Getting there by Air
Main International Airports
Lisbon (LIS) - located 7 km (4.5 miles) north of the city. Transportation to and from the airport by bus and taxi. Airport facilities include: duty-free shops, foreign exchange office, bank, post office, tourist information, car rental.
Cheap car hire Lisbon airport - Compare car hire suppliers in seconds and find the best deal for car hire at Lisbon airport.
Faro (FAO) - located 4 km (3 miles) west of the city. Transportation to and from the airport by buses and taxis. Airport facilities include: duty-free shops, foreign exchange office, bank, car rental.
Compare car hire Faro - Find the cheapest car hire in Faro at comparecarrentals.co.uk
Porto (OPO) - located 20 km (7 miles) from the city. Transportation to and from the airport by underground trains, buses and taxis. Airport facilities include:
duty-free shops, foreign exchange office, bank, car rental.
Approximate flight times to Lisbon: 2 hours 30 minutes from London and 7 hours from New York.
Getting there by Rail
There are several trains connecting Portugal with other European countries. Most popular is the route from Paris, which takes 20 hours. Of course, all trains to Portugal go via Spain, as the only country Portugal has a land border with.
Getting there by Bus
Coaches operated by Eurolines serve many Portuguese destinations including Coimbra, Faro, Lagos, Lisbon and Porto. There are also other Spanish operators offering regular services from Spain.
Getting around by Car
The network of roads in Portugal is generally pretty good, particularly between major cities that are connected by modern highways (estradas). Most of the highways are toll roads, with a unified electronic toll paying system for the entire the country - Via Verde (at the entrance to the toll road, the left most lanes are marked with "V" and are to be used only to the subscribers of the electronic system; others pay by credit card or cash at the booth).
When driving in Portugal, remember that Portuguese drivers have a pretty bad reputation. The country has one of the highest rates of deaths from road accidents in Europe (recently improving though).
Getting around by Air
Domestic filights between Lisbon, Faro, Madeira, Porto Santo, Porto and the Azores are operated by TAP Air Portugal and PGA Portugália Airlines. SATA operates flights to and from the Azores.
Getting around by Rail
Portugal is covered with a good network of trains - express, inter regional and regional. There are frequent express trains connecting Lisbon with the tourist areas of Cascais and Sintra.
There are suburban (suburbano) local train networks in Lisbon and Porto. These trains are much cheaper and in case of Lisbon, the network is extended to Braga, Guimarães and Aveiro.
Getting around by Bus
There are many regional companies providing bus services in Portugal. The largest companies are Rede Expressos, Rodo norte and the Algarve line Eva. Services are usually frequent, reliable and inexpensive (for example - €15 for a 4 hour's trip from Lisbon to Faro). There are three classes of buses: express (expressos) - fast buses between bigger cities, rápidas - quick regional buses, and carreiras - slower, on shorter routes.
