Traveling to Portugal as a family in late March, and planning to do the trip without renting a car. When traveling by train to Lisbon-Coinbra or Coinbra-Porto, for example, is it safe to assume that if we lug a couple of big suitcases to the train, that it is obvious where to put/retrieve them on the train? We aren’t experienced train travelers!
Posted by
WA USA
1094 posts
Seat61 is a good source
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/lisbon-to-porto-by-train.htm
I've taken the train, but can't remember the luggage racks for larger items. We had carry-on size luggage with us which we kept on the rack over our heads. I believe larger luggage is probably kept at the end of the car.
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
You might take a look at Priscilla’s trip to Portugal in 2019. She used trains. When we’ve done train travel we prefer lightweight luggage. Much easier to handle. When we visited Portugal we were on a tour, and were transported by bus. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/portugal-our-trip-in-progress
Posted by
269 posts
Hi
It depends which train you use.
On some trains the carriages have a small area for luggage at one end, others don't have a luggage area, just seats.
Whenever I carry luggage on the train I either keep it with me if there's space or lock it in the luggage area with a cable lock ( the type used to lock snowboards/skis) so that nobody takes it by mistake.
ID, money, tickets, etc. stays with me, not in the luggage.
Happy travels
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
I took the trains from Lisbon to Coimbra and from Coimbra to Porto a few years back. (I detoured to the town of Tomar for a few hours between Lisbon and Coimbra.)
Unlike most people making this trip, I actually took regional trains that are slower than the faster IC or AP trains you can take point to point. One reason was that I booked at the last minute. (I didn't have fixed plans - I was winging it.) Another was that the regional trains allowed for the day stop in Tomar - not that I'm recommending that to you, but it worked for me.
Another reason regional trains might sometimes work better is that, in Coimbra and Porto, the fast trains that make fewer stops don't go directly to the city centers. Coimbra has two train stations: "Coimbra" and "Coimbra B" - the fast trains stop in the latter. To get to the city center, you need to connect to another (quick) local train from Coimbra B to Coimbra. If you check the schedules, sometimes taking a slower regional train will get you directly to Coimbra without the change - maybe negating any time savings from the "fast train." That is, if I take a fast train to Coimbra B then wait 20 minutes for the final train to Coimbra...it may have been about the same just to take a direct regional train to Coimbra. (Does that make sense?)
There's a similar issue in Porto. The central train station in Porto is called Sao Bento (unrelated, the files inside are stunning - you HAVE to go inside the Sao Bento station for a look, whether you take a train from there or not!!). The fast trains in Porto stop at Campanha station. If you can get a direct regional train (sometimes) from Sao Bento to Coimbra without a change...it might be 20=30 minutes slower, but it will avoid train changes. And it might be cheaper.
I took on IC train in Portugal. (The AP is an even faster train, slightly.) The IC train was fine. But, the regional trains I took were not full, and I had plenty of room to spread out. I had only my carry-on bags but there was plenty of room for them. In theory it's possible a regional train will be busy and you might have to find a place for your luggage on the floor or something...but this wasn't the case for me on any of the regional trains I took in Portugal. The IC train I was on was very full, though.
Posted by
San Francisco
184 posts
With 4 of us, we decided to use a car service instead of a Tran to get to Porto. No luggage hassles and we were able to stop several places along the way.
Posted by
36 posts
I agree with hiring a car/driver service in Portugal as an excellent alternative to train, especially for a family. In addition to no hassles with luggage, you will have more control over timing (and as an earlier poster mentioned, you could make stops along the way that are not easily accessible by train.)
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
I did not drive myself in Portugal, but I understand driving there is easy outside of the cities, and I would personally just rent a car instead of hiring someone to drive me. It's true that you would be able to stop more places with your own wheels. I still managed to visit both Tomar and Nazaré as day trips by train or bus, but it was a little more hassle. I was alone though so that made it more simple.
But...the trains (and buses) work great too if you just don't want to drive. I love train travel and enjoyed most of my train rides in Portugal.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
These insights and links are very helpful - thank you! Will make sure to visit Sao Bento station no matter how we travel!
Posted by
WA USA
1094 posts
When you take the train to Porto - Campanha station you can transfer and continue to the Sao Bento station. Personally, I think taking that last leg is the perfect entrance to Porto. You will go around a bend then suddenly over the river on a bridge looking down. Fantastic view. And at the end, you enter Porto by exiting the gorgeous Sao Bento station.
When taking a fast train, you can enter Sao Bento station as the end point and that transfer at Campanha is free.