Cascais Travel Forum

I was on the train site looking for how to get from Porto to Cascais. Could someone please "translate". This is one of the better connections (less transfers) - there are four transfers, two in Alcantara alone. (see below).

- Is this correct?
- Are those places where the train is tranferring *safe* for a woman alone?
- Is the scenery from Porto worth taking the train, or should I just fly to Lisbon and catch something into Cascais?


9h47 Porto - Campanha
12h22 Oriente
2h35 €39,50 €27,50

U 12h27 Oriente
12h51 Alcantara-Terra
0h24 €P

TC 12h51 Alcantara-Terra
13h06 Alcantara-Mar
0h15 €NA

U 13h15 Alcantara-Mar
13h34 Oeiras
0h19 €P

U 13h37 Oeiras
13h53 Cascais
0h16

That's an odd routing. I had a look myself (and the Portuguese site has an English version). Looks like a piece of software trying to hard. To me the obvious solution would be to just take a fast train to Lisbon Santa Appolonia station from Porto, take the metro across town to the Lisbon Cais do Sodré station and take the train to Cascais from there. Trains from Lisbon to Cascais run quite frequently (ever 20 minutes or so) and take half an hour. This is local transit, so you just buy your ticket on the spot.

As to train versus plane, well that's a no brainer really. Train is faster from Porto to Lisbon than the plane is, probably cheaper, and certainly more frequent. And you'd have to take the local trains from Lisbon to Cascais in each case anyways.

Good answer, I only want to add the link of the portuguese rail network: www.cp.pt; good site and good trains in Portugal.

Take a train from Porto to Lisboa, main station is St. Apolonia. Than take "Something". The proposed routing is too complicated.

Than take suburban train from the station "Cais do Sodre" to Cascais, very frequent departures. To go from St. Apolonia to Cais do Sodre you can take metro.

Don't always ask about safety. Europe is not so safe as some Asian countries, but you won't have normally problems. There are a lot of women here walking around alone.

I think your problem is that cp.pt doesn't know about the Lisbon Metro, only about trains - that's why it is giving you such complicated connections. As the others have said, use the metro to get across Lisbon to Cais do Sodre. Trains to Cascais are so frequent that you don't have to worry about getting there for any particular train.

I agree with the previous posters. May I add that Porto to Lisboa is a very busy line and reservations should be made in advance. If you arrive without a ticket and the next train is full, you will have to wait for the next train with seats available.

Thank you for the responses!

How scenic is the route from Porto to Lisboa? (I love trains) -

It looks like the suggested Lisbon route is the best option.

(Redang) I did use the cp.pt site - this is where the routing came from.

Portugal is a safe country. I never had any problems and I'm a woman. You only need to have the usual precautions, as in another european country.

Have a nice stay!

Thank you Grestina. I loved Lisbon and Sintra but I do in some areas you will be a bit of hassling, not many.

Are you not coming to the VT meet in Cascais?

I only know the part Porto-Coimbra (about 33 % of the total distance, and ot's beautiful since the line goes (a part) by the sea. Well, if www.cp.pt gave you that route..., but it's better what the others say: Porto-Lisbon S Aplonia, then, metro to Cais do Sodré, then, train to Cascais. Are you attending the euromeeting?

Hi Santi - yes, I plan to be there!

It'll be a pleasure then :)

;=)

The train ride from Porto to Lisbon is fairly pleasant, scenery wise, for the first 2 1/2 hours or so but as you get nearer to Lisbon the view becomes that of oil refineries, factories, nasty industrial sites generally and apartment blocks. Sit on the left hand side if you can for the best views of the river from Santarem onwards, which is about 50 minutes before Lisbon.

I understand your worries. :) I think if you try to dress casually and not to wear expensive watches, glasses, etc, you won't attract attentions on you. Nevertheless, beware of the pickpockets in tourist areas.

Big cities are generally more insecure than small cities. During the night it's not advisable to travel alone in some places. But I think that overall, we are in a safe country.

Have a nice stay!

Qrestina

Regarding the train connection, I would go by metro from Santa Apolonia to Cais do Sodre, as already suggested. Or, you can also go from Oriente to Cais do Sodré by metro.

Regarding the tranfer from Alcantara-mar to Alcantara-terra, you have to go by foot and it's not so easy for someone who is not from here. Besides, in Alcantara you will have to pay attention to the trains: you need to take one train that goes to Oeiras, than leave in Oeiras and take another one to Cascais.

If you take the train in Cais do Sodré, you can choose one direct train to Cascais.

Thanks for all the good descriptions and great advise!

cubsur ... on the left? If the train is going south, would I not need to be on the side facing the ocean ... ok, maybe you mean on the left if I come in the train from the front - but on the right if I enter via the back of the car ...

You won't see the ocean on the trip Oporto-Lisbon, the train is not near the sea. :) You'll see a nice view when going to Cascais, so you should sit on the left side of the train.

On the way Porto-Lisbon, you'll see the ocean for a while, and on your right

But cubsur didn't mention the ocean ... he/she correctly said that the RIVER is on the left as you approach Lisbon.

Good observation Alan! I'm so used to having "the ocean on the right" going south in California, I did not see river. Need to stop reading so fast! - Thanks!

Yes, if you want the best of the scenery, when you reserve your seat make sure it is on the left hand side in the direction of travel.

You do get to see the ocean just south of Porto but only for about 5 minutes, so sitting on the left hand side is better in my opinion. You also avoid the glare of the sun for much of the journey.

Thanks! Would you recommend booking on line (not really sure if you can from the US, have not tried) - or booking when I get to Porto (this will waste some of my sightseeing time)? Don't know how full those trains get, or if there's a way to select a particular seat on-line.

I also notice there seem to be frequent changes, so I'm not sure if I book on-line, how long before the trip to book. I like to book early, like next week!

I'll let you know about my experiences. Two weeks ago, I showed up at the station a few minutes before the departure, and I got a ticket Porto-Coimbra. Just in case, i bought the ticket Coimbra-Porto, two days before the trip March again). Urban trains (to Cascais): Buy them when you arrive at the station. I can't tell you about May/June.

Indeed, using the suburban train lines for these train transfers might not be so convenient for a foreigner. This is because the Cascais line is yet to have a direct track connection with the rest of the Portuguese rail network for passenger trains.
The transfer is done by walking between the stations of Alcantara-Terra (connected with the rail network) and Alcantara-Mar (Cascais line). They stand apart around 1 km. There was a pedestrian overpass with moving walkways to link the stations, but it was demolished because the real track connection is going to be built. Use the metro instead, either from Lisbon/Oriente or Lisbon Sta. Apolonia to Cais do Sodre.

I checked CP's website and did a purchase simulation just to see how it works.
On the top-right side there is an icon of a partially hidden English, sorry, British flag.
Press there to go to the English version.
You need to sign up and leave some personal details.
At the bottom of the field where you type the stations and date, you can choose between Conforto/1st (1st class), or Turistica/2nd (2nd class). Second class is cheaper and quite good, in my opinion.
Por payment, it accepts Visa, Master Card and Am Ex. An interesting thing is that, if you type your cell phone number in the payment page, you'll get a confirmation of the purchase by SMS. The message is valid as ticket. So, instead of showing a ticket, one may show to the train conductor his cell phone with the message.
I do not know how it is with foreign cell phones, let alone, non-European ones, so it's safer to use the print as ticket.
For the metro and the train to Cascais it's better to buy tickets on the spot. There are vending machines which in Lisbon accept also bank notes (it does not happen in most of other European countries).
As final advice, the train you chose is a high-speed tilting train called Alfa-Pendular (AP). It's the right choice because it's a very good train. The other trains: IC are older and slower.

Thank you Joao.