Tuesday, April 7

Readers' questions - Porto


Q. In Porto. will they have buses provided to take us from the city centre to the stadium?

Also, I am considering booking flights with bmibaby.

Will it be possible to dive on a coach or will it have to be a taxi.
I take it bmibaby aren't including transfers? Martin.


A. Police won't lay coaches on from Porto city centre to the stadium simply because it's not needed, as you can get there easily by Metro.

But it's easier to answer your second question first.

One of the best things about Porto is the brilliant public transport network.
Conveniently, the Metro Do Porto runs right from Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro through the city city to Porto's stadium.

It takes 35 minutes on the Violet Line and runs from 06:00 to 01:30 and costs e1.35 each way.

Services run every half hour between midnight and 7am and every 20 minutes at all other times.

And it's pretty much impossible to miss your stop, as the stadium is at one end of the line and the airport is at the other.

So if you were to book the bmibaby flights, you would land in Porto at 11.05 and, once clearing passport control, you could be near the ground by noon.

But if you fancy soaking up some of the city-centre atmosphere beforehand. get off at Trindade and take the Yellow Line south two stops to Sao Bento.

Then walk down R. de Mousinho de Silveria and turn right onto R. do Infante do Infante Dom Jenrique, where you'll find Ryan's Irish Bar at number 18.

When you're ready for the match, take the Yellow Line back up to Trindade and then take the Violent Line south to the stadium.

Even if the match were to go to extra time and penalties - and if the police keep away fans in for half an hour - you'll be out of the stadium for 11pm. That gives you plenty of time to get to the airport by Metro in time for your 01:15 flight back to Manchester.

bmibaby aren't providing transfers, but they have factored in all possibilities of the match ending late and Metro delays in planning their flight time.
However, I would definitely recommend checking in online beforehand, so the latest you could arrive is 00:45.

Here's a Metro map. It's probably the simplest one in Europe.

2 comments:

Quinny1999 said...

Thanks for the info, much appreciated and very informative as usual. One of the best United related sites around....

DAVE said...

Great info, thanks. Bit of a mistake though - the airport is called Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro (Porto) not Pagina Contueno aeroporto.(that means page includes airport).
Still, love the page.
Algarvered.