Booking Train from Faro to Lisbon in September

Hi Debbie. A few thoughts...

Extremely unlikely that the train is full. Probably no need to book this far in advance. We were just in Portugal (loved it) and I booked when we were there, I think 2 days in advance; no problem.

I just tried the CP website, picked a random date of September 23, and had no trouble getting all the way to payment process for the 9:15 am departure from Faro. One thing is to try a different station as your destination; looks like the train goes to the Oriente station. From any of the 3 Lisbon stations, it's easy to get to the other stations via rail or metro. What date / station did you try?

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your response. I think you are correct in that these train tickets need to be purchased in Portugal. From what I can see, it appears that local train rides cannot be purchased on line at all.

We are targeting September 23 and even tried a few days before and after, all with the same results. The Faro trains go into three different train stations in Lisbon. We tried all three. Same results.

Do you know if we can buy these tickets in Lisbon? Or, do we have to wait until we are in Faro? We fly into Lisbon and are joining a Rick Steves tour that ends in Porto. We then fly from Porto to Faro and return back to Lisbon via train a few days before our flight home.

Thanks!

Debbie

Hi Debbie. Perhaps I wasn't clear in my response. We waited to buy our tix in Portugal, but ONLY because we were unsure of our itinerary. I had practiced buying a month or two in advance from the US as you are doing now (and as I tried today) and had no problem - I was able to select a train, select seats, start the payment process, etc. I just cancelled before I made final payment.

I used the CP website, not the app. I'm curious - have you tried the website instead of the app? As I said earlier, when I tried today on the website from the US randomly picking the 9:15 train on September 23, I had no problem. What train are you trying to select, and at what point in the process are you getting the error?

Hi Bob,

I had been using both my phone and my iPad and trying the app and cp.pt web site. I was selecting the Lisboa Rossio train station as my destination. A number of train options were displayed, but no buttons were available to make a selection. There was no error message stating that no tickets were available for that date. I also tried Lisboa Oriente on my iPad and it had the same result.

Today I used my laptop and had the same results with Lisboa Rossio filter. Then I tried Lisboa Oriente. I finally saw a button to purchase. I think it was a combination of the iPad/Phone not showing the purchase button and even the web site not showing that Lisboa Rossio was not a real option -- at least for that date. (Per Google search, it was not an allowable option from Faro.)

We chose Oriente and have purchased our tickets. The seats were defaulted, but they allowed me to make a change prior to purchase. I so seldom use my laptop. I certainly won't be bringing my laptop on vacation. So, I have a tendency to do everything on my phone or iPad. What get's crazy is that Rail Nija had the Rossio destination as an allowable journey and was going to allow me to buy our tickets several months ago. I had heard to stay far away from Rail Nija and I am glad that I heeded that warning. The trip cost only 65 Euros. Rail Nija forces a USD purchase only and was going to charge $204!

Thanks for your help!

Great! Glad you persisted and got it resolved. I hope you enjoy Portugal as much as we did!

Just for future reference for anyone taking the train from Faro to Lisbon Oriente.
There is a change at Tunes. Last time I made the trip, the train from Faro (destination Lagos) stopped at Tunes where all pax for LIS disembarked and the Oriente train was waiting on the opposite platform making for an easy transfer.
If I recall correctly anyone over 65 got a senior discount when booking.you have to show your passport to get the discount.
We rode 2nd class outbound, as first class tickets were sold out. However on the return leg we upgraded and it was great, it cost hardly anything to upgrade. We enjoyed the trip.
Have fun! The Portugese people are lovely and very helpful.