Faro Travel Forum

Greetings from the US! I am planning an extensive Eurail trip through five countries and the only place it seems to break down is between the Algarve and Spain. It looks like there is a train station at Santo Antonio and another in Spain at Huelva...but nothing connecting them. Are there buses regularly? How great a distance is this? What do you folks do for this short journey?

While I am at it here are my travel plans, please feel free to comment. Traveling from Madrid to Faro in one day - I know it's a long day. Train, and whatever it takes for that last jump between Spain/Portugal. Two days in Faro with local travel by bus or car for exploring. Train to Lisbon for one day. Train to Biarritz, another long day. Are those all reliable trains? Many thanks!

If I were you, I'd fly Faro-Madrid (www.ryanair.com), if you don't find a bargain, try to go from Faro to Huelva (Spain), then, Madrid.

It is no problem to get from Santo Antonio and Huelva. Find either a bus directly from Santo Antonio or cross the river (the frontier) - the ferry still should operate, the new road bridge is somewhat further north. And from the Spanish side there are enough buses to Huelva.

Well heck, now things get more complicated. I have checked train schedules, I will be coming from Madrid. It seems I can get from Madrid to Sevilla but the train from Sevilla to Huelva is very late, too late for further travel to Faro. Also can't find a train schedule at all from Faro to Lisbon, even though there are several from Lisbon to Faro. Perhaps I may have to rent a car from Sevilla to Faro? Even from Sevilla to Lisbon. No idea if it is easy to rent in Spain and leave it in Portugal. We don't want to fly so the short hop is no good for us.

http://www.alsa.es/VentaParticulares/contenidoHorarios.jsp
ALSA bus between Seville and Faro.
No online ticketing.

I found 4 buses between Vila Real de San Antonio and Huelva:

dep S.A. 02:45, arr. Huelva 04:30 operated by Bus company ALSA

dep S.A. 09:35, arr Huelva 11:50 (by EVA)

dep. S.A. 16:50, arr Huelva 19:05 (by EVA)

dep. S.A.17:00, arr. Huelva 18:30 (by ALSA)

If you take the ferry over the river between San Antonio and Ayamonte youmay have even more buses from Ayamonte to Huelva

My thanks! Your Alsa link is exactly what I need. It allows me to plan and to book the trip in advance with credit card payment from here. They claim the trip is 108 miles and takes ninety minutes...mighty fast bus!

Is it safe to assume I can get rail service from Faro to Lisbon even though it doesn't show on the schedules? It must exist as it shows on the routes, and there is service scheduled from Lisbon to Faro.

Don't forget the one hour time change in Portugal.
There are a number of trains between Faro and Lisboa.
CP web site:
http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=a4f6f9e12a584010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD
Easier to use: DB web site:
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en

Sorry!

Just saw your message.

I would really recommend the daily Ryanair Flight from Madrid to Faro as at present it is relatively cheap.

If you do want to do it by land see the following sites which have more info:

www.solpraiaferias.com/index.php?content=cheg_en
www.algarvebus.info

Also have a look at my blog

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

If you browse through there includeing older posts you will find most of the answers you seek based on recent contributions I have made to travel forums.

Specifically look at:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/seville-to-portimaopraia-da-rocha.html
http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/portugal-lisbonporto-algarve-train.html
http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/traveling-from-faro-to-seville-by-bus.html

Hope this helps

.