Algarve - Public Transport

Thank you for reading my blog.

You have many questions and I may not be able to answer all of them.

1) Porto to Albufeira.

There are two ways. Train or Rail.

As Albufeira Railway station is 8km from Albufeira, the cheapest and best way to make the trip will probably be by bus.

There are two bus companies that operate this route, via Lisbon.

Renex

website: http://www.renex.pt

Rede-Expressos

website: http://www.rede-expressos.pt/

2) Travel in the Algarve by public transport.

Again because the railway station is outside Albufeira, buses are your best option to travel around the Algarve.

See the following sites for more information:

Regional Bus Company - Eva Transportes

website: http://www.eva-bus.com/home.php?lang=UK

Website on local travel in the Algarve by Cubsur:

website: http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/

3) Bus Passes

EVA Transportes have a 3 day regional tourist pass for € 22.50 which covers the Central Algarve between Loulé and Lagos.
Website: http://www.eva-bus.com/passe_turistico.php?serv=passe_turistico

With a student card you may get some discounts on certain services but you will probably be only able to find out if your Students card will be valid when you get here and buy tickets.

Portuguese Railways - Lisbon/Madrid - New Rail Times

As from 14th December 2008, the Lusitania Express has return to its old route operating overnight between Lisbon Sta. Apolonia and Madrid Chaumartin. This means again that there is now again a daily service between Lisbon and Caceres and Marvão and Madrid.

I publish an extract from the Portuguese Railways/CP website below.(Click on Image to enlarge)

CP - Portuguese Railways - New Timetables from 14th December 2008

New timetables will apply throughout the national CP/Portuguese Railways system as from 14th December 2008.

At present it is best to check the new timetables online at:

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

The pdf versions are not all online yet.

New Hotel Aggregator Web Site - hotelscombined.com

I have just been introduced to the above site which certainly seems to give an excellent aggregation/summary of offers from hotels world-wide.

It is a clean site and the search facility is rapid.

I got excellent results on tests for hotels in Lagos, Lisbon and Rimin, Italy.

It is certainly worth a try if one needs to do a rapid survey of available hotels.

http://www.hotelscombined.com

Flights from Copenhagen to Faro

Norwegian Air Shuttle who already operate Oslo to Faro are launch a service from Copenhagen to Faro following the demise of Sterling Airlines. The weekly service is due to start operation on 4th April 2009.

See:

http://www.norwegian.no/

Lisbon Airport - Buses to the Centre

I passed through Lisbon Airport this weekend en route to Lagos and as I had some time decided to check again the bus services from the airport.

What I was not aware of was that as well as the Aerobus service linking the airport with the Centre at Rossio and Cais de Sodre station, Carris, the Lisbon bus operator have been operating another service for the past few months that links the Airport with the Rede Expressos Bus Station and the Railway/Metro Station at Sete Rios/Jardim Zoologico. The bus continues to run up Avda. José Malhoa to service the many hotels there, (e.g. Ibis Malhoa) and on past S. Sebastião and Parque Metro Stations. The Service is called Aeroshuttle and costs Euro 3.00. This ticket also allows 24 hour travel on buses on the Carris network.

The actual stops at Sete Rios/Jardim Zoologico are under the motorway in front of the entrance to the Zoo about 150 metres from the bus/rail station.

I decided to use this service which takes between 20 and 40 minutes to travel from Lisbon Airport to Sete Rios/Jardim Zoologico. It enabled me to easily connect with the EVA Transportes departure from Sete Rios Bus Station to Lagos, which costs Euro 19.00 one way and takes 3 hrs 45 mins which is 45 quicker than the other bus operator RENEX.

More information can be found here:

http://www.carris.pt/en/index.php?area=servicos&subarea=servicos_tur_aerobus

Travel from Seville to Lisbon

You can take a train from Faro to Lisbon but there is also a bus service operated by alsa.es linking Seville at Lisbon.

The current timetable shows the following service:

Departure schedules (03/01/2009): SEVILLA - LISBOA SETE RIOS

Dept: SEVILLA 15:00
Arr: LISBON Sete Rios 21:15

These tickets should be purchasable in advance at the Bus Station in Seville or online.

If you want to travel in the morning, DAMAS/EVA operate the following bus service via Faro:

Dept: Sevilla 07:30
Arr: Faro 10:10
Dept: Faro 11:00
Arr: Lisbon Sete Rios 14:15

Tickets for the Faro to Lisbon sector may be purchasable in advance at Seville Plaza das Armas Bus Station as this was being advertised as a direct route on posters in the above bus station when I was there last week.

Sanctuary at Fatima - Contact Details

If you are trying to visit Fatima at any time the followinng may be of use:

Santuário de Fátima
Information
Ap. 31 2496 908
Fátima
Portugal

Tel. 249 539 623
Fax: 249 539 609
E-mail: info@fatima.pt

web: http://www.santuario-fatima.pt

Faro at this time of the year

Faro is the administrative capital of the Algarve and while you will find plenty of shopping there, both in town and in the Algarve Forum Shopping Centre it is not exactly what I would call a holiday destination.

It is a ways from the coast...the local beach is about 8km away at Praia de Faro.

Don't know where you got the idea that most places will be closed! Faro is the one place in the Algarve where most shops and restaurants will be open at this time of year.

Christmas 2008 - Lagos to Faro Buses

There is no direct bus or train from Lagos to Faro Airport.

You will have to get a bus or train to Faro and then another bus or taxi to the Airport.

As regards trains, the official CP timetable is clear. Year round there are two trains that operate daily that will meet your requirements:

Dept Lagos: Arr Faro:

06:11 07:51
08:19 10:03

There is also a departure at 09:46 arriving Faro at 11:27 which does not operate on Sundays or Public Holidays. Boxing Day is not a holiday in Portugal so it will probably run.

As regards buses, EVA Transportes has two buses that will meet your needs:

Lagos: 07:00 Faro: 09:00 Weekdays
Lagos: 08:30 Faro: 10:35 Daily year round.

From Faro Train/Bus Station you will either need to take a taxi or bus.

The following buses (16 or 14) run daily from in front of Faro Bus Station to the Airport:

0800, 0830, 0905, 1010, 1115,