Riding the Alfa Pendular

Let’s hop a train!

Before we moved to Portugal, we got rid of practically everything we owned, including two cars and a pickup truck.  Since we’ve been here, we have relied on public transportation 95% of the time.  We have become accustomed to riding the buses, the metro, and the commuter trains.  And we have not missed the expense and trouble associated with owning motor vehicles.  (Though Mike still notices the cars in the neighborhood.)

But we had not taken a long trip on a train until a couple weeks ago when we went to Porto.  We’d been looking forward to such a trip ever since our vacation in Italy a few years ago.  At the end of that trip, we spent five days on the Amalfi coast. Mike’s brother and brother-in-law joined us there.  When the time came to leave, they took the train from Florence to Rome.  We had booked plane tickets.  While we were waiting in line to board the plane, after haggling at check in about luggage charges, we got a text from Mike’s brother, “We’re in Rome!”

So for the trip to Porto and back, we decided to take the train.  Not just any train.  We made reservations to ride the Alfa Pendular – the high-speed train – from Lisbon to Porto. 

A Train That Tilts

This train looks fast, even when it’s sitting still.

The Alfa Pendular is the flagship service of Comboios de Portugal – the Portuguese rail service. It makes the 314 km / 195 mile trip from Lisbon to Porto in three hours, traveling at speeds up to 220 km/hr (138 mph).

This train, like many other high-speed trains around the world, is built to tilt when it goes around a curve. By “leaning in” to the curve, the train counteracts the centrifugal force that makes articles in the train slide about and squashes passengers against the outboard armrests. This feature also allows the high-speed trains to share the same tracks with slower trains.

About CP – The Portuguese Rail Service

The Trip

The ride to Porto was very comfortable.  Unlike the noisy commuter trains we ride into Lisbon, this one was very quiet.  The seats were large and comfortable – as good or better than business class on an airplane.  We had power outlets and wifi.  The cost was reasonable, too.  Our seats in a second class car were € 32 each for the round trip, after a 50% senior discount.  

Mike had booked two seats at a 4-top table, thinking it would provide better space to spread out and do some work (and hoping that no one else would book the other two).  Next time we’ll book regular seats. They had plenty of room and the drop-down tables were big enough to accommodate a laptop and a drink.  

We did eventually have two other seat mates.   Anita was an Asian-American woman who had just come with her husband and son (sitting in the row behind us) from a 10 day excursion in Morocco.  We enjoyed a lengthy conversation with her about her travels and answered her questions about why we moved, how we did it, and so forth.  The fourth person at our table was a young man who entered the car late, plugged in his ear buds, and slept for the entire trip.

There was a dining car on the train, but we had packed a lunch and picked up drinks at the station, so we didn’t sample any of the food on offer. Midway through the trip we bought coffees from a steward who pushed a cart through the car selling drinks. For € 1 each, we were treated to the worst cup of coffee – instant! – that we’d had in Portugal.

The tilting of the car was noticeable, and a bit disconcerting at first. It did reduce the g-forces on our bodies, but not on our drinks. There were no cup holders in the table, so we held on to our cans to prevent them from sliding around or overturning.

Here’s a two minute video that will give you a more detailed look at the Alfa Pendular.

The train made a couple stops, but these were quick and didn’t disrupt the flow of the trip. We arrived at the Campanha station in Porto a few minutes late. All in all, this was a great way to travel.

A Different Ride Back

While we were in Porto, we learned that random strikes by railway workers would occur during June.  We were concerned that if there was a strike on Sunday, when we were scheduled to return, we would not have other good options. So to avoid any delays getting back home, we purchased tickets on the FlixBus. Two one-way tickets were just under € 35, and they were nearly sold-out. 

It was not as comfortable or as fast as the Alfa Pendular, but it got us to Cascais in four hours.  From there, a short Uber ride got us back to Parede… and a happy dog.

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Even though we didn’t get to ride the return leg of our trip, our journey on the Alfa Pendular was very satisfying.  We are looking forward to other trips when we can ride the trains across Europe.

What’s your favorite travel story? Share it in the comments below or with a note via the Contact Us form. We’ll put pins in the map for you.

Let’s go see the world! / Vamos ver o mundo!

Mary and Mike

The Cook and The Writer

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