Public transport in Porto
- Take the subway from the airport to center
- Take the bus from center to the beach
- Use the Andante card for the bus, metro and city train
- Buy the Porto Card for public transport and entrance to museums
First, let’s start with arriving at the airport. When you arrive at Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, you are met with several options for getting to the city. By far the easiest and cheapest, is the metro. In the arrivals hall, you will find the entrance to the metro station. Once at the airport metro station, you can buy a standard ticket through a vending machine. Depending on the route of the selected trip, you will pay more or less. An example: the subway ride from the airport to the famous São Bento train station, located in the old town, costs 2 euros and takes about half an hour.
To travel by subway, you buy from the vending machine the so-called Andante card, a blue paper ticket which you can then recharge continuously. It can also be used for buses, streetcars and city trains. In the first purchase, you pay €0.60 extra for the physical card.
Otherwise, the prices are thus determined by the number of zones you cross during your route. The metro system consists of 11 zones. For example, if you plan to travel across 3 zones, you need a Z3 ticket. The ticket machine will display the number of zones for each station/destination, from your point of departure.
If you are at the airport and want to go to São Bento station, the machine reads São Bento Z4. The machine asks how many zones you want (in this case Z4), and then it asks how many titles (titulos) you want; a title refers to a ride. In case you want to go there and back, it is worth considering buying 2 titles. Finally, there are scanning devices in the metro station where you have to validate your ticket. From the first scan moment, you can continue making trips within the timeframe of 60 minutes, as long as you do not cross the zone border corresponding to your ticket.
Bus
If you pay attention, you will regularly see the blue and white buses of the local bus company STCP passing by. The bus company can also be found on Google Transit. As for the price of tickets, the same applies here as for the metro. You simply buy and validate your ticket directly on the bus.. The final price also depends on the number of zones you go through. The buses work well here, are on time and safe.
Useful bus lines: number 500, which departs from the Bolhão food market, stops at São Bento train station and continues along the river to the seaside of Porto. Itsfinal stop is the Matosinhos food market, the Mercado Municipal de Matosinhos, a beautiful market worth visiting. Another nice route is that of number 502. It also departs from Bolhão and passes a number of interesting locations such as the music theater Casa da Musica, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the Serralves museum and Parque da Cidade, the largest urban park in the country, which opens out to the sea.
Andante Tour-card
An interesting option is the so-called Andante Tour card. The Andante Tour card can be a very useful option for tourists as a public transport card. There are 2 cards: one that is valid for 24 hours, and another one that works for 72 hours. The moment the card is scanned(validated) for the first time, the time countdown starts.
The big advantage of this card is that you can use it on the entire transport network of Porto, i.e. on the bus, metro and train connections in the city (Espinho, Valongo and Travagem). The Andante Tour 1, valid for 24 hours, is priced at €7.00 whereas the Andante Tour 3 is valid for 72 hours and costs €15.00.
You can buy the card at the Andante shops, which can be found in the metro stations of Trindade, Campanhã, Hospital São João and Casa da Música. You can also purchase the card at the official tourist information stands in Porto and the tourist information desk at the airport. It is mandatory to validate the Andante card at the yellow machines at the entrance of the metro station, or at the machine on the bus once you get in.
Porto Card
Another interesting option is to buy the so-called Porto Card. The Porto Card serves as a discount card for tourists. There is a white card and a blue card. If you buy the white card, you will receive free or discounted access to a series of activities and sights in Porto. Consider the Torre dos Clérigos, or the Palacio da Bolsa, Porto’s old stock exchange. But in this place the blue card is important. Because the blue Porto Card is a combination of free entry (and discount) to sights and activities, and access to all bus and metro transport in the city. You can buy the tickets online, but also at Porto’s tourist offices.
Prices: validity of a Porto Card for 1 day: €13; for 2 days: €20; for 3 days: €25, for 4 days: €33 (€8.25 per day).
