Hopping around Europe is easy these days. With many low cost carriers, and online flight search engines to find the cheapest flights, its also affordable. For many of us, getting on and off flights isn’t much different from getting on a train. However, once we land, it can be another story. Getting to Lagos from airports is often much more tedious and complicated.
To make sure your holiday starts and ends without the stress, we´ve put together a complete “how-to” guide, to help you get to and from Lagos Portugal.
From FARO
Faro Airport is the gate to the Algarve, welcoming millions of international passengers each year. The airport is 90km from Lagos / about a 1 hour drive.
By car
If you are hiring a car, then its pretty easy – just head west. The toll fares on the highway (A22) are now free!
If you don’t want to hire a car for your stay, but would like the ease of driving to Lagos, Luzcar has a nice service. You can pick up the car at Faro airport, drive it to Lagos and drop it off at their office on the main Avenida. This will cost you 45€. If you want to keep the car for more days, the daily rate drops to around 25€/day.
Another local company we recommend is Marinacar. Rental is 13–18€/day, no extra charges for second drivers, and they have offices directly at the airport and in Lagos centre.
By public transport:
1. BUS
FlixBus has a service directly from the airport to Lagos Bus station. However, there are just around 3 per day, with the last one around 3pm. It is the cheapest option with ticket prices 8€ and below, but is quite slow (2.5–3 hr) and it likely won’t perfectly match with your arrival time. But if you are on a budget, its a good option.
The bus ends at the Lagos bus station, which is a short walk from the old town centre.
From the bus station, walk out from to the Avenida, then head to the right, walking along the water for 500 meters. When you see the taxi rank you’re at the town central plaza.
Unfortunately the taxis don’t often come to the bus station, so you´ll need to walk to this taxi rank in order to catch one to your accommodation. If your accommodation is within the old town walls, you can only walk there as the old town is mainly pedestrian only streets. Print a map to help yourself navigate through the small streets.
2. BUS + TRAIN
You can also catch a train to Lagos.
First, catch the public bus from the airport. You find the stop outside arrivals, slightly to the left of the outdoor cafe, behind the taxis. It comes approximately every half an hour, costs €2.85 and takes approximately 20 minutes. There is a stop at Faro Train Station.
Its good to get a train ticket in advance in summer, or get one at the station train timetable here. Tickets cost ±8€ and the journey takes around 2 hours. Portugal trains: cp.pt
You´ll arrive at the Lagos train station which is behind the marina. Its a little further from the town centre than the bus station, however, its a nice walk through the marina.
Outside the Lagos train station, walk toward the big pink building (this is the marina complex). Follow the road to the left side of the building, across the footbridge in front of you, then left along the canal for 500m to the central plaza.
There are usually taxis at the Train station taxi rank, behind the station.
By shuttle: ±20€ /person. FaroShuttleBus.com offer airport shuttles and can be booked on their website around 24hrs in advance. The shuttle will collect you and other guests, leaving from the airport to your accommodation. As you will be sharing the shuttle with others, you may need to wait for them, or go earlier to meet their flight time. If all goes smoothly, the ride is approximately 1 hour (and Im sure the shuttle service takes delays into account and get you to your flight on time).
By private shuttle: FaroShuttleBus.com also offer private shuttles, from 75€ for 1–6 people, approx 1 hr. Also offered by Lagos Shuttle ±80€
Taxi: ±90€, 50min-1hr. If you take a regular taxi from the airport, it will cost you around 90€, more at night or on public holidays.
From LISBON
Although Faro is the closest airport, getting to and from the Lisbon airport isn’t much more difficult. Also, many of the cheaper carriers such as Easyjet only run the routes to Faro during the summer months, and flights to Faro are often more expensive. Lisbon is worth checking out, but if your eager to get straight to the beach, here´s how…
From the airport, you need to get to Sete Rios station – at Metro stop Jardim Zoológico. Catch the metro, red line to its end stop at S.Sebastião. Then take the blue line two stops to Jardim Zoológico.
By train: 3h 40min, 27€, cp.pt. 5 trains daily.
The Jardim Zoológico metro is underneath the Sete Rios train station, so just follow the escalator upstairs to a ticket desk. From Lisbon to Lagos, there is one change in Tunes.
By bus: 3h 45min, 20€, eva-bus
Once arriving from the metro in Sete Rios station, you need to exit the building, looking for the “Rodoviario” signs. Just outside the building you see a small escalator up, this takes you to the bus station. There you can buy tickets for the service to Lagos.
To SEVILLA
If from Lagos you are continuing your trip into Spain, Sevilla is likely your next stop. From Lagos you can catch a bus to Sevilla with either eva-bus or rede-expressos. Unfortunately the journey will take 6.5hrs, although its considerably less by car.
There is no train to Sevilla.
