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Sleeping in Porto Airport

I am trying to decided that best place ( that is not crazy $$$$) to sleep prior to a 6 am flight from Porto to London.

Has anyone spent the night at the airport. It appears it is opened all night but most of the information is pre Covid

My Rick Steves tour ends the morning of my flight so I could stay at the tour hotel. Not sure how early to be at the airport for such an early flight.

I could just crash at the airport. Head that ways after the goodbye dinner not sure how long this will last but if i am just hanging out at the airport I guess it does not matter what time I get there.

The airport does not appear to have sleep pods that I would have used.

Posted by
5687 posts

I stayed at the Park Hotel Porto the night before and just walked to the terminal in the morning. My flight out wasn't nearly that early though. It's a small airport. Not sure if it is open 24/7 or whether you can crash there. Maybe you can sleep on the floor of someone else on the tour who is flying out from OPO also same morning? There is an airport train (which I took to the hotel the night before) - not sure how early in the morning it starts running.

Posted by
351 posts

Thanks Andrew

I do have my room as the tour ends the morning I am flying out. I guess I am trying to figure out how early I need to be at the airport and how early i need to leave my room. I assure it would be 4 am at the latest for a 6 am flight. Either way it will not be a great sleep plus I am sharing a room.
I wish there was a later flight (like 9 or so) Most of the flights that are direct are either 6 am or 6 pm.

Posted by
5866 posts

My Rick Steves tour ends the morning of my flight so I could stay at the tour hotel. Not sure how early to be at the airport for such an early flight.

Why not just take a taxi early in the morning? It looks to only be about a 20 minute drive from the tour hotel to the airport without traffic. Their website shows check-in 120 minutes before non-Schengen European flights. If you are able to check in online the night before, you could probably shorten this a bit.

https://www.aeroportoporto.pt/en/opo/passenger-guide/plan-your-trip/check-in

Posted by
8913 posts

Can you wait until you get on the tour and see how your roommate feels about an early departure for you? If she doesn't mind, staying in the tour hotel and just getting up early makes more sense to me than spending the night in an airport......

Posted by
92 posts

I flew back from Porto to the US on a 5 am flight this morning and there were a lot of people sleeping at the airport. That is something I’ve done in the past, but these days, I would rather just get a hotel and take a taxi or Uber to the airport for the flight.

Posted by
477 posts

We were on the Heart of Portugal tour in March/April and had a 5 am flight out of Porto. We stayed at the tour hotel, and had hotel arrange for a taxi at 2 am. Super easy, got a few hours sleep in the comfort of our hotel room, got to airport by 2:30 am. Porto flight check-in staff does not come on shift until 2:45 am, so we really did not need to be there that early. There were people there, sleeping on chairs/benches. But doesn't seem necessary, IMO. Stay at tour hotel, have them schedule a cab for you.

Posted by
18 posts

I concur with my new good pal Rebecca from the 3/23/22 group!! We also flew out of Porto at 5AM recently. We flew on TAP to Lisbon for our flight to SFO. The hotel was great about scheduling us a taxi for 2AM and the trip was quick. We ended up waiting 20 or so minutes before the ticketing agents were open for business but this may vary by carrier. Security was not crowded. There were a sprinkling of people who seemed to be sleeping. There were enough people at that hour that I might conceivably feel safe enough to try to sleep and nothing was open so it was quiet and not overly lit for the hour. I might have seen a sleep pod but I was in a total sleep delirium adrenaline state and starting to feel a little wistful about my trip so I may be mistaken. Enjoy your trip!

Posted by
2456 posts

I had an early flight from Porto a few years ago, actually to Zurich, connecting to Athens. Was staying in an apartment at the time. The apartment manager arranged an early taxi for me. I was somewhat nervous about whether the taxi would appear on schedule, but it was right there and everything went very fine. I imagine the RS tour hotel is accustomed to doing this, and has staff all night should anything come up.
As for your roommate, I think your situation is just part of sharing a room. As long as you are basically all set to leave when you go to bed, and very quiet once you are up, she should not have any problem with it. She may have an early flight herself.

Posted by
6113 posts

Someone I knew slept at an airport a few years ago (not Porto) and her bag was stolen whilst she dozed. Stay in a hotel and get an early taxi.

Posted by
351 posts

Thanks for the advice. I will have my bag packed and just have to pop in my a few last second things in my backpack as not to wake up my roommate.