1st time traveling to Portugal and will be arriving on a late night flight (9:55pm). Trying to book a ride to our hotel but not sure how long it will take to clear customs... Traveling from US to London (layover) then to Lisbon.. Any advice would be greatly appreciated...
Thank you all for the below answers... I now have an understanding and plan.. Thank you again..
Customs is not the issue. It is walk through the Green Door -- Nothing to declare ! However, immigration/passport control could be your hang up. If you are the only plane, should be less than an hour but hard to predict if only one immigration officer is on duty and the other two are home ill.
Thank you for your response...
Customs will take you 30 seconds.
If taking a taxi is not feasible, perhaps your hotel can recommend a car service that can track you flight and be there for you. They likely would know how busy the airport is at that time of the day
US passports now are able to use the electronic gates at passport control. This cuts down on the time exponentially! Be sure to go through the first gates you come to. Very quick and easy.
And, yes, customs is nothing at Lisbon as long as you have nothing to declare.
If you book a car, they are accustomed to watching arrivals and estimating how long it will take you to clear the airport. They will be waiting for you. No worries.
We went through the electronic passport but there was a line .~ 25 min wait . Then waited 20 min for luggage to get on belt ( United Airlines from Newark NJ.
We got an Uber to go to hotel and could not figure out where to pick it up . There is a designated area where the driver MUST park , not pull up to curb, to pick up passengers. We did not know this and even after asking police officers this was not explained to us. So the driver was a bit annoyed and concerned that he would get a ticket as we got into his car while he was still waiting for a parking spot to open so he could park. He did not speak English so communication was difficult.
Thank you for that info. Arriving close to 10:00pm so I'm hoping it's not that busy. Using a car service recommend by the hotel so the driver should be waiting inside... Just hoping it all goes as planned..
Don’t assume it won’t be busy at night. For some reason, all the international flights seem to be clustered together.
If you have a car service, they will be waiting for you (sign with your name), when you exit baggage pick up and the almost non-existent customs. Very easy!
Hello,
I would advice that you request a transfer to your hotel, they have it cheaper than the streets usually.
Regarding customs are usually just pass by.
Enjoy :)
