Hi. Im planning a trip to Portugal. I was planning 5 nights Lisbon and 4 nights Porto. Should I cut a day from Porto and return to Lisbon for another night to get a direct flight to US or should it be ok fly from Porto with a 2hr 25min layover in Madrid.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8448 posts
Depends on where you are flying to in the U.S. and if there will be another connection when you arrive.
We flew Lisbon to Philadelphia on American Airlines--not my favorite. They cancelled our direct connecting flight into my home airport and re-routed us thru Charlotte--not my favorite airport. International to domestic connections are often a long, long walk thru concourses. And time is often very short I am good for one connection run, but that second long connection gets tough--especially with a wife that is on a personal scooter.
Posted by
Chicago
1113 posts
It depends on your level of comfort with the two options.
2:25 should be fine to connect even with a bit of a delay coming into Madrid, but
MAD is a large airport and you may have a lot of walking (I am assuming everything
would be on one ticket, if not, then 2:25 is dicey).
LIS is much smaller and your flight is non-stop, so much less stress, but at the cost
of some time in Porto.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thanks. It would be on one ticket through American Airlines. The Porto to Madrid would just be operated by Iberian. It looks like i would probably arrive at terminal 4 and would only need to transfer to terminal 4S in Madrid. I wouldnt have any more transfers in the US.
Posted by
Chicago
1113 posts
MAD Terminal 4 to 4S is a 5 minute train ride, so that is not bad, but the terminals
themselves are pretty large, so be prepared for some walking.
While I agree with the advice you would get from most people on the forum to be in
the gateway city the night before, I think you're probably fine in this situation. With
all flights on one ticket, there is no risk financially if the inbound flight is late. 2:25
should be enough time (although I believe you'll have a passport check since you're
leaving the Schengen Zone).
There should be a fair # of flights between Lisbon and Porto, so a middle ground option
is to take a later afternoon or evening flight back to Lisbon, crash at an airport hotel for
8 hours, and then you have the direct flight back. You can still spend most of the day
doing things in Porto, so you're not really cutting off a day.