sportpix

I’m currently trying to change my return business class air ticket from Hong Kong to Lisbon instead of London. This is certainly the last time I will fly Lufthansa as to change the destination they are demanding an additional fee of US$1,200, even though the second flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon is on an Airbus Neo that only has economy class seats. Anyway I was planning to take the train from Lisbon to Lagos but on some of airlines that I might end up flying with I might have a four hour wait in Lisbon. I’ve never used the bus before but it seems they are more frequent than the train so this might be a better option. Can anyone with experience recommend?

dingg

Bus services are usually quicker than trains, ac with free wifi and cheap as chips.

Nothing to worry about imo.

zoff

I've taken the bus a few times and for me it's better than the train. The Orient bus and train station is about 3K from Lisbon airport. You can take the metro or car from the airport to Orient station.

sportpix

Thanks for the recommendation. Is it best to pre-book a ticket or do you just rock up and buy a ticket for the next departing bus? From the Google map it seems the bus station is next to the train station. I've been to the train station but I can't see the bus station in my mind's eye.

macliam

I'd not make up your mind on one or t'other until you check which has the best departure time for you ..... both will have limited services and you might find that there is a train that slots between coach departures

I have used the RedeExpresso many times, from Porto to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Ourique. The coaches are comfortable, fast and efficient - but (obviously) they have limited capacity. I think the main Bus Station for Lisbon is at Sete Rios, so have never tried from Orient - but both are on the Metro, so easy to reach.

The Train from Lisbon to the Algarve is also comfortable and efficient - I think it takes a long time to rech the Eastern Algarve (because of the fixed route), but this may not be the same for Lagos...... obviously you can check the journey times too. The complication of the train is that some services are "Alphas", faster trains with fewer stops and some are Regionais or inter-Cidades, which may have more stops and take longer - all times are published. Alphas are substantially more expensive.

Both coaches and trains publish online and you can also purchase e-tickets AFAIK. You may also find that buying in advance unlocks a discount.... but the booking period is fairly short (a window of a few weeks into the future). One other thing to be aware about is that, if you are a pensioner, you get a substantial discount on the rail fare (I'm not sure about the coach). SWMBO travelled from Funcheira (Ourique)to Lisbon a week ago for about €8.50 each way!! You just need to show your Passport or ID to the ticket collector (and I guess there is a way to do the same online, but DYOR).

Basically, get yourself on the respetive websites and see which service suits you best - but overall, public transport is very good and very cheap for long-distance journeys.

sportpix

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the various bus websites this morning and all seem to say one free 20kg check bag and one free small cabin bag. The dimensions of the cabin bag seem to be smaller than the dims on a plane so I'm wondering how strict they are about this as the stated cost of a second check bag is 29 euros!