I made a train reservation using the Portuguese Train website (to get the lowest price and the Senior 50% discount). The system pre-assigns a seat. But…I wanted a solo seat towards the back or front or the carriage to be near my luggage as luggage storage areas are at the end of each carriage (front & back). I tried everything but the system did not accept the change request. In the end, I realized that to change the seat assigned you must first click on the seat that is grayed out - the seat they've pre-assigned to you. Once you click on the assigned seat, you can then click on the seat you want. Counter-intuitive! You can then confirm that that is the seat you want, Once you do, it cannot be changed.
Posted by
near San Francisco
4649 posts
I agree, it's not easy to figure out! It took me a few tries to find how to change a seat. I'm sure lots of first time passengers never realize you can do it and then are disappointed when you can't change it later.
Posted by
Seattle, WA & Bordeaux, France
207 posts
I agree that the experience with the Portuguese train website is counter intuitive. We also had problems finding our assigned seats once we were on the train! I'm a seasoned train traveler and could not, for the life of me, find the Car number(s). Turns out they are listed inside, BETWEEN the cars. Apparently, one just hops on to any car then you traverse through the train cars until you find your designate car, then designated seat.
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
954 posts
The process is confusing. For your trip, I would recommend that you download the CP app. You can then have your train tickets available on the app for easy access during the trip.
Posted by
USA
350 posts
I agree that the experience with the Portuguese train website is counter intuitive. We also had problems finding our assigned seats once we were on the train! I'm a seasoned train traveler and could not, for the life of me, find the Car number(s). Turns out they are listed inside, BETWEEN the cars. Apparently, one just hops on to any car then you traverse through the train cars until you find your designate car, then designated seat.
I agree. I'm a pretty seasoned traveller and I also could not figure out how from the outside you could see your car number. At one point, I thought I had entered the right Car and thought someone else was seated at my seat. Why they don't paint the numbers on the exterior of the Car doesn't make sense to me. It's typically easier to position oneself to the right Car when you're outside standing on the platform, then entering the correct Car as opposed to creating a log jam going up an down the narrow aisle of the interior of the Car.
Posted by
150 posts
@Muriel and Sandy: Oh boy, you just activated my fears. I am planning a spring trip to Portugal and we need to get from Porto to Lisbon. I have traveled by train recently in France and Italy with my son and our two huge bags and finding the right car has been so stressful. We cannot quickly get through the cars with our stuff. I always get there super-early, and it just doesn't matter because all that matters is the five minutes before the train arrives and the seemingly 12 seconds you have to get on the train. (Getting off the train is stressful too, if it isn't the last stop.). The last train, I didn't realize until the last minute that the monitors were telling us where to stand to get on the correct car ... it was a good five minute walk from where we were waiting! It's weird, you would think with all of the train experience we have had recently, I would feel better, but in some ways, I actually feel worse. Is there no way to figure out which car from the outside? I have looked into a private transfer, but to justify the expense, I'd want to make some stops, and the potential stops somehow seem less than super exciting. I'd rather save that tour money for private tours in more interesting parts of Portugal.