Lisbon (LIS) is one of the busiest airports for UK holidaymakers in Portugal. As a non-EU traveller you now pass through the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) at the border here. This page covers when the border is busiest and quietest, and links you to an estimate for your own date and time.
Check Lisbon for your date and time →Based on 19 days of scheduled departures, here is how border pressure at Lisbon tends to fall across a typical week (how we work this out). It is a pattern, not a promise, and a one-off day can look nothing like it.
Pressure is usually heaviest between 07:00 and 09:00, when departing non-EU passengers bunch up at the border together.
While the airport is properly open, the lightest stretch is typically between 03:00 and 05:00.
Tuesday is normally the heaviest day of the week at Lisbon, and Monday the lightest. If your dates are flexible, that difference is usually worth more than the hour you pick.
Pattern updated 19 July 2026.
As one of Europe's busier airports, it can see long EES queues at peak times, especially on summer mornings and evenings when several non-EU flights leave close together.
There is no single right number. For your exact time, our tool estimates how busy the border is likely to be, from Very low to Very high, based on the non-EU flights sharing the hall with you.
See Lisbon's queue estimate →The first time you cross a border under EES, your fingerprints and photo are captured and stored, which takes a few minutes per traveller. That is fine for one person but adds up when a terminal of non-EU passengers arrives in the same hour. Once you are enrolled, later crossings are quicker, because your details only need to be verified.
Yes. Lisbon Airport is in Portugal, which operates the EU's Entry/Exit System. Non-EU travellers, including UK passport holders, are registered by EES on entry to and exit from the Schengen area, so it applies whether you are arriving or heading home.
There is no honest fixed figure, and nobody outside the border hall can give you one in minutes: how fast the queue moves depends on how many desks are staffed at that moment, which is not published anywhere. What can be worked out in advance is how crowded the border will be, because flight schedules are known. That is what we predict for Lisbon, from Very low to Very high, for your own date and time.
Yes. Lisbon Airport is in Portugal, which operates the EU's Entry/Exit System, so non-EU travellers, including UK passport holders, are checked by EES on entry to and exit from the Schengen area.
Across a typical week the lightest stretch is between 03:00 and 05:00, while the heaviest is between 07:00 and 09:00. Tuesday is usually the busiest day. Check your own date and time in the tool, because the pattern shifts week to week.
See every airport we cover, read what EES is and how the queues work, or find out how we predict border queues.
EES Prediction is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the European Union or eu-LISA. It offers an estimate of queue pressure, not official guidance or a guaranteed wait time. For the authoritative rules, check the European Commission's official EES information.