Category: Train Travel

A day trip from lisbon to the algarve

8/4/2024

If you're staying in Lisboa (oh, hi! did you know the Portuguese version of Lisbon is Lisboa?) and wondering if it's possible to make a day trip to the Algarve from Lisbon, let me tell you it is absolutely possible!

Chances are high you will wish you had more time in the southern coast of Portugal and a one-day visit is going to make for a long day, but it IS definitely possible and oh so worth it.

A seagull soars over the cliffs of Carvoeiro | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

In this post:

Looking for something specific? Jump ahead:

Benagil Cave Boat Tour
- By Speedboat
- By Pirate Ship
- By Kayak
Mel & Canela Review
Sorbetto Gelateria Review
Algarve Beaches
- Praia dos Tres Castelos
- Praia Grande Ferragudo
- Praia de Carvoeiro
Forno do Fraser Carvoeiro Pizzeria Review
How to get to Algarve From Lisbon
Best Travel Credit Cards

Benagil Cave Boat Tour

A top activity when you come to the southern coast of Portugal is to a Benagil Cave tour by boat. I really do recommend this as you get spectacular views of the unique cliffs all along the Algarvian coastline. The guides are great and intertwine facts with humor and explain all the little beach towns and secret beaches you see along the way. On occasion you may even see wild dolphins, though this is not guaranteed.

Benagil Cave by speedboat

A Benagil Cave Speedboat Tour | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

The most popular way to see the caves is by speedboat. There are tons of companies offering these tours from all over Algarve. This is the boat tour we did recently and we had a good experience! It's likely that your boat will be pretty full in-season and you really are packed like sardinhas (sardines). On our boat each row sat 3 people. If you're in the middle seat you will find it a bit more difficult to see at times. You really want to be on the ends if you're the photographer/videographer of the group.

Tips: Try to get in the front of the boat and a seat on either end for the best views.

The boats can only pull so far into the caves so the people toward the front will have the best view. As the boats are usually traveling roundtrip from the same town if you start out on the side of the boat facing the ocean, on the way back you will face the shore. Typically the return trip is faster, though. You've already seen what they want to show you and now you are turning back. So if you really want the best photo ops go for the left side of the boat (when inside the boat) if you are departing from Portimao Marina Boat Tours.

Book a Speedboat Tour

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Benagil Cave by Pirate Ship

See the Algarvian Coast from a Pirate Ship | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

Another option is to take the pirate ship cave cruise. As you can see right away this is a much larger vessel. You may find this more comfortable if your body structure is not compatible with the sardine situation, if you have bad knees and it would be hard to sit in a low seat, or if you're nervous about feeling the waves too much in a speedboat.

The pirate ship is equipped with a bar selling beverages and snacks, but many bring their own snacks on board. The ship has two smaller boats at the back that you can board to actually get a closer look at the caves as the main pirate ship is too large.

Book the pirate ship

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Benagil cave by Kayak Tour

The most immersive Benagil Cave experience is by Kayak | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

If you are more adventurous and truly want to get inside the caves, in the water and on the beaches, you must do a Benagil caves kayak tour.

Book a Kayak Tour

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Ocean Kayakers touring Benagil Caves in Portugal | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

Pre-cruise snack at mel & Canela

If you've taken an early morning bus from Lisbon to Algarve you are probably going to be pretty hungry. I recommend grabbing a little something to eat.

As our boat trip was leaving from Portimao Marina, we stopped at this spacious cafe called Mel & Canela, meaning Honey & Cinnamon in Portuguese. We just got some classics like a bifana com ovo (pork sandwich with an egg) and a pork bitoque which came with a side of French fries, a simple salad, and an egg on top.

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Post-cruise snack at Sorbetto Gelateria

It only feels like vacation when you have an ice cream, right? A Gelato was a perfect treat after the benagil cave speedboat tour and we opted for a place called Sorbetto Gelateria at Praia Da Rocha in Portimao.

The gelato was unbelievably delicious and we got two very European flavors - Améndoa e Figo (Almond and Fig) and Pistachio. Prices here ranged from 2.50-6 euros for small, medium, large, or extra large cones. And do note that even if you get a small (pequeno) you can have two flavors ;)

The girls working in this Gelateria were especially simpatico (friendly) and actually made this sweet treat an even sweeter experience!

We definitely recommend this gelato in Portugal - Sorbetto Gelateria. They use fresh, natural ingredients and make everything in small batches and that is totally our style.

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Algarve Beaches

Of course while you are on your day trip to the Algarve you should see the beaches. Maybe you already did a boat tour or maybe you aren't into water activities. Either way you should see the beaches, whether you sunbathe and eat Bolas de Berlim (a portuguese pastry that's sort of like a sugared donut cut in half and filled with cream that is traditionally egg and sugar based, although plain and other flavors like Nutella can be had) or you enjoy a sangria at a beach cafe or you walk some cliff trails - you really cannot go wrong!

Praia dos Três Castelos

This is from the miradouro dos Três Castlos (Viewpoint of the 3 Castles) an observation deck in Portimao, Portugal. You can walk down to the beach from here if you'd like!

By the way praia is the Portuguese word for beach. =)

Praia dos Trés Castelos as seen from the Miradouro | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Praia Grande Ferragudo

Praia Grande in Ferragudo is just across the river from Portimão. It's another beautiful and spacious Portuguese beach on which you can find a medieval castle, the Forte de São João do Arade, which I think is so cool. The initial watchtower is thought to have been built around 1520, while the actual castle was constructed around 1640, after the Portuguese Restoration War. Forte de São João is privately owned, so do be respectful when you are near the property. =)

Medieval Castle on Praia Grande, a beach in Ferragudo Portugal | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

The fishing village of Ferragudo is also not to be missed. It's a great village to walk around in as it is filled with cute and funky shops, great restaurants, and quaint cafes.

Charming street in the Fishing Village Ferragudo Portugal | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

If you're into unique, artsy souvenirs check out deja vu art shop in Ferragudo.

RETURN TO TOP ↑

Praia de Carvoeiro

Heading a short distance to the east of Ferragudo you will find Praia de Carvoeiro.

Famous Praia de Carvoeiro | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

It is a small sandy beach with a hilly, but walkable and lively town. While you are here you should try and walk along the Carvoeiro Boardwalk, Algar Seco, for stunning views and you can climb down into some of the cliffs which is very cool.

Algar Seco Cliffs and Beautiful Views in Algarve Portugal | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

RETURN TO TOP ↑

You can go decently far where there are stairs built in to the rock, and wooden posts with rope hand rails. For the adventurous and well coordinated you can safely continue to explore further if you wish.

Before you catch a bus home, if you're around long enough, I can't recommend highly enough getting a pizza at Forno do Fraser. This is the best pizza place in Carvoeiro we've had to date and it's a short walk up the hill from the beach.

Fig Pizza on Carvoeiro Beach from Forno do Fraser | Traveling Through Food Portugal Travel Blog

Current hours at time of this article are Monday - Saturday 17:30-22:00 (5:30pm - 10pm)

If you want to dine in, I recommend you make a reservation. Depending on the day the dining room may be packed and unable to accommodate walk-ins. Although we have picked pizza up to eat at the beach as seen above.

Forno do Fraser deserves a full review for our Pizza in Portugal series, so stay tuned for that.

RETURN TO TOP ↑

one day in the algarve is simply not enough

There are so many ways to spend one day in Algarve. Boat trips, beach days, shopping for local handicrafts, day trips to monchique or Silves castle, trying the many Portuguese Pastries, hiking, summer concerts, waterparks, spas, golfing... there is so much to do here I'm sure you will be convinced after one day that you simply must come back again soon! ;)

How to get to algarve from lisbon

Of course you can rent a car and drive (check car rental prices), but if you're not interested in messing with that I can recommend the train or the bus.

BuyPortugal train tickets at the Comboios de Portugal (Trains of Portugal) website: cp.pt
Buy Portugal bus tickets through the Rede Expressos website rede-expressos.pt/pt
Buy Portugal bus tickets through FlixBus website flixbus.com/bus/portugal

While it depends where exactly you get on and off, the bus takes around 3 hours between Lisbon and Algarve.

Which stop should you get off at?

Albufeira is popular with tourists, but you can also take the bus to Armação de Pêra, Portimão, or Lagoa if you'd like to visit Carvoeiro beach town.

How much is the bus from Lisbon to Algarve?
The bus is incredibly affordable with seats starting at $5 euros. An incredible value!

Do note that the cheapest seats will be at the back of the bus and the ticket price increases as the travel date nears. My best tip for you is that as soon as you know when you want to make your trip from Lisbon to Algarve, if the dates are available for purchase, buy your tickets! This way you get the best price and you're guaranteed to see some of the amazing this shared in this post! ;)

FYI: In some cases the tickets will only be available approximately 1 month before a travel date.

RETURN TO TOP ↑

You'll also like:

0 Comments

How to get to Civitavecchia Cruise Port by train from FCO Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy

7/4/2024

0 Comments

Pin Me!

If you want, you could get a private transfer from FCO airport to the cruise port. It will probably cost you around $100 per person. On the other hand you can a take the train and it will cost you around just 11 euros per person. You don't have to guess what we chose lol.

What follows is a step-by-step travel guide that will help you take the train from Rome airport to the cruise port and potentially save a ton of money! :)

How to get to the train station from FCO Airport

After disembarking our RyanAir Flight, we followed the exit signs "Uscita" as you can see below on the right.

Exiting Rome Airport

Once you round the bend, look for the bright yellow sign featuring various modes of ground transportation including the Train.

Follow the yellow signs for the train in FCO Rome airport

In our case, we were directed to exit the airport and walk outside to the train station. Periodically you would see the yellow square sign with the train icon on it.

Entrance to Stazione Fiumicino Aeroporto train station

The train station had lovely, large planters with tropical foliage which provided seating for passengers waiting, as well as a cafe and ticketing offices on either side.

In the picture below, the train platform is behind us and in front of us is an entrance to Fiumicino Airport. It's really convenient that you can take the train directly to the airport in Rome for your flight or hop on a train to your destination, like the Civitavecchia Cruise Port for a Mediterranean Cruise right after your flight!

Inside the train station at Rome Airport

Entering the rome airport train platform

The train platform at FCO stazione is not exceptionally big. Therefore you can only pass through when your train is one of the next to arrive. For mobile tickets, we had to see a live staff member to go through. Paper tickets could be scanned automatically. A bit counterintuitive, but whatever! :)

Closed doors leading to the train platform in Roma Aeroporto

Upon entering the platform is a sign showing the next train and the stops it will make, as seen below.

Upcoming train scheduled stops at Rome Airport Train Station

Rome Airport Train Station - Buying Tickets

When it comes to buying train tickets you have a few options.

You can buy them in advance from trenitalia
You can buy them at a ticketing machine in the airport or train station
You can buy them at a ticketing counter - which is helpful if you need assistance from a human. :)

We bought our tickets in advance. Once you get to the train station you can validate your ticket on the app. Once validated, ticket times cannot be adjusted.

For instance if you want to board an earlier train, but you have already validated your ticket, you will have to wait until the scheduled train time.

This happened to us. We wanted to have tickets booked in advance so we wouldn't be stressed at the airport/train station, knowing we would be tired. We also weren't sure how timely our RyanAir Flight would be, so we added a little buffer time of around 1 hour after our flight was scheduled to land for our train ticket. In the end we could have taken an earlier train if we adjusted the ticket time once we arrived to the station and then validated the ticket. At least that's my understanding from what the attendant told me. :)

Really it was not too long or a big deal to wait and it gave us time to observe the flow of the airport station. Just sharing the details in case it helps you on your next trip to Rome!

Pro Tip: If you're having difficulty purchasing tickets for a train from the airport through trenitalia, try entering your search and clicking through rome2rio. ;)

A train on the platform at stazione fiumicino aeroporto in Italy.

Roma Ostiense - Changing Trains

To get to Civitavecchia Cruise Port from Rome Airport you will need to take 2 trains. We took the train from the airport to Roma Ostiense station. We followed the signs to the platform where we would board our connecting train, which you can see below.

Lost in translation

One amusing thing when traveling is finding humor in how signs are translated to English. Apparently, if you do not speak Italian the elevator is only operational from 5am until noon. lol in actuality it runs from 5am to midnight. :p

Elevator operational hours at Roma Ostiense Station

GEtting to the cruise terminal from civitavecchia train station

After exiting the train station at Civitavecchia station, there were quite a few drivers offering to take passengers to the ship for a fee. There is also a paid shuttle bus that costs 6 euros per person. We had read conflicting things about how far that bus gets you and the area was so congested we decided to just keep walking toward the ship on our own.

I have to be honest, it was not a super easy walk. It was extremely hot out, we had left our house at 3am and it was now like 1:30pm and we were running on fumes, at least I was for sure. Also, the sidewalks are in no way designed for seamlessly pulling luggage. We each had just one carry-on with a personal bag on top, but if you also had checked luggage - forget it! lol

Michelangelo Fortress Civitavecchia

As you are walking toward the cruise port, you will see Michelangelo Fortress on your left. It is not necessary to take this path to get to the cruise ships. You actually want to stay on the other side of the street.

Michelangelo Fort Civitavecchia

Free Shuttle to Civitavecchia Cruise Port

After crossing the street, to our happy surprise, we found a free shuttle to the cruise ship! It all happened so quickly, I snapped this picture of what was outside the window of the shuttle once we were on.

Onboard the free shuttle to Civitavecchia cruise port

Here is a snip of a map from the Port of Civitavecchia. I circled in red where the train station is located on the bottom right and where the free shuttle pick up is.

Map showing the free cruise port shuttle pick up location and Civitavecchia train station

The shuttle was quite full and it was hot onboard as well. About 20 minutes from when we boarded we were close enough to see the ship - so exciting!

View of the ship from the packed shuttle

There she is - the brand new Sun Princess!

Sun Princess in Rome (Civitavecchia) as seen through shuttle bus window

Boarding sun princess cruise ship in rome (civitavecchia port)

Boarding Sun Princess was an absolute breeze. If you're used to sailing the Caribbean you will be more accustomed to longer wait times to board your ship. Because many European/Mediterranean cruises are multiple voyages combined, you don't have a day where 100% of the passengers are disembarking and all the new cruisers are embarking.

Roma Cruise Terminal

Some people stay on the ship for 2 or 3 itineraries back to back. This makes it really nice, I think, as it cuts down on congestion and speeds up your embarkation time. And hey, if you can swing it financially you might as well. You're probably traveling quite far to embark and if you can stay for 2 segments you will see a ton of Europe or the Mediterranean in one go!

As you can see there are very few people in line to board and the chairs are totally empty. :)

Inside Roma Cruise Terminal Boarding Sun Princess

It took just a few moments at the counter for us to pick up our "Medallions". Some cruise lines use plastic cards as your room key and to scan you in and out of the ship at various ports. Others have move into various wearables like the Medallion Princess has. It comes on a lanyard, but there are tons of accessories you can buy for it if you're into that sort of thing. From wrist bands, to keychains, and Apple Watch adapters to necklaces and bracelets.

Supplies waiting to be loaded onto Sun Princess for a Mediterranean Cruise

With our medallions in hand it was time to let the adventure begin on this Anniversary Mediterranean cruise "onboard the Marvelous Sun Princess! Ciao.... for now" iykyk :p