CP - Comboios de Portugal Reviews 207

The Alfa Pendular is indeed comfortable and maybe worth it. But for the rest of trains, it's hard to justify the fact a train ticket may be 4 or 5 times more expensive than a bus ticket with almost same time travel (Lisbon-Porto, for example).

I see a lot of terrible reviews here so maybe my experience is unusual. Coming from Germany, I thought the overall experience was fine, so I can't say anything against the company for that.

However, I left my hipbag that contained passport, wallet, glasses, and headphones amongst other things on the train when I disembarked. I called CP the next morning to initiate what I assumed would be a days-long search, requiring flight changes and hotel stays etc. The agent needed just my name and the bag description to tell me exactly where my bag had been sorted in Lisbon. A one-minute phone call and my trip was saved, and this was just 18 hours after the loss.

You can constantly notice delays on trains along with insufficient or absent information. Moreover the company seems to lack enough staff to support clients when needed.

Trains always extremely late. Strike once or twice a month. For refunds its not pratical at all. Website is just completely trash, slow and hard

Unreliable

The train from Olhao to villa real real do santo Antonio was massively delayed and seem to be from an early 19th century.
The train crosses unique landscape.
Unfortunately, you can’t see very much of it as all windows have not been cleaned for years….
Obviously there is a lot to be improved within this train company!!

Don’t travel to Spain via Portugal on the train.

The trains are clean but there is very little luggage room for larger suitcases and it’s difficult to know where you need to position yourself for the correct carriage.

Very little time to board when you have luggage or a big group.

Avoid it and take a flight.

Fundao very bad custumer serviceat train station call Carolina... bad bad never return to Fundao city

what a disgrace of a public train system. The train stations are poorly-acquainted and dirty. Trains all arrive on a delayed schedule. The stations don't have display boards or updates on where to be, and train lines switch at the last minute. The trains are poorly marked, making it impossible to find your carriage or seat. And to top it all off, there is no A/C or functional bathrooms for the entire 3 hours ride. People were getting sick and sweating buckets in the 30 degree heat. Choosing CP was the only mistake we made in our entire trip to Portugal. Cannot recommend less.

We had bought tickets for a certain time from Pinhao to Porto but our tour in the Duoro valley ran over and we didn't have internet to be able to change our tickets on the spot. Once we arrived at the station we explained the situation to the staff member at the Pinhao train station and asked if we could switch our tickets to a slightly later train, but he was extremely rude, unhelpful and inflexible. We also had to buy a set of four new tickets. A very poor experience with this company.

I had to use this company’s train service to get back from Porto to Lisbon because the FlixBus I had a ticket for simply never showed up. I bought my ticket at the station counter without any problem. The train arrived on time, departed on time, ran fast and smoothly, and inside it was very comfortable: spacious, plenty of legroom, pleasant temperature, and working toilets. Overall, it was a very positive travel experience.

Now for the downsides — it’s quite expensive, which is why I hadn’t considered it as my first option. When I tried to buy a ticket quickly through the app, I had to go through what felt like a 300-question survey, only for the whole thing to freeze at the end. That’s not how it should work. The seat numbering also seemed confusing, so I’m not sure how easy it would be to book two seats together. Taking into account strikes and other issues, maybe I should rate it lower — but then again, I really don’t understand why the dull FlixBus has a rating three times higher. That feels unfair.

By the way, I also took the train from Lisbon to Cascais — equally excellent, and definitely worth the money.

A return to the 70s in a poor communist country.
I just arrived from Porto airport and made the mistake of taking the CP train home. In Campanhã, I ran into a group of tourists trying to get to Aveiro. They feel lost and alarmed. A family of two parents and three children stare at a ticket machine that looks like something out of a 1970s Soviet Union spy movie. The machine only has menus in Portuguese, and even for a Portuguese citizen like me, it's complicated and confusing. They ask me if the CP app allows me to buy tickets, but it seems impossible for the Aveiro train line. After much effort, I manage to buy the same tickets. We board the crowded train with difficulty because only a few doors work!!! What works well at CP? - the inspector who immediately appears, determined to catch a tourist who couldn't understand the system, to give him a fine...I remember that tourism is one of the main sources of income in Portugal

Website is prehistoric. Unstable and keeps breaking down. Impossible to buy tickets online.

Awful service, rude staff, didn’t put me and my partner together, and split us up separately! Service is slow, rude and an absolute stress to buy tickets.

Dangerous…no air circulation. AC failure on packed train during 100 degree day.

We had an absolutely awful experience with Comboios de Portugal (CP) on the return train from Pinhão to Porto.

We had bought tickets for a later train, but after checking directly with the train driver, we were told it was fine to board an earlier service. Once the train had departed, the ticket inspector approached us and told us our tickets were invalid. When we explained that we had been told by a CP staff member that it was okay, he became aggressive and threatening.

He demanded we show ID. My husband had his passport, but I only had mine on my phone — which he refused to accept. He then threatened to call the police unless we paid him in cash on the spot. It was extremely intimidating and felt completely unfair. We were forced to pay just to avoid further distress.

We have video evidence of this encounter, and it left us feeling shaken and disgusted. We were two respectful tourists, acting in good faith, treated like criminals for a simple misunderstanding — one we even tried to clarify before boarding.

CP needs to take responsibility for its unprofessional, dishonest, and borderline abusive conduct. This kind of treatment of visitors is unacceptable. Based on our experience, I would strongly advise tourists to avoid travelling by train in Portugal unless you want to risk being ripped off or threatened.

Absolutely disgraceful.

I am writing as a deeply frustrated customer to express my disappointment regarding the frequent strikes that continue to disrupt the railway services in Portugal. These recurrent interruptions are unacceptable and cause serious inconvenience to thousands of commuters who rely on your services for their daily lives and responsibilities.

It has become increasingly clear that the current public management model is not meeting the needs of the population. The persistent labor disputes, lack of reliability, and poor service quality strongly suggest that structural reform is necessary. I believe it is time for the government to seriously consider the privatization of the rail sector, or at least introduce competition, to ensure accountability and efficient service delivery.

Purchased tickets online. Train didn't turn up possibly due to strike action. There seem to be a lot of strikes. No possibility to get a refund. Won't be using the train here again.

Terrible!! I had a super important affair today and i missed it because the train was 40 minutes late and i had to catch the bus

Bought a 3 day pass for our 4 day stay in Lisbon - useless except for 1 day as they do not send a ticket to your phone as expected but just link to 3 separate day vouchers that require you to go to the railway station ticket office EACH DAY to get the actual pass for that day, and it was not always convenient to go to the railway station. We met other tourists at the station that had the same problem - they had expected to get tickets sent to their phone, only to realise that they had to go to the station ticket office to collect it. The system should email a day ticket to your phone that can be used on the transport, and preferably also added to the wallet, then it would be a good system.