Lunalove

Hello, we found out there is a strike of Portugal Train System scheduled from June 3- June 30. We have tickets paid for our trip from Lisboa to Porto June 14 and I emailed their customer support but have not heard from them. I was thinking that I may have to book a car service to drive us to Porto on June 14. Also we were planning to take the train to go to Sintra the day before so we may need a car service to take us there and pick us up. Are there any recommendations of such service? Anyone has information about this strike and what should we do? Thanks

Melnq8

How about taking a bus? We rather enjoyed our Rede Expressos bus experience.

https://www.portugalvisitor.com/port...portugal-buses

Maribel

From Lisbon to Sintra and recently last month from Lisbon to Cascais we've used the car service Splendid Journey (formerly known as Lisbon Taxis).
https://www.splendidjourney.com.pt.

We received notification by email of this strike. You can check any updates in orange on https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en
For some of the high-speed Alfa Pendular Lisbon to Porto trains, Combois is putting on a replacement bus service.

Get alerts by email-
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/train-times/Alerts.

Lunalove

Thanks so much for the feedback. We prefer private transfers.

Do you know if trains to Sintra will also be out? We will need a transfer there too and someone to pick us up at the end of the day. Or do you think it is best to take Uber or Taxi? I am leaning more towards private reservation given if the trains are out then the uber / bolt availability will be limited? What do you think?

Maribel

You can sign up for the email alerts from Combois, mentioned above, that will alert you of all the upcoming strikes. I've received emails from Combois almost daily about these strikes. I am registered with cp.pt precisely to receive regular emails alerts from them.

From Lisbon to Sintra you can also simply take an uber or taxi. I don't know how the taxi-uber-bolt situation will be affected because of the strike.
Your lodging, if staying at a hotel, should be able to help you with this. If you're staying in a Lisbon airbnb (I can't remember), your host should, I hope, be able to help as well.

Lunalove

Hi Maribel!! You are always so helpful.
Yes, we are subscribed to the notifications from Combois.
We are in the process of reaching out to our hotel to see what we can reserve for our trip to Sintra.

Maribel

Great! Sorry about these strikes during the VERY busy month of June in Portugal.

pkt63

I just signed up for alerts as well. I think since I'd been seeing the strikes in May which announced exactly what days and lines would be affected several days in advance, I assumed that it would be the same for this 3 June-30 June strike. That I'd be able to assume my line wasn't affected if there was no announcement about it specifically. But it seems like I made a bad assumption?

We haven't bought tickets yet, but plan to travel Lisbon to Lagos and back in the next couple of weeks. @Maribel and others with experience - would you say it's better not to count on the train at all, or maybe count on it depending on what the email alerts say?

I've started searching bus options Lisbon to Lagos and it looks like that's feasible. Any warnings or tips on bus service between those cities? Thank you!

Maribel

pk163,
It's really hard to say---you could count on the train (if it doesn't run your money will be refunded) but have the bus as a backup.

From Bus and train timetables for the Algarve - an unofficial website - HOME PAGE
"Strike News: The railway has warned of possible strike action that could disrupt trains across the whole country for the whole of June! Any tickets purchased for trains that are subsequently cancelled can be refunded or exchanged without cost."

The national bus carrier is Rede-Expressos. The quickest ride from Lisboa-Sete Rios to Lagos takes 3 hrs. 25 min.
See the schedule here-
https://rede-expressos.pt/en
Read all about it here-
Rede Expressos Long Distance buses in Portugal.

pkt63

Thanks again, Maribel! We decided we would be most happy with a little more certainty, and went ahead and booked the bus tickets. It sounds like a perfectly reasonable, timely and pleasant alternative, so why not! We'll see how things play out with the strike and maybe take the train on the way back. It's so nice that there are many options to choose from. We have really appreciated how smooth all our travels have been here in Portugal with good websites/info and helpful people!