The capital city of Portugal is Lisbon and what is interesting about Lisbon is that it has a subtropical climate with scenic landscapes and beautiful beaches making it the perfect vacation place. In addition to the beaches, the city itself has beautiful architectural wonders, caf‚s, museums, and mosaic sidewalks. What a great place to travel by rail to.
As mentioned earlier, Lisbon has many beaches close by and the quickest way you can get to these beaches is to take the train. This train is named the Linha do Estoril at Cais do Sodr‚ which comes in at a metro station. Ride the train until you reach the first beach at the open sea: Carcavelos. Or, if you want to walk down the beach, continue on the train until you get to Cascais. You can then enjoy the scenery by taking a stroll at Guincho. All this beauty and relaxation is available by rail in Portugal.
More than likely, if traveling by rail, you are going to travel from Madrid, Spain. You may even be on a night train from Madrid too. It is reported that the trip from Madrid to Lisbon is a long one and the train is overcrowded. You would be wise to get a reservation as early as you can before your trip. Just because you have a reservation does not mean that you will get a seat. You may have to politely ask someone to move from your reserved seat and there are train officers available to assist you with this. All this sounds very uncomfortable but if you are into adventure and roughing it you should not mind at all.
The rail routes into Portugal include:
* London to Lisbon through the Channel Tunnel on the French TGV Train. This trip takes over 24 hours to complete.
* From Paris via Guarda to Lisbon. If you want to go to Colmbra & Porto then you will change trains at Guarda.
* From Madrid
The main train station in Lisbon is Santa Apol¢nia. While it is the main station, it is reported to be very inaccessible. There is only a bus or taxi that will take you from this station (no Metro train connection). There are plans to have the Blue Line Metro link to the main station in February 2007. The Oriente Station has a link to the Blue Line Metro so you might want to try and disembark there instead (if possible).
There are two stations in Porto and a few in Lisboa. The rail situation in Lisboa is different because you will find many different lines by different rail companies. The national rail system, CP (Comboios do Portugal), has a route now from Lisboa to Faro where you once had to ride the ferry in order to cross the Targus river.
As far as information, CP has a modern website (www.cp.pt). They have a full page of discounts and promotions but you had better be able to at least read a little Portuguese because you cannot display it in English. There seems to be many discounts but the availability of special unlimited passes offered by the CP was not obvious.
If you want to order in English, Railbookers.com has a page where you can order Portuguese rail passes which are really Eurodomino passes distributed by Rail Europe. These passes offer unlimited travel for periods of 3 to 8 calendar days over a one-month period. One condition on this pass that makes it exclusive is that you must have been resident in Europe for at least six months.
There are also railpasses from Eurail that offer 3, 4, or 6 days of unlimited travel in Portugal and must be used within a one-month period. The Eurail passes have the following features:
* There is only first class availability
* Reductions for youth or seniors are not available
* Your child of age 3 and younger can ride for free unless you make a reservation for a separate seat.
* A 50% discount is give to children age 4 through 11 years.
Like Spain, rail travel can be somewhat confusing but if you are into adventure, you will find a way. Just try to buy passes in advance as much as possible.