Sunny Lisbon » Coming And Going

Car Hire at the Lisbon Airport

Bruno Marques — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:38:43 +0000

I know a lot of Lisbon visitors come here as a start for a bigger travel thorugh Portugal, including most of the times spending some days in the warm beaches of Algarve. It’s common to search a car rental right at the airport, specially if you are not planning to spend any time is Lisbon (oh, you shouldn’t do that).

For those of you that need to rent a car, here is some info about the dealers you can find at the airport :

Budget

Open from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Phone : +351 210 32 36 05

Europcar

Open from 6:30 a.m to 12 p.m. Open from 12 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. for an extra cost.

Phone : +351 21 8401176 Fax : +351 21 8473180

Guérin

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 848 61 91 Fax : 351 21 019 27 14

Auto Jardim

Phone : +351 21 8462916 Email : lisboadesk@auto-jardim.com

Hertz

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 8438660

Sixt

Open from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Phone : +351 21 8407927 Fax : +351 21 8407923

Avis

Open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Phone : +351 21 8435550

Lisbon Airport : The AeroBus and AeroShuttle

Bruno Marques — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Lisbon has a good and growing network of subways, but for some reasons I cannot really explain, it misses at least two connections that could be very handy for those visiting it : A connection with the Belém area and a connection to the airport. This last one has been planned and delayed for many years, as a construction of a new airport is beginning to take shape. But meanwhile the subway expansion has started, and Lisbon Airport will have an subway connection in the years to come. But right now, it doesn’t.

When arriving to the airport you have two options available to get to a more central part of the city : the bus or taxi. I will talk about taxis when I have the chance, but right now I would like to focus on bus connection, specially on the AeroBus and AeroShuttle special bus services, created to serve the one’s arriving or leaving town through the airport.

Aerobus

It’s the first of the two connections created to serve the airport. It runs daily from 07:00 AM to 11:00 PM, at 20 minutes intervals.

Normal tickets cost 3€, but you can buy the frequent travelers ticket pack (it costs 10€ and has 5 tickets, meaning 2€ for trip). If you have a Lisboa Card, ticket price has a discount, costing only 1.65€.

Leaving the airport, the bus goes through the Campo Pequeno, Saldanha square, Marquês de Pombal square, Restauradores / Rossio (downtown) , Praça do Comércio and finally Cais do Sodré.

If you’re going to Sintra, take this bus to Entrecampos. Here you can take a train on the Sintra Train line.

If you’re going to Estoril or Cascais, take this bus to Cais do Sodré. Here you can take a train on the Cascais Train line.

AeroShuttle

The more recent connection from the airport . It runs daily from 07:00 AM to 11:00 PM, at 30 minutes intervals.

Leaving the airport, the bus goes through Campo Grande, Sete Rios, Praça de Espanha ending close to the Marquês de Pombal square. This bus connection has recently expanded, also connecting the airport with the Gare do Oriente station.

Travelling to Algarve

Bruno Marques — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:00:46 +0000

Portugal is still a country well know because of the Algarve sunny beaches. Lisbon is growing up as a desired destination, but for many years tourists would fly from abroad directly to Algarve, without paying too much attention to the city. And truth be said, the city didn’t care a lot about them also. But things have changed and it’s now easy to feel welcome and to find things to do and see, as a result of the increasing importance that tourism has on Lisbon (and Portugal) economy.

So now is common to find travelers that decide to fly to Lisbon, spend a couple of days here and then head south to Algarve. And the most common question is, of course, how to I get there? Do I rent a car, take a bus or train? Well it depends a lot of your budget and the time you have to spent on that journey.

Renting a Car

Renting a car can be an expensive solution for a short group, but can prove to be a good solution for a whole family. Renting in Lisbon and dropping the car on Faro, for instance, in the same day, can cost you between 150€ and 200€. If you find this attractive in you case and if you have time, rent the car for one day more and enjoy a slower journey to Algarve. Visit Evora or Costa Vicentina, Beja or the some other part of Alentejo. The extra cost you’ll spend will be compensated by historic visits and breathtaking landscapes.

If you don’t like the idea, you can also go directly to Algarve : it’s a 3 hour travel to make around 300 Km.

Train

You’ll find two alternatives two get to Algarve, the IC (Intercidades) trains and the AP (Alfa Pendular) trains. The second ones faster and will cost you a few extra euros. As an example a train ride from Gare do Oriente (Lisbon) to Faro will take 4h and cost 23.50€ in IC Trains and take 3:15 hours and cost 26€.

Bus

There are a lot of long journey buses that will take you from Lisbon to Algarve. To name a few and to give you some prices :

In Rede Expressos it will take 4h and cost you around 18€.
In Eva Bus it will take 3:15h and also cost you around 18€.
In Renex it will take 4:15h and cost you around 17€.

Getting To Lisbon : By Train

Bruno Marques — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:29:34 +0000

If you know where Lisbon and Portugal are located, who’ll know that we are at Europe most western end. So, unlike central Europe countries, where you can get to almost everywhere by train, Lisbon is much more limited in its international train destinations. This is not only justified by our edge position : to this you can add the fact that we are totally surrounded by Spain (our only border) and the fact that over the years trains have always been seen by governments as a “not so good” mean of transportation. So, if you are looking to come by train directly to Lisbon, you currently have two choices:

SudExpresso

The SubExpresso is a night train that connects Lisbon with Hendaye, in the border between Spain and France. From Paris to Hendaye, you’ll get connection through TGV trains. You only have one train ride in each direction daily:

Lisbon – Hendaye, train leaves Lisbon between 16:00 and 16:30 and arrives at Hendaye in the following day at 07:10
Hendaye – Lisbon, train leaves Irun (on the Spanish side) around 22:00 and arrives at Lisbon in the following day at 11:03.

The train has two classes, one that provides a bed for the night train (single bed 175€, double bed 125€, triple bed 107€) and other provides only a seated place on a six place cabin (65€).

You can find more information about this train here.

Lusitânia Comboio hotel

The Lusitânia hotel Train is a night train that connects Lisbon to Madrid. Again, you’ll only have one train ride in each direction daily:

Lisbon – Madrid, train leaves Lisbon around 22:00 and arrives at Madrid in the following day at 08:40.
Madrid – Lisbon, train leaves Madrid around 22:45 and arrives at Lisbon in the following day around 08:00.

The train has two classes, turista (2nd class) and preferente (1st class). Seated tickets are available for Turista only (57.50€). Bed tickets cost 81€ for Turista and 102€ (double bed) / 146.50€ (single bed) for Preferente.

You can find more information about this train here.

Train Stations

Lisbon has two train stations where international trains stop. Santa Apolonia Train Station (Estação de Sta. Apolonia) is the older station, located close to downtown and Gare do Oriente, located in the eastern and more modern part of the city. They are now both served by the subway system, so it should be quite easy to get anywhere from any of them. My word of advice is:

If you’ll be staying downtown, use the Sta. Apolonia station. You can quickly get to downtown by subway, exiting at the Baixa/Chiado, Rossio or Restauradores stations.
If your destination is Sintra, use the Gare do Oriente station. You’ll have there direct trains to Sintra.
If your destination is Algarve or any other place in the south, use the Gare do Oriente station.
If your destination is Estoril / Cascais you’ll have to take the coastline train at Alcantara. In Gare do Oriente you’ll have to take a train to Alcantara-Terra and there go to the connecting station called Alcantara-Mar.

If your looking for an hotel, please take a look at Hotel reservations in Lisbon.