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Touring Portugal

The expat website is not really for tourists - I have nothing to do with the tourist industry - but here is a bit of information that may be useful for tourists or new residents. There are lots of sites that can give you more and better information. This page just has a few items that I thought were worth sharing.

Public Transportation

There is reasonably good public transport, but it isn't always easy to find out how to get to where you are going. Here are a few observations and tips.

Getting Here by Air

There are three international airports in Continental Portugal (excluding those in the islands of Madeira and the Azores), Lisboa, Faro and Porto. There are lots of cheap charter flights to Faro.

If you fly to Lisboa, there is bus service into the city and they are planning to extend the Metro to the airport. There are tourist information booths in the arrivals area which can help you with transportation, and they also sell taxi vouchers that suppposedly keep you from being ripped off.

Getting Here Overland

If you plan to drive, or take a bus or train, keep in mind that it is a long trip from almost anywhere else. From one end of Spain to another is over 1000 km. I've done the trip many times and if you like to travel it is OK, but check your distances first.

Most train connections to major European cities go through Paris, and you can take the TGV to Hendaye, and then take an overnight train from Irun to Lisboa or Porto (Hendaye and Irun are adjoining cities on the French-Spanish border). The Paris-Portugal train used to be called L'Etoile du Sud, but it was a slow train and the French portion has been discontinued in favour of the TGV. There is also an overnight train from Madrid to Lisboa that leaves Madrid around 23:00 and arrives in Lisboa around 08:00. There are bedrooms available on both trains, but the economical way to sleep is in a couchette, six bunks stacked up in each compartment.

When you get to Lisboa, the main station is Santa Apolónia, but then you are faced with a bus or taxi. I prefer to get off about ten minutes earlier at the Oriente station where you have access to the Metro system. The Metro is good and gets you to most destinations.

Once Inside Lisboa

If you are heading off in the direction of Cascais, you can go to the Cais do Sodré station on the waterfront and take a train (comboio) along the Linha de Cascais. There is an express bus from the airport to Cais do Sodré and you can get there from Oriente station by Metro (click on thumbnail at right). There are buses from Santa Apolónia too.

Train Travel within Portugal

There are more trains than information, and figuring out the train routes is confusing. There are several different train stations in Lisboa and at least two in Porto. Many cities are like this (London, Paris, etc.), but the situation in Lisboa is odd because there are different lines operated by different companies. CP (Comboios do Portugal) has recently made it possible to take a train from Lisboa to Faro without having to ride the ferry across the Tagus river!

Fortunately the national railroad, Comboios do Portugal, has upgraded their website and you can get current information there.

Lisboa Metro

Lisbon has terrible traffic problems, but at least there is a good metro system. The connection to Santa Apolónia, the main international train station, is unlikely to be completed for a long time because the route is too unstable (it runs right next to the riverbank), but fortunately the Metro connects to the Oriente station, as well as Cais do Sodré and Rossio - in other words, you can get to any of the train statins by Metro. It does not go all the way to the airport, although that is in the planning stage, but the Campo Grande and Alvalade stations are not far away.

Buses and Trams

Buses and electric trams in the Lisboa area are operated by Carris, and there are similar lines in nearby areas. You normally buy a módolo which is a ticket with two ends - good for two rides. You stick it in a machine that clips the corner and prints the date, and two people can share one módolo. The buses are quite cheap, but of corse they have to cope with the traffic. A greater annoyance is to be on a tram that gets stuck behind a car illegally parked on the tracks, since of course there is no way for the tram to go around it.

Dining in Portugal

It is hard to find a town in Portugal without a place to eat, and even small cheap cafés usually offer quite decent food. The house wine, vinho da casa, is usually also quite decent (these remarks do not apply to obviously touristic restaurants, which I have learned to avoid).

One point to keep in mind is that the Portuguese are quite flexible, and if you want to share a meal with your travelling companion, it is generally accepted. My wife and I usually have light starters or soup and then may share a main course, and friends from other countries assure me that sharing a course is not accepted where they come from! Also, if we decide to order both a fish course and a meat course, we can ask to have the fish served first, and then the meat, both to be shared - in some other countries this provokes great bewilderment.

Hotels

There is a wide range of hotel accomodations in Portugal, generally quite reasonable (with the exception of tourist traps of course). One category deserves special mention, the pousadas, which are buildings of historical interest which have been converted into hotels, guest houses, etc. For a luxurious and elegant experience, they are hard to beat. While expensive by Portuguese standards, if you stop in London on your way here you will find them dirt cheap! And if you cannot afford a room, or cannot get a reservation, then stop in for dinner, or at least a coffee - they are well worth a visit.

Archaeology

It is worth mentioning that Portugal has many interesting historical ruins. Some, like the Roman ruins in Conimbriga, are large and well developed for tourism, others are just bumps in a field that only a specialist would notice, much less appreciate. Then there are many castles and churches from later periods of historical, cultural or aesthetic interest. Greece it's not, but there is much to see.

This site is maintained by William Silvert, to whom all questions, comments and complaints should be addressed. You are also welcome to record your visit on the guestmap.