Hello,
We are arriving to Lisbon at 14:30 on a Tuesday in May and will need to travel to Porto. Is the train the best and easiest way to get there? We would be happy to fly but it seems more expensive and since the Porto airport is farther away from the city center it might not save much time anyway.
I'd like to buy the train tickets ahead of time so need to plan how much time we'll need in between arrival to the airport, customs and a taxi to the train station. Any advice is welcome!
Posted by
Westford, MA
212 posts
Our Rick Steves tour ended in Porto so we flew Porto-Lisbon-Boston for about the same price as Lisbon-Boston. Most of the people on our tour took the train back to Lisbon to fly home. We took the metro/subway from our hotel in central Porto to the airport with no difficulties.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
368 posts
Portuguese rail website is www.cp.pt & discounts are available up to 5 days ahead. The fast train takes under 3 hrs. Stations Lisboa-Santa Apolonia, Porto-Campanha.
Posted by
11 posts
We have recently done the opposite route (Porto to Lisbon) and it was very easy by train. If you have time, I recommend scheduling your train tickets such that you have a few hours to explore Coimbra on the way (this is usually a stop on this train route). It is an interesting and beautiful city to explore and you can take a tour of the university while you are there.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32363 posts
sue,
I've travelled that route and train is absolutely the best way to go, using the stations mentioned in previous replies. Here's a link to the ticket page on the Portugal Rail website mentioned earlier - https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/buy-tickets .
I used Taxis at both ends to get from my hotel to the rail stations.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks everyone for the responses, very helpful info! My only question is how much time to allow for customs coming into Lisbon, (we’ll be arriving from Amsterdam) and travel time to the train station. I want to purchase the train txs ahead of time but I’m not sure if 2 or 3 hours after our scheduled landing time is allowing enough time. I’d hate to miss the train and have to buy last minute txs on the spot!