Peniche is a lovely little beach town, just 40min north of Lisbon and 2.5 hours south of Porto (by car). It is also home to the Rip Curl Pro Portugal surf competition every year in October. The largest wave ever surfed is located at nearby Nazare. In short, Peniche is the perfect location for a chill beach holiday.

But, if you do feel like exploring more of Portugal while you’re on holiday, it’s very easy to see other parts of the country from your Peniche base. If you choose to drive, however, there are several tolls going both ways toward Lisbon and Porto. Taking public transportation is so much easier and cheaper.

Traveling from Peniche to Lisbon

Since Lisbon is the closest, I’ll start there.

Catch the Rapida Azul bus from the Peniche bus station to the Lisbon bus & metro station of Campo Grande. Done. See? Easy.

It costs around 8€ and takes 1.5 hours. Bring cash to pay on the bus. Here is the schedule – it even runs on the weekends and holidays.

Traveling from Peniche to Porto

This is a little more complicated and the shortest route is 3.5 hours – best case. Cheaper tickets are available but the travel time can be up to 2 hours longer.

When I traveled to Porto for the Sao Joao Festival, I chose to take the train, which was supposed to take much less time than any busses available.

Using the Compoios de Portugal train system, I booked my 3.5 hour trip through their site for 21€ each way. Like I said, there are cheaper tickets but those can take up to 2 hours longer.

Get on the train at the Dagorda-Peniche station. This station is actually not that close to Peniche city but it is the closest option. Get a taxi or friend to drop you off.  Also, it’s important to note that this “station” looks more like a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. It is down a little hill where cars are not allowed and has only a small covering over two benches. In my experience, this train is always late. For me, it was 15 min late and, as a result, I missed my next connection.

It is, again, important to note that there are two transfers between Peniche and Porto. The first transfer happens in Caldas de Rainha. The second transfer is in Coimbra. Both transfers are fairly easy – get off your train and cross the tracks. There are usually station managers around or monitors mounted with the train times, destinations and track numbers.

I feel the need to point out these two transfers because they are not clear when booking online. In fact, when I seemed totally baffled that my first train was not going ahead in Caldas de Rainha, the station manager commented, “Oh, did you book online? Yeah…they don’t tell you online that there are transfers. You need to get off here and wait for the next train to Coimbra and then transfer again.” The next train being 5 hours away…remember I mentioned my first train was 15 min late? Super fun for me.

Thankfully I found a veggie restaurant with wifi, good food and gracious staff and spent a few hours working there. BTW, I recommend it if you’re ever in Caldas – Leef.

After your two transfers and hopefully no delays, you arrive at the Porto Campanha station. Let the real fun begin!

Porto is a LOVELY city and I swear I don’t have one bad photo from my trip. The whole city is just picturesque.