Portugal Phone Area Codes

How to call Portugal and call abroad from Portugal

From abroad you dial the international access code (00), the country code (351) and the 9 digits of the number. That is what ANACOM gives in its two published examples: from Paris to ANACOM’s head office in Lisbon, 00 351 217 211 000; from London to a mobile, 00 351 9xx xxx xxx. On a mobile phone the + stands for 00: +351 217 211 000 is the same number.

Inside Portugal you always dial all 9 digits, even for a local call: there is no long-distance prefix and no leading 0. Calling ANACOM in Lisbon from Porto is 217 211 000, exactly as from Lisbon. ANACOM calls this a closed dialling plan: the area code is part of the number. To call abroad from Portugal you dial 00, the country code and the number (for France, 00 33 and the number).

If you are calling a Portuguese office from outside the country, use the same pattern: the AIMA contact centre, for example, is +351 217 115 000 (see the AIMA stores page). On price, ANACOM notes that international calls you make usually cost more than national ones and are outside the Roam Like at Home rules; calls you receive from abroad are, as a rule, free. For regulated intra-EU calls billed by consumption, the limit is €0.19 per minute and €0.06 per SMS, before VAT (ANACOM, rule in force since 15 May 2019).

Calling Portugal from abroad, from Brazil and from Spain

The rule is the same in every country: the international access code of the place you are in, then 351 and the 9 digits. Nothing is dropped, because Portuguese numbers have no leading 0 and no long-distance prefix, and landline and mobile work the same way: a Braga landline is 253 xxx xxx in Portugal and +351 253 xxx xxx abroad; a mobile is 9xx xxx xxx and +351 9xx xxx xxx. On a mobile phone the + replaces the international access code, whatever country you call from.

Area codes: the complete list of 52 codes

ANACOM divides the country into 51 geographic numbering areas and gives each a code: 21 (Lisbon), 22 (Porto) and 50 three-digit codes, 52 in all because Braga has two (253 and 257). Each area is named after a main locality. ANACOM publishes the name of the area, not a municipality-by-municipality list: a 255 number belongs to the Penafiel area, which also serves other concelhos around it. The district column below is the district of the concelho that gives the area its name; to check a specific town, look at the districts and municipalities page and ANACOM’s area search.

Lisbon (21) and Porto (22): why they have only two digits

When the current plan came into force on 31 October 1999, the Lisbon and Porto areas got two-digit codes (21 and 22) and 1,000 blocks of 10,000 numbers, while the other areas got three-digit codes and 100 blocks. That is why every number starting 210, 211, 212 and all the 21x are Lisbon, and 220, 223, 229 and all the 22x are Porto. Anyone searching for «area code 211» or «area code 223» is really looking for 21 and 22.

Braga: 253 and 257

ANACOM opened code 257 for Braga by a decision of 16 June 2017, to get ahead of the exhaustion of 253. The last free block of 253 was assigned on 5 December 2019, so new blocks in the area come from 257. Existing 253 numbers stay as they are, and ANACOM warns that Braga numbers can start with 253 or 257.

Madeira and the Azores

Madeira has a single code, 291 (Funchal). The Azores have three: 292 (Horta), 295 (Angra do Heroísmo) and 296 (Ponta Delgada). ANACOM names only the locality, not the islands. According to a public, unofficial list (telemoveis.com), 292 covers Faial, Pico, Flores and Corvo; 295 covers Terceira, Graciosa and São Jorge; and 296 covers São Miguel and Santa Maria. Treat that split as indicative.

2xx prefixes that do not exist

Not every nine-digit number starting with 2 exists. ANACOM’s search does not find the codes 230, 237, 240, 246, 247, 248, 250, 260, 264, 267, 270, 280, 287, 288, 290, 293, 294, 297, 298, 299. A landline number starting with any of these prefixes does not belong to any Portuguese numbering area.

Mobile prefixes: 91, 92, 93 and 96

ANACOM names four prefixes for the mobile telephone service: 91, 92, 93 and 96. Any other nine-digit number starting with 9 (94, 95, 97, 98, 99) is not among the mobile prefixes ANACOM names, and the checker flags it.

The prefix no longer tells you the operator. Since portability exists, people who switch company can keep their number, so a 91, 92, 93 or 96 number can be with any operator. Portability works within the same service: you cannot take a mobile number to a landline service or the other way round. Numbers for public payphones, temporary accesses and numbers inactive for more than three months cannot be ported.

Numbers 30, 800, 808, 707, 760 and others: what they are and what they cost

Numbers that do not start with 2 or 9 belong to service ranges. The table gathers what ANACOM says about each prefix. The prices are the maximum caps set by ANACOM, before VAT; your operator may charge less.

Consumer-protection rules

• The price of any special-rate number must appear in the general conditions of your contract with the operator, which must be given to you before you sign.
• A contact line in a consumer relationship may not cost more than the «base tariff» (article 9-D of the Consumer Protection Act). ANACOM, following the EU Court of Justice (case C-568/15), takes the view that a call to a customer-service line cannot exceed the cost of a normal call to a geographic landline or a mobile.
• On that reading, geographic, mobile, nomadic (30), 800, 808 and 809 numbers are within the base tariff. 707, 708, 760, 761 and 762 are outside it.
• On 21 June 2019 ANACOM recommended that companies do not use 707, 708, 760, 761 and 762 for contact with consumers. It is a recommendation, not a law: ANACOM asked Parliament and the Government to change the law accordingly.
• When a company publishes several contact numbers (for instance a 707 and a geographic one), you can choose the cheapest. In the ANACOM pages I consulted I did not find a legal obligation to offer an alternative geographic number; what ANACOM writes is that users always have that choice where one exists.
• Calls to 7xx and 8xx numbers do not usually count towards the minutes in your tariff and are paid separately. Operators are not obliged to block these ranges, but they may offer that option.

Short and emergency numbers

In an emergency you dial 112, the European emergency number: it covers police, fire brigade and medical emergencies, should only be used in urgent situations, is free and works across the EU, including on roaming. If you dial it by mistake, do not hang up: say straight away that it was an error, so the operator does not have to call you back. The list below gathers the short numbers and public helplines I confirmed on official pages.

Numbers 116 xxx are harmonised European social-value numbers, a range ANACOM designated in 2007 for that purpose. The APAV line (116 006) and the missing-children line (116 000) are in the table; for the other 116 numbers I found no confirmation on official pages that they are in operation in Portugal, so I do not list them.

The SNS page that lists the health lines carries an update date of September 2021: confirm each line’s hours before relying on them.

Suspicious calls: what the official sources say

In the ANACOM pages I read there is no list of Portuguese «scam» prefixes: what ANACOM describes are call patterns. The three it has published in recent years:

• A ring from an unknown international number (starting 00 or +). Do not call back: it may be a scheme to get you to call and charge you an amount that can be high. Countries and numbers keep changing, so blocking numbers does not solve everything, and your operator cannot stop calls from a country because it cannot tell legitimate from fraudulent ones. ANACOM warning from February 2022.
• Calls that seem to come from 800 206 665, ANACOM’s number, but are spoofed. On 7 April 2026 ANACOM warned that these calls, made by people posing as staff, do not come from ANACOM, and recommended not answering or returning calls from that number and not confirming personal data.
• Fake ANACOM inspection officers. Between 25 May and 8 June 2026 ANACOM received more than 180 complaints about calls where someone claimed to be its staff, spoke of crimes involving the recipient’s number and sometimes quoted a Polícia Judiciária case number. ANACOM says it makes no contacts of this kind and does not disclose users’ personal data.

The rule common to all three: be suspicious, confirm the caller’s identity through an official channel, and never give or confirm personal data. If you are a victim, ANACOM points to a complaint at the PSP or GNR in your area of residence, or directly to the Ministério Público; ANACOM does not investigate these cases. With 7xx and 8xx numbers the issue is mostly price: check the cap in the table above before returning a call.