Taking the RS Spain Morocco trip next year. Thought I would "tack on" a few days and go to Lisbon. Turns out it is much harder than I thought! 10 hours to Lisbon on the train from Madrid (once I get to Madrid from Sevilla) or a bus for 8 hours from Sevilla. Car not an option. Anybody take the bus? Does it run overnight? How was it? Is it something I can pre-book or see a schedule for? Don't want to make my airplane resos come back thru Lisbon and then have a pain getting there...
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Yes, there is an overnight bus....but I haven't taken it. You can check the connections here. You can purchase a ticket on-line....use "Lisboa" as your destination.If you want to tranvel by day, you can take a bus across the border to Lagos, then take the train into Lisbon. The bus schedule for that can be found here.
Or you could take the fast AVE back to Madrid and take a flight on Easyjet or Vueling. But the elapsed time would be the same, or longer, as taking the bus or bus/train.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
The tour ends in Sevilla, right? Take a bus across the border into Portugal - Faro is probably a good choice. But rather than catch a train to Lisbon right away, consider renting a car there in Faro, and spending a few days in the Algarve (which is hard to do with public transport). Then drive to Lisbon and dump the car upon arrival.
Posted by
Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
324 posts
How about flying? TAP (flytap.com) frequently has good deals on flights from Spain to Portugal.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
From Sevilla?
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Ooops....yes, David, you're right...the bus to Faro...just across the border....not all the way to Lagos!! If you do want to connect with the train in Faro, click here to get the Portuguese rail website. Because the country is so small, it's like a giant commuter railway network. Use Lisboa-Oriente as your destination....you'll find about 5 trains a day.
Posted by
Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
324 posts
David, I guess it all depends on what you consider to be a good deal, but a quick search of a random date (12/11/09 - 16/11/09) shows a €164 price for a flight with Iberia (SVQ-LIS-SVQ). Since the cheapest (non-web) train ticket is €117.20, the €40-odd seems a good deal. Of course, if you're really pinching euro-pennies, you can purchase the train ticket long term via the web for €46.80 R/T. The question, then, is if the €120 difference compensates avoiding 20 hours on the train (round trip).