Getting Around

Last verified: July 2026. Portugal’s train prices and rules change often, and a lot of what’s written about them online is years out of date. Everything below was checked against cp.pt in July 2026. Portugal’s trains are old and they’re slow. But the train is still one of my favorite things about living here. It’s cheap, at least if you plan ahead. It goes to a lot of the main cities. Sometimes the AC even works. What follows is how …

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Following on from the article about getting around Portugal by train, I’ve put together a guide to getting around Portugal by bus. I’ve travelled extensively by bus here – taking buses throughout the country and even into Spain as well. Portugal has an extensive bus network that is made up of two types of buses which I think of as “local buses” and “coaches.” The coaches are usually for trips lasting for several hours but can be as little as …

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If you don’t drive, or just don’t want to drive, you can easily get around mainland Portugal by public transport (Madeira and The Azores can be a little trickier). Public transport in Portugal is good, particularly if you’re going to large towns or cities. Some of the smaller towns and villages are a little harder to get to, and usually have fewer services, but it’s almost always doable, although sometimes you’ll have to rely on taxis as well. Cities like …

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