Train and bus travel in Portugal

Take a direct bus from Lagos to the Faro Aeropuerto (airport) that takes 2h. Fly nonstop on Ryanair from Faro to Porto. Pack light to keep the airfare under $50.

Please don’t fly between Lagos and Porto! Countries in Europe are starting to ban short haul flights within their countries that can be accomplished by train. The buses or trains are so much better for the environment. Rant over!

The transfer in Tunes is extremely simple. It’s a small station. You get off one train and wait for the next one to arrive. Only one track and no other trains will be on it. Everyone else will be doing the same thing. The train will stop a time or two between Tunes and Lisbon.

In Lisbon, it’s a large train station so there is opportunity to delay your connection and walk around a bit. There are lockers for luggage, a mall across the street and many restaurants. You could also take the bus from Lisbon to Porto because the buses are right across the street. I would likely stay on the train.

Cp.pt is the train website and they publish information about strikes quite awhile ahead of time. If you miss a connection, you can easily change your ticket to the next train.

I’ve done the bus from Cascais to Porto (it makes a stop in Lisbon). It’s quite comfortable but for the long journey I would likely do the train.

We have travelled between Porto and Faro using the main modes of transport ( car, bus, train, airplane) several times, the fastest is the airplane ( about 1hr 15mins), the fastest train is close to 7hrs.

If you choose to travel by train, take the Regional train from Lagos to Tunes , transfer at Tunes to the AP train to Porto - direct to Porto, no transfer in Lisbon.

We have done it and after a while it became boring to us and the whole day was wasted travelling, we started flying for such time consuming trips.

The other option we have done is to stop along the way and do sightseeing but that requires extra time to overnight and sightsee.

cp.pt has a page with alerts, you can view all the alerts or use the drop down menu for specific area line alerts
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/train-times/Alerts

Thank everyone for all the helpful suggestions. I will look into mode of travel what works best in my case.

Kathrynj, thanks for the info on Tunes station being a single track. Is 5 minutes connection time sufficient to transfer from Lagos train to Lisbon train? Do you know if Lisbon train (IC) is likely to wait if the regional train from Lagos is delayed?

One more question: does cp.pt allow seat reservation for Tunes-Lisbon and Lisbon-Porto trains for both first and second class? Do you know which side is more scenic in either train? This will be my first opportunity to see the Portuguese countryside going south to north, so want to have this info in case I decide on train or bus rather than flying from Faro.

Thanks.

Pam: if you create an account with cp. PT, you will get updates about strikes, stoppages, and other issues. I have only traveled by train on the Lisbon/Porto train line (Alfa Pendular) from Estacaodo Oriente in Lisbon straight to Capanha Porto.

Good and safe travels

@maggiebeermann Thanks for the suggestion. I will go ahead and create an account at cp.pt.

Does anyone familiar with Portugal trains know if I can board the train from any Lisbon station if I have a ticket from Oriente to Lagos? The train stops at Entrecampos and Sete Rios before continuing south to Algarve. Or can I only board the train at Oriente as that is the origin for my ticket?

Thank you.