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

• Black – Black follows the same construction form that the color white uses, that I’ve talked about in the previous post, changing it’s form with the gender and with it’s plural. So you can have a “carro preto” (black car, male) or a “camisa preta” (black shirt, female). In the plural form, you just have to add the “s” letter at the end of it. So you can have “carros pretos” (black cars) or camisas pretas (black shirts).
• Red – This can be a tricky one, as there are two distinct words that have the same meaning, but are used more frequently on some parts of the country than on others. So, for red, you can have the word “vermelho” (more used in the south of the country) or the word “encarnado” (more used in the north). Like, with the previous colors it follows the same rules of construction, so you can have the “autocarro vermelho” (red bus, male) or the “luz vermelha” (red light, female). In the plural form we would have the “autocarros vermelhos” (red buses) and the “luzes vermelhas” (red lights). Using the “encarnado” word, we would have the “autocarro encarnado” (red bus, male) and the “luz encarnada” (red light, female).
• Brown – Again the same construction. You can have an “envelope castanho” (brown envelope, male) or “madeira castanha” (brown wood, female). In the plural form we would have “envelopes castanhos” and “madeiras castanhas“.
• Gray – You can have a “chapéu cinzento” (gray hat, male) or a “manhã cinzenta” (gray morning, female) or, in it’s plural form “chapéus cinzentos” and “manhãs cinzentas“.
• Yellow – Since we had to go through some pretty dull colors today, I’ll end up with yellow, to lighten things up and give you the true feeling of the current weather in Lisbon : Sunny, bright and warm. Guess who’s going for a ride on this Sunday afternoon . The yellow colors is said through the word “amarelo“. So you can have a “passaro amarelo” (yellow bird, male) or a “caneta amarela” (yellow pen, female). In the plural form, “passaros amarelos” and “canetas amarelas“.

Although being far away from Algarve, Lisbon also has some nice coastlines in it’s surroundings, where the it’s citizens spend their free time over the summer weekends. In this post I will talk about the closest ones, the Cascais/Estoril and the Costa da Caparica. If, while spending your time in Lisbon, you decided to rent a car and travel a little bit further, you can also try the beaches at the north of Sintra (Ericeira, Santa Cruz, Nazaré) or further down on the south side of the river (Portinho da Arrabida or Troia), than can be more quiet and relaxing.

• The Cascais / Estoril Coastline (Green) - It is the most easy beach area to access to someone traveling from abroad. First, because of the Cascais train line, take starts in Lisbon at Cais do Sodré (close to downtown), goes through Belém area and goes straight to Cascais always close to the ocean. The most known beach on this shore is Carcavelos. On second place it’s easy to get to this beaches, because of the Estoril and Cascais areas, that are worth visiting even if you are not enjoying the beach. I would recomend visiting the various defensive forts that are spread along the coastline, the Estoril Casino, and in Cascais, the sea bay and the Boca do Inferno cliff. The train tickets prices vary, but the ticket from Cais do Sodre to Cascais (the whole line), costs 1.7€ per journey.

• The Costa da Caparica Coastline (Pink) - Costa da Caparica is the ocean shore on the south bank of the Tagus river. The beaches here are clearly better than the ones of the Cascais line : larger and more wild spaces, fewer building in it’s surroundings, specially on the southern beaches. The handicap of this area can be it’s access, as the transportation between Lisbon and the south bank of the Tagus serve mainly it’s working population that lives in cities like Almada, Seixal or Barreiro. Still you can get to Costa using three buses from Transportes Sul do Tejo : the 153, that leaves from Praça de Espanha (Spain Square), the 161, that leaves from Areeiro Square and finally the 186 that leaves from the Universities area.

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.

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 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.

Well the hills have been there since the beginning of time (give or take a million years) and the industrial age brought to Lisbon some solutions that would minimize the problem. So three funiculars and one elevator has built. I want to talk more about them in the future, but by now, I just want you to know that they exist and where they are located. So you have :

• Glória Funicular (Elevador da Glória) – It connects the Restauradores square with Bairro Alto
• Bica Funicular (Elevador da Bica) – It connects Av. Boavista (Cais do Sodré) to Bairro Alto
• Lavra Funicular (Elevador do Lavra) – It connects Rua de Portas de Santo Antão and Campo de Santa, close to São José Hospital.
• Santa Justa Elevator (Elevador de Santa Justa) - Today it goes nowhere. It used to connect the downtown area with Bairro Alto, but today it just gives you access to a nice café and a great view of the downtown area and the hill surrounding it.

Unlike the English language, where only a single word represents a color, in Portuguese you can have multiple words for the same color, given the object it applies to, the context or even the part of the country you came from! But relax, it’s not that hard.

• Blue – This is an easy one, just say azul if you are talking about a single object (céu azul means blue sky) or azuis if you talking about more than one object (olhos azuis means blue eyes).
• Green – Another easy one, just say verde. It changes a bit in it’s plural form (bandeira verde means green flag and olhos verdes means green eyes)
• Orange – Ok, this can be tricky, since it there two different ways of saying it, and both are correct. So you can say laranja or cor-de-laranja (meaning color of the orange, the fruit). There is no change in the plural form (camisolas laranja / camisolas cor-de-laranja and camisola laranja / camisola cor-de-laranja mean orange sweaters and orange sweater)
• Pink – Pink has the same rule that of orange, so you can say rosa or cor-de-rosa (color of the rose, the flower). Again no changes in the plural form (vestido rosa / vestido cor-de-rosa and vestidos rosa / vestidos cor-de-rosa mean pink dress and pink dresses)
• White – White changes in the plural form and in the nature of the object it applies to. For instance you can have a “pomba branca” (white dove, female) or a “carro branco” (white car, male). For the plural form, just add a “s” to the end (carros brancos for white cars and pombas brancas for white doves)

Keep in touch, we’ll learn more colors soon enough!

When I started to research for this post, I got a scared : there are only two bus routes that stop at the camping park door, and at first sight this seemed to be a problem that could make the camping park away from everywhere. But I was wrong. The routes that stop in the camping gates are well planned to cover most of the city and it’s surrounding. Let’s see :

Bus 750 (Algés – Oriente)

Starts at 05:35 and stops at 01:00. When taking this bus to get to town you’ll always have to take the Oriente direction. Has the following main stops:

• Benfica (12 minutes) – This stop in right in the middle of urban neighborhood Benfica and the only point of interest is the connection to Sintra Train Line, from where you can get to Sintra.
• Campo Grande (more 17 minutes) – Again not a big place for sightseeing, but a good connection to the city subway.
• Airport (more 8 minutes) – Well, if you are coming or going by plane, you should consider this option.
• Gare do Oriente (more 15 minutes) – Nice if you traveling by train or long distance buses that start from here. Also is close the modern area of Parque das Nações where you can do a lot of sightseeing.

Bus 714 (Outorela – Praça da Figueira)

Starts at 05:00 and stops at 00:48. When taking this bus to get to town you’ll always have to take the Praça da Figueira direction. Has the following main stops:

• Belém (10 minutes) – One of the city most attractive places, where you can see Belém Tower or the Jeronimos Monastery. You can also take the Cascais Train here, that may lead you to Cascais, Estoril or Carcavelos beaches.
• Alcântara (10 minutes) – It’s where the Docas night clubs are located, in a nice river side location below 25 of April bridge.
• Praça da Figueira (15 minutes) – Terminal stop right in the middle of downtown. Before this one you also have Praça do Comércio or Cais do Sodré, all of them good places to start exploring the downtown area.

By Car

If you traveling on you own car or if you have rented one, you’ll have to take the IC19 route to get to Sintra. To find this route, the best way is to get to 2ª Circular, which is one of Lisbon main roads, surrounding it. There you should take the Sintra / Amadora direction (the other way will take you to A1 highway, that can lead you to Oporto). If you follow IC19, you’ll get to Sintra at the end of it, it’s that easy. Please be aware of congestion on this route. Avoid the Sintra-Lisboa direction early in the morning and the Lisboa-Sintra direction at the end of the day.

By Train

For most people this will be the most common way to get to Sintra, since this is the most direct public transportation to get there. You can get a train to Sintra in Gare do Oriente, Entrecampos, Areeiro, Sete Rios, Campolide, Benfica and Rossio stations. They are very frequent and the journey will take between 40m and 1 hour and cost you something between 1.65€ and 2.00€, depending on you starting station.

By Tour Bus

The number of bus tour to Sintra has grown in the last years, as more and more companies are exploring this circuit. As an example, you’ll have the Carris Tour (Carris is Lisbon bus company). The ticket costs 35€ for an adult and 20€ for children from 4 to 12 years. If you have a Lisboa Card ticket price drops from 35 to 20€. The trip lasts 4 and a half hours and it happens every day, starting at Praça do Comércio at 14:30. The bus will take you not only to Sintra, but also through Cascais, Estoril, Cabo da Roca and Guincho beach.

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€.

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.