After you booked your hotel in Porto, you’re on your way to discover the city, and one of the things you must do is ride the historic tram.
There are three lines on the tram in Porto (one of them is temporarily closed), and on this article you will find not only the trajectories of each tram line, but also its schedules, where to buy the tram tickets, etc.
I hope this guide helps you make the most of your tram ride! 🙂
How the tram in Porto works
Believe it or not, the tram in Porto is one of the oldest electrified transport systems in Europe, as it was inaugurated in 1895. It was a very popular transport, but since the 60s it has been slowly abandoned by the locals, that prefer to use faster (and cheaper!) means of transport on their daily lives.
Nowadays, there are only three lines on the tram in Porto, that are mostly used by tourists and a few elder locals. Take a ride on a tram in Porto is a good idea for families with kids, or to simply take a ride to the past 🙂
However, you shouldn’t see it as a proper way of transport, as it is rather slow (so many cars / bikes / people get on the rails, you wouldn’t believe it!).
With this in mind, let us move on to the lines of the tram.
What is the best way to travel by tram in Porto?
If you just want to do ONE tram ride, it is probably best to buy the ticket on board – one way costs 5€ / adult and 3,50€ / kid.
But if you want to really discover the city (including by the riverside) using several transports, then I suggest you to get the combo ticket Tram + Hop Off Hop On bus + Guindais’ Elevator, valid for 2 days.
It costs 26€ / adult. Kids from 4 – 10 years old pay 13€, and toddlers can travel for free.
It is quite a good price, because if you buy one tram ride it costs 5€, a classic Hop Off Hop On bus tour costs 22€ / day and the elevator costs 4€ / ride. Therefore, to use this transports ONCE you would pay 31€ / day. Therefore, by buying the combo ticket for the Tram of Porto + Hop Off Hop On bus + Guindais’ Elevator you are not only saving 5€ / person – you will also get unlimited access to Porto trams for 24h, one ride at Guindais’ Elevator and 2 hop-on hop-off open-deck bus tours. It’s perfect!
Enough talking. These are the lines of Porto trams:
Porto Tram line 1: From Ribeira to Foz
Line 1 of Porto tram is the most well known by tourists, as its trajectory is by the riverside between Ribeira neighbourhood to the mouth of the Douro River, at Foz neighborhood.
The ride starts at the Infante stop, in front of the São Francisco Church, and ends at the Passeio Alegre stop, in the beautiful Jardim do Passeio Alegre. But, naturally, you can enter and exit at any stop during the way.
It is a short trip – about 20 minutes, if there are no major interruptions (read, cars crossed the line!), But very beautiful.
Local tip: there are queues of dozens and dozens of people to take the route on line 1 of Porto tram, so I recommend that you go in the morning, as early as possible. Another option that no one thinks about is taking the aft tour, that is, taking the tram at Passeio Alegre, because it usually has a lot less people.
Because it is such a popular tram line, I suggest you to get the tram right in front of Igreja de São Francisco – the famous church of St. Francis, precisely where the tram rail starts – or at the end of the tram rail, at the garden of Passeio Alegre, in Foz.
If you try and get the tram 1 at any other stop, specially during the high season, the probability of not getting a place is really high!
Trajectory of the line 1 of Porto tram
Timetable of line 1 of Porto tram (direction Infante – Passeio Alegre)
Timetable of line 1 of Porto tram (direction Passeio Alegre – Infante)
This is a great option to get from the city center to the riverside, and if you want you can try the activities available on the banks of the Douro River.
You can, for example, take the tram at Passeio Alegre and get off at the stop Infante, in front of St Francis Church. Then, walk down to the riverside (it’s a 5-minute walk) and use your online ticket to the 6 Bridges Cruise, the famous boat ride that provides you with a fantastic view of the city, the bridges of Porto and Cais de Gaia.
As it is a very popular activity, I recommend that you to buy the online ticket to the 6 Bridges Cruise.
Another option is to visit the World of Discoveries museum, especially suitable for families with children. The face-to-face ticket is more expensive than the online ticket, so I recommend you to buy the online ticket to the World of Discoveries.
Then you can take the tram 1 at a stop close to the World of Discoveries: just turn your back on the museum and walk for 3 or 4 minutes to your right hand side. The stop is called Alfândega.
Local tip: As most people take tram 1 at the first stop (Infante), when it arrives at Alfândega stop it is already full. Therefore, you can take the reverse route: take tram 1 near the end of the line, in Passeio Alegre, and make the journey towards the center of Porto, then exiting at Alfândega to visit the World of Discoveries.
Porto tram 18: Roundtrip between Massarelos and Carmo
Tram line 18 is a circular tram line that starts at the Tram Museum, by the riverside, then goes all the way up to the area around Clérigos’s tower – a central area for those who visit Porto, since it is close to the famous Lello Bookshop and to the nightlife district.
Then it goes South towards the Douro River, stopping in front of the Electric Car Museum (which is a treat, let me tell you!).
Line 18 of the Porto tram has the advantage of not being a route so sought after by tourists, so it usually has fewer people. In any case, you should expect to find some people waiting in line at the first stop (Carmo), in Jardim da Cordoaria, right in front of Café Piolho.
Check the trajectory of the line 18 of Porto tram:
Timetable of line 18 of Porto tram
Porto tram 22: Round trip between Carmo and Batalha
This tram line is currently closed due to the construction works taking place in Avenida dos Aliados.
Tram line 22 is a circular tram line that starts precisely at Praça Gomes Teixeira.
It is perhaps the least known tram line in Porto but it’s my favourite one, because it circulates not only in the area around the Clérigos tower, but also on the Avenida dos Aliados (the most important avenue of Porto), then in front of the beautiful São Bento train station and finally in Batalha square.
Once you reach Batalha, you can get a ticket to Guindais’ funicular, an ancient elevator that has transported people from Porto to the Ribeira area since 1879. It is a short but very fun trip, especially because it has a very unusual view of the D. Luiz I bridge.
If you choose to make these two trips (ie line 22 of Porto tram followed by the Guindais’ elevator), I suggest you purchase the online ticket for the Porto tram + Guindais elevator + Hop On Hop Off Bus.
Trajectory of the line 22 of Porto tram
This tram line is currently closed due to the construction works taking place in Avenida dos Aliados.
Timetable of line 22 of Porto tram
This tram line is currently closed due to the construction works taking place in Avenida dos Aliados.
What is the price of the tram in Porto?
There are these tickets available:
Prices of the tram in Porto for ADULTS
– 1 trip: 5€
– 2 same day trip: 7€
– 2 Days adult: 10€
Prices of the tram in Porto for CHILDREN
– 1 trip: 3,50€
– 2 Days child (4 to 12 years): 5€
Where can I buy the tickets?
The tickets for Porto tram can be purchased here:
– On board the trams – mind you, you can only play with cash.
– Hotels (2-day tickets only)
– Travel agencies (2-day tickets only)
– Selected kiosks (2-day tickets only)
If you want to ride on all the tram lines and also have the possibility to get in and out at any time without having to pay a new ticket, I recommend that you to buy the combo ticket to Porto tram + Guindais Elevator + Hop On Hop Off Bus, which gives you unlimited access to all trams for 24 hours.
What are the tram times?
Porto’s trams run every day from 9am to 9pm (in the case of line 1) and from 9:45am to 7pm (in the case of line 18). During winter, the last trip departing from Passeio Alegre takes place at 7:10 pm and picks up at Massarelos at 7:45 pm, and the last trip of the day on line 18 starts at 6:45 pm.
Naturally, trams do not run on Christmas Day (24th and 25th December) or on the first day of the year, 1st January.
Is there any way to avoid the queues to the trams?
Being one of the most popular activities in Porto, you will probably have to wait in line for a long time. Each vehicle can only accommodate a very limited number of people, that will nonetheless travel like canned sardines on the tram. Moreover, usually the queues to the trams in Porto are huuuuuuge.
There are basically two things you can do to try to avoid the queues:
- you can travel during the low season, aka from the second half of October until Easter, in April. So basically you have 6 months when the city is not totally ridden by tourists!
- you can get the tram lines that are slightly less popular than tram line 1, aka lines 18 and 22.
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