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In Lisbon - My experience getting/being here

Hello - currently in Lisbon, traveling from SLC -> AMS -> LIS via Delta/KLM. 3 traveling, 2 adults one teen. All vaccinated. We took a PCR test on a Friday morning with a Sat afternoon departure from SLC. Just wanted to offer a sense of the experience at this moment.

Checked in at Delta, presented the printed PCR results and our Portugal locator card which we prepared the night before. That gave us a QR code and a printed form from the Portugal government with flight and seat info, etc. At the gate we were offered a Netherlands passenger form as well as a quarantine form to complete. I had already completed the passenger form, but was told the quarantine form was needed even though we were transiting. Those were collected on the flight.

In AMS we arrived with about an hour layover and as we stood in very long line for immigration, those with imminent connecting flights were allowed to skip to the front of the queue and go make the connections. Definitely would not have made it otherwise. Immigration was quick and simple with all of the documentation.

Once in Lisbon, we did not need to go through immigration again as we had already come into the EU/Schengen area. We rented an apartment in Baixa and had an electronic key entry, so we did not meet anyone face to face and were not asked for a negative test. We have been moving about freely around Lisbon and have eaten outdoors or cooked at our apartment. Everyone is masked indoors and on transit and many people hold their masks when walking outside. Everyone seems to be wearing one or have one wrapped on their arm ready to use. This is my first time in Portugal but it does not seem wildly crowded. There are many people but it is easy to move around and feel COVID safe even without a mask on 100% of the time.

Enjoying the wonderful city and off to Faro on Friday for a week and then up to Porto. Very happy we got ourselves prepared, followed the rules and came.

Posted by
169 posts

So glad you made it - event free!
Have a wonderful trip and please - keep us updated.

Posted by
33 posts

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, as I am hoping to travel to Lisbon in early December. It's nice to hear the experiences that other people are having. If you have a chance, let us know how the return leg of your trip goes, too. Thanks, and enjoy Portugal!

Posted by
8 posts

Thanks for sharing with the community. I arrive this coming Sunday and will report my experience as well.

Posted by
1 posts

Thank you so much for posting this. I'm seriously considering solo traveling to Portugal for 10 days or 2 weeks in mid-October, to "get my feet wet" after waiting for years to get there. (Also and originally planning a much longer trip for spring 2022.) I've wondered whether I'm nuts to even consider it right now--my family will probably think so--and whether the logistics are just too complicated. For one thing, I'd have assumed the connection in AMS would have been much too short. I'm keeping an eye on the Covid news and looking for refundable bookings. Your story is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

Posted by
99 posts

Thanks michaelvt for sharing your experiences! It sounds very similar to our experiences in August (except we were MSP->JFK to LIS). But had a smooth experience as well.

htwordplay- I don't think you are crazy to want to go in October- frankly I think you are brilliant to sneak in a trip yet this fall. There will likely be even less crowds than before. If you just make sure you have enough time on your connecting flight through AMS (if that is the route you will go) it should be fine.

Yeah, you do your negative Covid test before you go and fill out a form. And yes, the negative test to come home to the US of course. A number of us on the forums went this summer and more scheduled for fall, so please let us know if we can answer questions if it helps you feel more comfortable.

For us, one of the big curves was that literally none of our friends were travelling internationally- we were the first ones to go international. And only one other couple that are friends went after us (went to Venice after they heard we booked Lisbon). The forums were so helpful for me to plan since I didn't have others around me doing this. If you are looking for support plan something, we are all here to help!

Posted by
15 posts

Not much of an update as we have been traveling through the Algarve by car. Mask compliance is still very good. We’ve eaten all of our meals outdoors because why wouldn’t we! It was rainy for a bit yesterday and we stopped into the large shopping center near Loulé. It was extremely busy but we observed 100% mask compliance indoors. All in all still feel very comfortable and safe.

Off to Oporto on the AP tomorrow!

Posted by
21 posts

We are planning on trip to Portugal and Spain October 7. We are flying from ORD with a 2hr layover in Toronto then to Lisbon. We booked a flight to Barcelona that leaves 2 hrs 15 minutes after Lisbon arrival. I am very worried now that we will not make connecting flights due to airport delays. The rest of the trip Barcelona to Madrid, Seville, Salema and end in Lisbon we plan to do by train and car. (except for bus from Sevilla to Algarve). Michael, where did you obtain the Portugal Locator card? What do you think about the 2 hr layover times I have?

Posted by
15 posts

Hi Jores. You can find the Portugal locator card here:

https://portugalcleanandsafe.pt/en/passenger-locator-card

It helped filling it out and printing it ahead of time.

It’s hard to say about layover times but it is reasonable to assume things will be slower in immigrations lines. Based on my experience in Amsterdam I’d suggest getting in line ASAP when you land and if things start getting too tight, find an agent or even police and let them know you have a tight connection. Strictly speaking the Netherlands didn’t want us there very long😬.

Best of luck! It’s so easy to be incredibly anxious. We were too. But things have gone well with preparation.

Good luck!

Posted by
38 posts

We're going to Lisbon and Porto in about a month, so this has been super helpful! Thanks for all the info. Will be curious to hear about your time in Porto too and curious about your experiences getting the COVID tests needed to fly back home.

Posted by
484 posts

Thanks for the information. I'm going to Portugal next month and looking forward to it. Connecting in Newark with UA.

Posted by
15 posts

We are now back home in the US so I thought I would finalize this post.

We rented an apartment in Porto that was managed by a hotel, and on check-in we were asked for our CDC vaccine card and passport. We were not required to take a test. The hotel was perfectly fine with our CDC card. In and around Porto, mask compliance was good and it was very busy and crowded. We stayed right in the heart of the old city center, just off the river. There was a marathon event on Sunday with several thousand runners, so that added to the overall crowds I suspect.

On weekends, Porto restaurants were observing the test/EU vaccine certificate requirement for eating indoors. We continued to eat outdoors which is what we wanted to do anyway. Porto is beautiful and we had a very nice time.

We took the Alpha Pendular train from Porto back to Lisbon Oriente on Sunday. I imagine the air filtration isn't as robust on the CP trains as on an airliner, so we wore KN95 or N95 masks on board the trains. Compliance for mask wearing was 100% on all trains we experienced, including the Lisbon urban lines and metro.

Our hotel the night before departure was near the LIS airport and we were again asked for our CDC vaccine cards on checkin, but no test required. I had purchased a six pack of Binax AG card tests from emed.com prior to leaving and we did our observed testing in the hotel room. For us, the process with emed was simple and quick. Took about half an hour to do each test, but much of that was waiting for the card result to finalize. You stay connected to emed while waiting so that you don't have to wait again in a queue. I was happy I took a small Macbook Air, as you have to log into the emed website and not the Navica results app. Results were provided as a PDF sent via email and those arrived within 15 minutes as promised. The airport accepted the results without issue.

The flight from LIS to AMS left at 5:00am so we had to get up at 2:00am to get to the airport and get through all of the checkin. I was very happy we gave ourselves that much time, as the lines were long but efficient. AMS is a huge airport to make transfers to other concourses and we had just about an hour to transfer. Passport line was again pretty busy and my 13yo daughter got hung up in the self passport checkin as it requires passengers to be 16yo. We had been instructed by airport security to get into the self checkin line, so my wife and daughter had to get back into a different line, making the transfer very tight.

Overall we did not have any issues traveling. We were prepared, had the right documents and knew what to do and to expect. We had a marvelous trip and are already planning our return in the spring. Cheers! Michael

Posted by
70 posts

Good article in the Washington Post today about Portugal being one of the most vaccinated countries in the world at 85+% of their population. Seems like a good time to go. We loved Portugal!

Posted by
9 posts

Just departed Porto after 10 day visit. It was lovely! We took along the binax video COVID tests purchased online through Optum Health for return to US. Completing the test using our cell phone in our hotel room was quick and easy.
When we arrived in Porto on Sunday 10/10 it was very busy. The hotel staff explained that Spain had a long holiday weekend so that added to the congestion. By Wednesday the crowds were smaller.
Did not experience crowds in Lisbon, Coimbra, or Braga.
Exceptional mask compliance in Portugal. Very friendly and helpful people in every place we went.