Caldas da Rainha to Faro by Train

Portuguese Railways has a good site in english complete with timetables here:

http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=87cbd5abe2a74010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD&lang=en

If you go my blog here

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/caldas-da-rainha-to-faro-by-train.html

I have posted below a selection of four through routes from Caldas to Faro. (Click on image to enlarge)




Kindly note that there are no through services from Caldas da Rainha to Faro and it may require at least 1 and possibly two changes en route.

The timetables I have posted do not refer to the high-speed Alfa-Pendular trains that run from Lisbon Entrecampos to Faro. This is because they are not shown as relevant on the Portuguese Railway timetable. I suspect through booking from Caldas via Cacem and Entrecampos is not available.

Peniche/Lourinha to Povoa da Varzim

There is no easy combination by train/bus between the above centres.

If you go to my blog at:

I have posted extracts from the timetable of rede-expressos, a national bus company..

This company offers a through booking service from both Lourinha and Peniche to Povoa da Varzim, daily except Sundays and Public Holidays, although you will have to route via Lisbon and Porto.

Click on the Image to enlarge:



It appears reasonably cheap and at least you don't have to worry about changing between rail and bus stations.

Bus Company site:

http://www.rede-expressos.pt/0010.asp

Portuguese Railways English Website

If you go to the www.cp.pt website you will find in the top right hand corner a small icon made from the UK flag.

Click on it and it will take you to the English language site.

If this does not work you will have to go to Albufeira Station, which is at Ferreiras, 8km from Albufeira and book the day before.

To get from Entrecampos to the Hotel, you can either take the Metro in the direction of Odivelas (Linha Amarela) and descend at Campo Grande and walk to the SAS Radisson (3 minutes) or (probably better) grab a cab if you don't have to many bags. Cabs are not that expensive in Lisbon.

Lisbon to Viana do Alentejo via Evora

There are two means by which you can get from Lisbon to Evora:

1) Train (as already mentioned)

Departs: Lisbon Gare Oriente: 08:10
Departs: Lisbon Entrecampos: 08:21
Arr: Evora 10:07

Departs: Lisbon Gare Oriente: 14:10
Departs: Lisbon Entrecampos: 14:21
Arr: Evora 16:05

Departs: Lisbon Gare Oriente: 18:10
Departs: Lisbon Entrecampos: 18:21
Arr: Evora 20:14

These refer to the summer 2008 timetables.

Tickets can be booked online (sometimes) at www.cp.pt.

The only problem with the train is that you will then have to find your way from Evora Station to Evora Bus Station which is a bit of a hoof.

2) Bus

Rede Expressos - http://www.rede-expressos.pt/0010.asp - operate regularly between Lisbon Sete Rios Bus Station and Evora.

There are departures regularly throughout the day every 60 to 90 minutes between 07:00 and 22:00. Transit time is about 105 minutes.

You cannot book these online.

Evora to Viana de Alentejo

According to the local Council, buses only run on this route Mondays to Fridays.

See:
http://www.cm-vianadoalentejo.pt/pt/conteudos/informacoes+uteis/transportes/

Operated by Rodoviária do Alentejo - Line 8146

Departures from Évora: 07h15 - 17h30 - 19h15
Departures from Viana: 06h49 - 08h10 - 19h55

Services depart from Evora Bus Station

Marvão to Caceres

Since the rerouting of the Lusitania comboio Hotel Lisbon to Madrid service, there have been questions about how to get from Marvão in the Alentejo to Caceres in Spain.

I have made contact with the tourist posts in each centre and can confirm as follows:

1) There is currently no bus/train link between Marvão and Spain.

2) From Marvão one can get a taxi to Valencia de Alcántara, 24km away in Spain.

2) From Valencia de Alcántara there are buses to Caceres as follows:

Monday to Friday - Dept: 7:30H, 10:00h and 15:30

Sat. 7:30H

Sun. 17:15h

Details correct at time of writing.

Obidos to Nazare - public transport

Public transport between Obidos and Nazare is difficult particularly on weekends when there are no buses between Obidos and Caldas da Rainha.

Trains are a difficult option as Obidos/Nazare stations are not well located close the centres.

On weekdays there is a Rodatejo bus service between Obidos and Caldas da Rainha as follows:

Obidos Caldas da Rainha
08:02 08:12 Weekdays Only
11:20 11:30 Weekdays Only
12:42 12:58 Weekdays Only
16:45 17:01 School Term Only

There are then frequent buses between Caldas and Nazare.

I have published a copy of this reply and the timetable on my blog here.

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/obidos-to-nazare-public-transport.html

Lisbon - Tavira

You can hire a car at Lisbon Airport and drop off in Tavira.

Suggest you look at Auto Jardim - see

http://www.carhireyes.com/autojardim/

If you are from across the Pond, I suggest that you specify if you require automatic shift as most cars in Europe are manual shift.

There is public transport available from Lisbon to Tavira.

You would have to take a taxi from the Airport to Gare Oriente Rail/Bus Station from where you could get bus or train.

For timetables, go to my blog at

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right hand side panel till you come to:

»» Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

»» Continue scrolling down in this section till you come

Portuguese Railways - 2008 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

or

RENEX Bus Service - Lisbon to Algarve timetable

An alternative bus service also exists from Lisbon Sete Rios Bus Station operated by Rede-Expressos.

There is a link on my blog as well but be warned the site is only on Portuguese.

Cascais to Portimão

There is no direct route from Cascais to Portimão.

Your best bet will be to take the train from Cascais to Lisbon Cais de Sodre.

Then take the Metro Green Line to Alameda then the Red Line to Gare Oriente.

From there you can get either a long distance RENEX Coach to Portimão or the train via Tunes.

For timetables, please visit my blog at


http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right hand side panel till you come to:

»» Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

»» Continue scrolling down in this section till you come

Portuguese Railways - 2008 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

or

RENEX Bus Service - Lisbon to Algarve timetable

Click on these to download the timetables from the respective sites.

Lagos to Sintra to Cadiz

Lagos to Sintra.

You have two options:

1) Rail

Local train from Lagos to Tunes
Intercity from Tunes to Lisbon Entrecampos

Timetable can be downloaded from my blog here:

You can find a link to timetables on my blog here:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right hand side panel till you come to:

»» Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

»» Continue scrolling down in this section till you come

Portuguese Railways - 2008 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

Suburban train from Entrecampos to Cacem - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so

Suburban train from Cacem to Sintra - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so.


2) Bus

EVA Bus from Lagos to Lisbon Sete Rios Bus Station.

You can find the timetable here on my blog here:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lagos-to-sintra-to-cadiz.html

lagos sete rios eva - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: lagos sete rios eva

Suburban train from Sete Rios to Cacem - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so

Suburban train from Sete Rios to Sintra - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so.

3) Sintra to Cadiz

Suburban train from Sintra to Sete Rios - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so

Suburban train from Cacem to Sete Rios - Weekdays trains every 20 minutes or so.

Long distance coach with www.alsa.es from Lisbon Sete Rios Coach station to Jerez la Frontera. (Current Timetable)

Dept: Lisbon: 09:00
Arr: Jerez la Frontera: 20:00
Dept: Jerez de La Frontera 21:35 (Train Renfe)
Arrive: Cadiz 22:24

Dept: Lisbon: 21:30
Arr: Jerez la Frontera: 08:30
Dept: Jerez de La Frontera 09:30 (Train Renfe)
Arrive: Cadiz 10:19

Madrid to Castelo Branco

Train is not possible. At present there is only one train per day from Madrid to Lisbon which runs via Vila Formoso.

Bus is also not really an option for a same day trip as you would have to go via Lisbon.

Have a look at this recent post on my blog:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/travel-from-madrid-to-castelo-branco.html

Hire Car is your only option to do it the same day, but be aware that inter-country drop-offs in Europe are very expensive. You would probably have to drop the vehicle off in Spain afterwards.

Madrid Barajas Airport to Castelo Branco by road is approximately 409 km – about 5 hours drive.

I have created a google maps gazeteer here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Madrid,+Barajas,+Spain&daddr=Castelo+Branco,+Portugal&sll=37.15781,-8.734502&sspn=0.24571,0.601501&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=8