taxi or bus from Istanilla to Faro

Get the hire car company to drop you in Ayamonte.

Islantilla is about 30km from Ayamonte by road. 20km as the fly crows.

Alternatively, Damas, the regional bus service operate a service four times a day on weekdays from Islantilla to Ayamonte at the following times Weekends about 1 service a day.:

08:30
09:30
14:30
18:30

There are buses departing from Ayamonte to Faro.

Check Cubsur's site at www.algarvebus.info for the times.

Portalegre to Lisbon/Faro

According to the CP (Portuguese Railway), http://www.cp.pt, there are two trains daily running from Elvas through Portalegre to Entroncamento with onwards connections to Lisbon Gare Oriente where you can connect to trains to Faro.

Trains leave Portalegre:

Dept Portalegre: 06.19 Arr. Lisbon Gare Oriente 10:02
Dept: Lisbon Gare Oriente 10:20 Arr. Faro 14:20

Dept Portalegre: 15.24 Arr. Lisbon Gare Oriente 19:02
Dept: Lisbon Gare Oriente 19:20 Arr. Faro 23:20 (Only operates Fridays year round and 1st June throughh 31st August.)

The line through Portalegre runs in an east - west direction and only has a link to Faro via Lisbon. The station is situated 12km from the town in a southerly direction. The Council website indicates that there are local buses serving the station.

See this link (in Portuguese) from the council website here:

http://www.cm-portalegre.pt/page.php?page=622

Note that the daily Lisbon - Madrid Express train that used to pass through nearby Castelo de Vide no longer operates that route. It currently runs via Vilar Formoso near Guarda

Train between Evora and Merida

There is no train service between Evora in Portugal and Merida in Spain.

However, there is a bus service operated by www.alsa.es that serves this route.

Current Timetable as follows. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Albufeira - Winter

Like any resort of the Mediterranean type, most businesses in the Algarve operate reduced services in Winter.

Have a look at this link:

http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/index.php?destination=albufeira

You will see that in December, average temperatures range between 9ºC and 16ºC. Weather can be clear but parky. The Algarve coast faces the Atlantic not the Med and so is open to Atlantic vagaries.

Flying into Lisbon will require a taxi to Gare Oriente train/coach station (ten minutes ride) and then either a train to Albufeira Station (actually 8kms from Albufeira) or a Renex Coach to Albufeira center.
You should allow at least five hours for this transit.

For links for timetables Have a look at the section entitled "Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links" in right hand panel of my blog at

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

(Note winter timetables for trains and buses are not out till the end of September.)

As regards flights into Faro being expensive, it is likely that all flights to most European destinations will see price increases this winter as we see both Ryanair and Air Berlin announcing they are parking up planes over the season. Expect similar announcements shortly from Easyjet and others following the recent oil prices rises.

Lisbon - Madeira - Easyjet

According to this article in Portguese, we now have confirmation of Easyjet's new twice daily Lisbon - Funchal return service.

http://www.lowcostportugal.net/aeroportos/lisboa-funchal-em-easyjetcom/2008/07/

Apparently, tickets are not yet on sale.

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.