Hello;
My wife and I will be spending Easter Break in Portugal (a total of five days in Lisbon with three days in Porto in between).
We are trying to determine the best choice of transport between the two cities (bus or rail).
Either option appears to be about a three hour trip. Looking for details regarding price and location of the depot/station.
We are staying in the Baixa Pombalina district while in Lisbon.
Any recommendations and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Train.
Go to CP.pt and sign up to become a client.
Login in as client and check times/prices for Lisboa - Oriente to/from Porto-Campahna. Note: that Campanha to/from San Bento is free.
Tickets bought online a few weeks in advance come with huge discounts.
I prefer the AP over the IC, but either is fine. If you have the money, go for 1ª, but 2ª is fine.
The price range is €9.50 to €43.60 for promo, 2ª, IC to list price, 1ª, AP. Each way, per person.
The trains are clean on the inside (dirty on the outside) and run on time. I am a fan.
The taxi to/from the train station will be about €13.
I prefer trains, so I took the train. I was staying in Baixa near Rossio Square. I took the metro from Restauradores to Santa Apolonia train station. From there, you can pick up a train north to Porto Campanha station. To get to the center of town, you'll probably take a short train from there to Sao Bento station (the price of the ticket from Campanha to Sao Bento is included in the price of the other ticket).
The bus might be slightly more direct. You still have to get from the center of Lisbon to one of the long distance bus stations. Could be the bus drops you in a better spot in Porto, but I'm not sure. The train worked well enough for me.
If I were flying into and out of Lisbon, personally I'd take the train immediately to Porto to start, then have all my days in Lisbon at the end to avoid splitting them up, having to check in/check out one more time, etc.
Dave, the advance discounts on the trains really aren't that big. I booked all of my trains at the last minute, and even the last-minute fare from Lisbon to Porto is only 31.20 euros for the AP (or 25 euros for the IC, which is just a tad slower). Compared to the high speed trains in other European countries, where it could cost 2X to 3X more, even the last-minute fares are cheap.
@Andrew,
"the advance discounts on the trains really aren't that big."
Traveling in AP 1ª for less than AP 2ª by buying in advance seems worth it to me.
Yeah, Dave, it might be worth it - to you. Some of us don't want to be locked into train tickets so far in advance. Maybe the OP can.
I was just pointing out that the Portuguese trains are not that expensive even booking at the last minute. If you've ever traveled to France, Germany, or Italy, you know you can save a lot by booking in advance, which might be worth the trade-off of choosing train times you can't change later. I might book a few months ahead to save 70 or 80 euros per ticket but perhaps not to save only 15 or 20 euros per ticket.
Jeff,
I agree with the others, take the train. If you want to save some money on the tickets, buy in advance on their website. As I recall, the tickets are only available about a month from the travel dates. Take a Taxi from your hotels in each city to the rail stations (much easier when hauling luggage).
@Andrew,
"I was just pointing out that the Portuguese trains are not that expensive even booking at the last minute."
True.
But, if you are checking out of lodging in Lisboa and traveling to Porto, then you know the date/time (+/-2hours) when you will want to travel. So, buy in advance.
I just wish all the trains in Europe were priced at Comboios de Portugal levels.
