Trains in Portugal - airport to town centre?

Can't help you with Porto, but for Lisbon - AFAIK there's no train at the airport. Bus service from the airport to the town center is frequent, cheap and easy, though, so it's a no brainer.

Bus is cheap, however, with a lot of luggage, cabs aren't that bad. I'm pretty sure it was about 12 Euros to town center Lisbon.

Thank you both.

We won't have a lot of luggage, just 1 bag each. Travelling light! How long does it take by bus - less than an hour?

I recall the bus being short - maybe 15 minutes or so. Definitely nowhere near an hour.

The train from the airport to Porto is a reasonable option. We did it in 2008.

On the same trip, we took a cab to the airport from Lisboa and I remember thinking, it was so cheap why do it any other way.

Portugal was one of the greatest trips ever for us -- enjoy!

If you go to the TI in the airport (just outside the baggage claim and customs) you can buy the bus pass to take you to the town center. It's 3.50Euro/person. Then use the pass for the next 24 hours for all of Lisbon's public transport (buses, metro, funiculars). We just did this and it worked great.

Taxis are really cheap, too. We took one to get to the Sixt car rental near the Oriente train station. For 4 people and 4 suitcases, it was less than 10Euro.

We just got back from our trip to Portugal over spring break. Enjoy!

The subway/train from the airport to downtown Porto is quick and cheap. The hardest thing about the whole process is following the rather confusing signs to the train platform. (I think I've made at least one wrong turn every time I've used the thing, but that might just be because I'm a slow learner.)

Thank you all - I appreciate all your advice.

Going in September - can't wait!