Monday, August 20, 2007

Getting around in Portugal

Lisbon tram, photo: stock.xchng

We decided to use public transportation for getting around Portugal. It is pretty cheap, reliable and much safer than renting a car (if I quote Lonely Planet "Portugese drive like car thiefs." and "What happens on Portugal's major highways is civil war.").

Buses:
There are a few small private bus operators, they mostly cover one region of the country. The network is quite dense. There are different types of bus services like expressos (fast buses between major cities), rapidas (quick regional buses) and carreiras (which stop at every crossroad). According to the guide we should have little problem getting a seat on the bus. Ticket for a 3.5h (320km) journey from Porto to Lisbon costs about 14€. An Euro26 card should get us discounts up to 20% at least on the long-distance services. Largest companies are: Rede Expressos, Rodo-norte and Eva.

Trains:
Are mostly cheaper then the buses and on long distances they tend to be slower, but it depends on the destination. Euro 26 card should get us discounts up to 30%. Again there shouldn't be any problems with booking or getting a seat. Different types of services are: regional trains, interregional trains and expres trains (called rapido or intercidade). Schedules and prices can be found at the state railway company's site Caminhos de Ferro Portugeses.

In the cities:
In the bigger cities like Porto and Lisbon we will use trams, metro and buses. We will see what will be the best way to get from one destination to the next.

I started with collecting information on schedules, prices,... so that we can decide which of the many possibilites is the best for us. That way we will have everything gathered in one spot and we won't have any problems adjusting our plan if needed.

3 comments:

Tulipa said...

The monument on the picture is the Cathedral (Sé in portuguese) and its my favourite monument in Lisbon :)
"we should have little problem getting a seat on the bus" - it depends, lol. If you are talking about buses in Lisbon especially the ones more used by tourists forget it, there will be no seat :p. Riding the tram ("eléctrico") that you see on the photo you should be carefoul with your belongs. Because it is used by many tourists there are some people that use that to steal.
Another thing, we are not that crazy on the road, I don't think we are much worst then the other countrys.

Hugs

Tulipa said...

I forgot! There are also some cards like "Lisbon card" that gives you discounts at monuments and the are other cards for the buses, I think it is called "7 colinas" but i'm not sure. All this is in Lisbon. Go to a tourism office and ask about them.

Mitja said...

I sure know how to pick the pictures :)

"we should have little problem getting a seat on the bus" By that I meant long distance buses, I described the city transportation a bit later on. Yes I read about thiefs, we will try to take care and look after each other.

I just copied the info from the guide and also my friend from Portugal said that he doesn't recommend car rental :) But some of my friends went to Portugal with a van and said they had no problems at all. So I don't know who to trust :) But it's decided, public transport it is.

Lisbon card is not that cheap and we don't know the exact places that we want to see. When we will decide where to go we can calculate if it is worth it or not. Same goes for Porto card.

Gonna check the bus cards tomorrow.

Tnx for the tips :)