Travel

Getting to Porto is relatively easy. The airport in Porto is surprisingly simple, despite moving almost 6 million passengers per year to over 60 direct connections essentially with Europe, but also North America, South America and Africa. And notably, it ranks among the best airports in Europe since 2006.

Reaching your hotel by Metro from Porto Airport

• At the Metro station buy a new Andante Card in the ticket machines with one Z4 title in it. This should cost 2.45 euros, including the rechargeable card.
• Each person travelling must have their own card.
• Before getting on the metro validate the ticket by touching it on the black circle of the yellow sensor box, wait for the beep and the green light.
• The Airport is the terminal station, all trains go to the city center
• Most likely there is staff in the Metro station to assist you
• All Metro lines operate from 6:00 AM till 1:00 AM, all days. On Fridays, Saturdays and holiday eves, line D (yellow line) and line A (blue line) operate uninterruptedly, with a frequency of 20 minutes in both directions.

• If you are going to be travelling a lot by public transportation (bus, metro) in the same day, you may want to consider an Andante Tour (see below).

The Andante system

You can use the Andante Card (web in portuguese only) to travel in the Metro (including Funicular dos Guindais), STCP Buses, STCP Trams, local CP trains (São Bento - Ermesinde, São Bento - Valongo, São Bento - Espinho) and some selected line from other bus operators.

The card is rechargeable and costs 0,60 euros. When you buy the card you will charge it with travel titles at the same time.

• Most connections inside Porto are available with a Z2 title (1.20 euro), ocasionally you might need a Z3 title (1,50 euro).
• Each person travelling must have their own card.
• Before getting on a train (Metro or CP) you must validate the ticket by touching on the black circle of the yellow sensor box in the platform, wait for the beep and the green light.
• When getting on a bus or tram, the yellow validation boxes are inside the vehicle.
• When you validate, a message appears in the machine screen informing you on how much time you have to travel (at least 1 hour, longer for Z4+ titles). You can reuse and touch in the same title over and over during that time.
• When changing transports, or even Metro lines, remember that you must validate again.

When needed, you can recharge the Andante Card with more titles at the ticket machines available in all Metro stations. Most machines accept debit cards, but sometimes you may have to pay using coins or bank notes.

There are also titles valid for 24 hours following the same zonning rules, called Andante 24. A Z2 costs 4.15 euros, Z3 costs 5.20 euros (full table here, in portuguese).

Another alternative are the Andante Tour Cards that are vallid in the full network for 24 consecutive hours (7.00 euros) or 72 consecutive hours (15.00 euros). These are only available at the Andante Shops (Trindade Metro Station, Campanhã Metro/Train Station, Airport Tourism Office, and others).

Zones and Titles

The Andante network is divided in zones.

You can use the Z2 Title (the smallest available title) to move to any station on the same zone that you started, and on any stations on zones that are adjacent to the starting zone.

If you need to travel further away then you will need a Z3 Title to zones adjacent to the Z2 zones, and so on. 

You can see how it works in the actual network here (in portuguese), click on the map to select the starting zone, the colors show the zones acessible for each Title.

Some zones: C1 is the city center, C2 is the seaside of Porto, C6 is the area of ISEP, S8 is the center of Vila Nova de Gaia and N10 is the Airport zone.

You can download the Metro network with zones in PDF format here.

Arriving in Lisbon Airport

Porto Campanhã is the main station for long-distance trains in the city. If you are arriving in Lisbon Airport you can take a train to Porto at Gare do Oriente (near the Airport) or Santa Apolónia (downtown).

From Lisbon Airport to the train stations you can either take

• Public Bus 745,  Aeroporto - Estação Santa-Apolónia, everyday
  Tickets 1.85 euro. Can be purchased on board.

• Aeroshuttle Bus 96, Aeroporto - Gare do Oriente, everyday
  Tickets 3.50 euro. Can be purchased onboard and at the Tourism Office in the arrivals hall

• Taxi
  The trip should be around 5.00 to 10.00 euro (can be more to Santa Apolónia if you get caught in heavy traffic).

The timetable for Trains connecting Lisbon to Porto is available here.

Tickets are 25.00 or 35.00 euro. Travel time is less than 3 hours.