On a Wednesday morning in October, we plan to take the 5:30am train from Porto to Lisbon’s Oriente station to then go to the airport to catch our flight. I’m a little worried about getting ground transportation at 4:30am or 4:45am in central Porto to the railway station.
Are taxis, Uber, Lyft typically available at those hours?
October is in a while: could you change your plans and stay in Lisbon for that last night?
You would have better rest and you would greatly reduce the risk of missing your flight due to delays or frequent Portuguese railway strikes...
Otherwise yes, taxis are available and your accommodation, if it has a reception, should be able to help with booking one to avoid any potential difficulty.
Thanks for the ideas. We’ll be staying at Moov Hotel which I believe is a RS recommended hotel. Our flight leaves Lisbon at 12:50pm so if trains do run we should be fine since the 5:30am train arrives Lisbon around 8:30am.
I agree with balso. Even though your plan gets you to Oriente Station well in advance of needing to be at the airport three hours before your flight, I would be a wreck worrying about all of those connections. Yes, you could easily take a taxi from your lodging to the Porto train station and you shouldn't have any trouble getting a taxi or Uber from Oriente Station to the airport (about a km away). BUT, have you read about all the train strikes in Portugal? Some announced just a day or two in advance? Are you willing to risk not being able to get from Porto to Lisbon on the day you fly home?
We were just there last month. Flew into Lisbon on Wednesday, spent the night near the airport, then flew home on Thursday. There are two very nice hotels just a short walk from the airport in Lisbon; we chose Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto. We took Uber into the central city for walking around and having dinner on Wednesday, then just had the short walk (we chose Uber and gave him a good tip) on Thursday morning.
I don't disagree that there might be a risk involved regarding train strikes. From Lisbon Oriente, there is a metro connection to the airport so that's not a problem.
Yes, there could be potential problems going from Porto to Lisbon but I think if we do need to switch midway there looks to be other alternatives including taking a bus which wouldn't be so horrible. I think we could still make switch to plans just a few days before if needed due to strikes. We could leave the evening before or early morning.
