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From UK and Europe The national airline is TAP Air Portugal which flies daily from Heathrow and Gatwick (two hours 20 minutes). Prices are highest between June 20 and August 14, at Christmas and during school holidays, costing upwards of £118, including taxes, for a restricted return ticket, and exceeding £400 for a flexible ticket. From Manchester, TAP code shares routes with PGA, Portugália Airlines. There is one daily flight at 1855, costing upwards of £160. There are three daily direct British Airways flights with competitive prices and frequent special offers, upwards of £113 including taxes, from London airports, rising to £186 from Manchester. Other continental airlines such as Air France, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa and Swissair offer scheduled services via the carrier’s European hub city, but they tend to be more expensive, with added taxes and often inconvenient waiting periods. From January 2004, Now airlines intends to begin routes from Luton with fixed fares from £65 one way, regardless of when you book. If you have a week or more, and time permits, a cheaper, flexible alternative from Manchester is the Monarch scheduled flight to Faro, with fares starting at £47, one-way, midweek, advanced booking. From Faro, convenient bus and train services run direct to Lisbon, see below (around four hours) and you have the benefit of creating open-jaw tickets. From North America There are daily direct flights from New York JFK with TAP Air Portugal, and Newark with Continental (6¾ hours) and British Airways fly to Lisbon from JFK via London. Low season winter fares (September to April, except peak December 15 to January 2 period), can be as low as US$350 plus taxes (around US$100), flying mid-week, with September and October being the cheapest months. During summer, peak fares start at US$650, plus taxes. Cheapest fares are limited to a 30-day maximum stay, booking up to 14 days in advance. From Toronto British Airways flies to Lisbon via London, (9½ hours, plus transfer) with peak season fares starting at CAN$1,700. From Australia and New Zealand There are no direct flights to Lisbon from Australia or New Zealand; you have to change at least twice. Gateway cities include Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Airlines that fly to European cities from Australia and New Zealand include: Alitalia, British Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines. Low season prices start from A$1,700 rising to A$2,500. A cheaper alternative is to fly to London or Madrid and reconnect from there. Flight time from Sydney is 22½ hours, plus transfers. Getting to and from the airport Lisbon's Portela airport (LIS), T 21 841 3700, http://www.ana-aeroportos.pt, is 6½ km from the city centre. Facilities include a duty-free shop, informative tourist information office (0600-2400), car hire agencies (including Auto Jardim, Avis, Eurodollar, Europcar and Hertz), 24-hour restaurants, cafés, ATMs, bureaux de change and left luggage. The AeroBus is the cheapest and most convenient way to reach the city centre, departing every 20 minutes (0700-2100) making 10 stops en route, including Saldanha, Marquês de Pombal, Praça dos Restauradores, and arriving in the city centre (Rossio) in around 20-25 minutes, before terminating at Cais do Sodré railway terminal. A ticket costs E 2.35 (free for TAP Air Portugal passengers) and is valid on the Carris transport network for the remainder of that day. If you are arriving late, and are on a budget, local buses 5, 8, 22, 44 and 83 operate 0600-2130 to Praça dos Restauradores and Cais do Sodré, and bus 45 runs until 0115 from outside the terminal. There are taxi ranks, immediately outside the terminal exit available 24 hours a day. A taxi to the city centre should cost E12-15 (each piece of additional luggage is E1.50 extra) but the price of the fare is often at the whim of an unscrupulous driver. Always try and fix a fare as there have been many reports of fares at 50% inflated value.
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