How To Get From Lisbon Airport To The Town Of Lagos

The ancient maritime town of Lagos is of Portugal’s famous southern Algarve region and it draws visitors throughout the year because it boats pristine beaches, plenty of historic sights and other attractions for tourists, unique local food and drinks choices and boutique shops.

If you are planning on a vacation in Lisbon, it’s likely that you will be arriving on a flight to Humberto Delgado Airport, also referred to often as just Lisbon Airport or as its International Air Transport Association codename of LIS. But if you’re interested in seeing Lagos, the airport is located a very long distance of more than 185 miles (or over 300 kilometers).

The distance means that you will need to choose some type of transportation for getting you to the town from the airport, and thankfully you have a few good options from which to choose.

Once you have arrived at the airport and you have cleared passport control and retrieved your suitcases, you can then choose from renting a car, taking a bus, getting the train or riding in a taxi. All of the methods have their own pros and cons and the budget and time taken varies, so check the details of the choices below and see which one mostly closely matches your needs.

Route Map

Renting a car

If having total privacy for the journey is your main priority, you should pick a rental car because the only people in the vehicle will be yourself along with your vacation companions. And you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your bags are secured in the vehicle’s trunk.

This can also be one of the speediest options for making the journey from Lisbon Airport to Lagos with a total drive time of about two hours – although this could take longer if you’re traveling at rush hour or take less time at quieter periods like early in the morning.

Although renting a car has these clear advantages, it is nevertheless quite an expensive way to travel and you should expect to pay a few hundred Euros for the vehicle hire. The precise cost is hard to predict because it will vary based on a number of factors that are specific to your journey, including how long you’ll be renting the car and the make of vehicle that you pick.

Remember also that rental car companies typically require that you refill the vehicle with a full tank of gasoline or petrol before returning it, so that is another cost you will have to consider.

Taking a bus

Unfortunately there are no options available for getting a bus that will take you directly from the airport to the center of Lagos. Instead, you will need to board a bus at Lisbon Airport that will take to the Sete Rios overground train station and once there get on a train to Lagos.

You should expect the journey to take more than 4 hours because you’ll not only have to wait to board both the bus and the train to Lagos, but road traffic can make the bus journey slower. The bus will also make a number of stops along the way to the town for people to get off and on, and this can sometimes take quite a long time depending on the number of passengers.

There are also only a limited number of seats on the bus and not much space for baggage, so if you are traveling in a big group or you have a lot of luggage, you should review other options.

Yet the bus is still a great option if you are traveling on a limited budget because you should not have to spend more than €20 for a one-way trip from the airport to downtown Lagos.

Getting the train

Although Lisbon Airport does not have a direct overground train station and link to Lagos, it’s still possible to get to the town from the airport using only rail services – you’ll board the Metro subway system at the airport station, take this to the Oriente overground train station in Lisbon’s city center and once there you can transfer to the rail service to get you to Lagos. Note that you will need to transfer at the Tunes train station in order to complete the trip to the town.

With the time you’ll spend waiting to board both the Metro at the airport and the overground rail services, you should plan on the trip to Lagos taking at least 4 hours. The train services will also make stops along the way to the town, which will extend the travel time even further. And if you experience any delays on either of the services this can increase the time quite a lot.

But riding this way does have the benefit of being very affordable because a one-way journey should only cost about €25, although the exact fare might vary slightly.

Just remember that you will be sharing the subway and train with other passengers, so space for luggage as well as seats could be limited, particularly at busy traveling times.

Riding in a taxi

There are no set fares for taxis that take passengers from Lisbon Airport to Lagos, and the price of your journey will be based on distance traveled. This makes taking a taxi often by far the most expensive option because you could spend roughly €400 for a one-way trip.

On top of that, you will have to calculate a tip if you think that you had a comfortable, quick and safe ride, and typically passengers tip about 10 percent of the final fare in Euro coins or notes. But you don’t need to tip if you believe that the ride was unsafe or otherwise problematic.

This can be a quicker and more direct way to get to Lagos then the bus and train options and it should take about 2 hours in total. Just note that that actual driving time may be shorter when there isn’t much traffic or it could be longer at busier periods including rush hour.

Despite the high cost, taking a taxi does have a few advantages, including the fact that you will not have to share the journey with any strangers, any luggage you have with you will be safely locked in the car’s trunk, and you’ll be taken directly to your specific destination in Lagos.

Getting from Lisbon Airport to Lagos FAQ