Porto Travel Forum

Hello all,

I am travelling on next thursday from Porto to Lisboa. I will first be flying in by ryanair to the Porto airport, staying one night in the city and then going to Lisboa the day after.

Two very silly questions and I would be grateful for your help:

1. any particular recommendations for a night in Porto? Are there must-sees? Wikipedia gives good ideas but i'd appreciate so much your recommendations...

2. I have been told travelling by BUS is FASTER and CHEAPER than travelling by train. In either case of going by bus or train, is reservation or buying tickets online needed? I have done some reserach, didn't see much; i can read portuguese, but the websites don't seem to say that buying tickets on the day of travelling or buying earlier have much fare differences...

Many thanks for your help!

Rita

Hi

Porto is nice place to visit, just go to river and enjoy, or make a trip on the river, i never make it, but i heard is really nice. accomodation i can't help you, but i think i want be a problem
2- by train is much better, about the price probably by train is a bit more expensive but it worths. take a look on www.cp.pt you can get the ticket on line, or just buy it on the train station, no difference if u get it on line or other way.
enjoy your trip

When you go to the cpt.pt site, click on the rightmost tab that says "Horarios". When choosing a train (I did this trip by train and it was great) - choose an "AP" or Alpha Pendular type train which goes non-stop in a little over a couple of hours. The ride was pleasant. The other trains sometimes require changes in other stations.

Not quite knowing your preferences it's difficult to say, but I would suggest just doing one of the little tours. I have read that some places of Porto could be dangerous. I did not see any indication, but I hired a driver for a day and he took me to various places.

I'd suggest train: www.cp.pt; and regarding Porto, just have a look at our pages, there are scores!

Hi Rita, we were just there last week and did the train from Lisbon to Porto and then then back again a few days later. We went tourist class on the train that only stopped twice and it was very comfortable and quick. I think it cost around 27 euro per person. I don't see how buses could be faster because there were times we were doing 200 KPH, but maybe those buses drivers train at Le Mans. The train leaves from Companha station in Porto and stops at Apolonia. You can reach the station via metro or from the Sao Bento station, but you need to allow half hour of travel time. Or it is about a 6 euro taxi ride to the station. The Soures dos Reis Museum is close to the old town and was surprisingly good. (http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=218350) We ending staying a lot longer than we expected. We also enjoyed tasting some port wines at the port houses across the river in Gaia. The ones near the river charge a tasting fee. The ones up the hills don't seem to. The Se Cathedral is worthwhile and has good views over Porto. Check the schedule for the Casa Musica as I was able to stumble onto a wonderful classical music concert last Friday and it was only 17 euro. Karl

The average time by bus is 3hrs 30 minutes but one thing to bear in mind is the Sete Rios bus terminal in Lisbon is about 4km from the city centre, so you have additional journey time (and cost) whereas the train ends in Sta Apolonia, much closer to the city centre.

Having said that, most of the hotels are closer to Sete Rios than Sta Apolonia! Depends what you are doing next.

I am travelling Lisbon - Porto by train tomorrow which I much prefer to the bus partly because the station is less than a mile from where I staying.

Hello,

We have also been to Porto and Lisbon just two weeks ago.

I think one day in Porto is not much, so you will probably have only time for the obvious sights, which means explore the mian sights in the historic city centre.

Get yourslef one of the excellent free maps at the Tourist Information Centre, which will guide you to the area and point you to the main sights.

In addition I would recommend to cross at least once the bridge D. Joao II to the left bank of the river from where you can enjoy panoramic views of the other side.

Regarding transportation, I also usually prefer train to bus, but this time we made the whole trip between Porto and Lisboa by bus. The reason for this was that inbetween we spent a few nights in Nazare at the coast. Nazare is not reachable by train.

So what I can say about the buses is that they are very modern and comfortable. Also all the buses we used were quite empty, so no need to buy tickets in advance. If costs are an issue for you I would take buses into consideration as they are probably much cheaper than the trains. For more info please check out this page:

http://www.rede-expressos.pt/


I hope this helps

HORSCHECK

Just in case you're wondering how come so many people were in Porto - we were all there for the VT meet in Cascais. ;=)

Some fortunate people brought home some wine. It's such a hassle to bring liquids back to the US I did not, but I'm regretting it. I miss my Port afternoon Port.

I found a great wine/port store on the edge of Alfama, a few streets S of rua Agusta that packaged together six bottles for us for 15 euro. Made it easy to check with my luggage. Tip to follow: As to getting your tickets early, you can buy them at any station. I went an hour prior to my train trip from Lisbon to Porto and bought 5 without a problem. ON the return trip from Porto I bought the tickets at 8 AM at the Sao Bento station for a 9:45 departure, again for 5 without any problem. But that was Saturday morning and the train was half empty.

Thank you all so much! I have heard too many news from word of mouth and other student travellers (who swore to me buses go faster- which I agree with someone above that unless they trained at Le Mans! ;p)

I also believe I will go by train. i have a total of 7.5 days to spend in Portugal, of which 1 will be in Porto, 2 in Algarve and the rest of Lisbon. Or maybe we squeeze in Albufeira in there. If anyone else has tips i would be 200% grateful. Too bad i could not join the VT meet. Otherwise I'll be glad to contribute my share of excellent Belgian beer to you all.

Cheers

Hello again,

Just for your info: I have just the bus times with Rede Expressos. The trip between Porto and Lisboa takes between 3,5 h (Express) and 4 h, which isns't too bad.

HORSCHECK

By the way, Roadguill, how was your experience like with taking wine on flights? Sounds like a fabulous idea- im flying Easyjet back to France on the way back, not sure if they allow non duty free products to go on a flight this way?

cheers and thank you all

I would recommend you visit a2lopes pages - his tips on Portugal are excellent!

Also member solopes. Particularly look at the tips for Nini's where locals come in and sing fado but it's not a tourisy show. Food is also excellent!

For a direct trip Porto-Lisbon, the train is faster but I think it's not the cheapest option, not a big difference though.
It is much better to take the train. As Nomad said, choose an Alfa Pendular ride (AP) instead of an inter-cidades ride (IC). If you choose the later it's not a big problem anyway and it's cheaper.
Reserve the bus for shorter trips to towns and villages between Porto and Lisbon.

However between Lisbon and Albufeira, Algarve, the situation reverses. The train is OK but the bus is more convenient. Albufeira's train station is a few kms out of town. If you take an EVA bus in Lisbon, it's about 3 hours non-stop on the motorway to the Algarve, until it ends right in the center of Albufeira.
In this case the bus is maybe 1 euro more expensive than the train due to the high oil prices of the last years. It was cheaper before.

The bus riders might train in Le Mans or Monaco (lol), but they cannot go faster than 100kms per hour. The heavy vehicles have a device that cuts the fuel supply if the driver begins to exceed the legal speed limit on motorways.