Page checked and updated 15th October 2018
I have no easy means to check or update so please confirm through sources given below,
Guimarães (pop.55,000, urban area 112,000) is a city of Northern Portugal - it is not in the Algarve. I was visiting. It stands about 54km (34 miles) north-west of the major city of Porto.
It is therefore about the same distance from PORTO airport. Lisbon and its airport are some 365km (250 miles) to the south.
Direct bus
GETBUS operates
a direct service between Porto Airport and Guimarães, costing €8
each way or €14 return. There are seven or eight buses each way
depending on which day of the week. The journey takes 50 minutes
and is the quickest way. Tickets can be bought on line or from the
bus driver. At Guimarães tickets are also sold at the Mondinense
ticket office in the bus station.
Metro and train
By metro and train it is straightforward and inexpensive, but
slower. Take the METRO DO PORTO Line E from the Airport to
Campanhã station. Trains run about every 20 minutes for most of
the day on weekdays, every 30 minutes at other times including
weekends and holidays, from around 6am until just after midnight.
That will take about 33 minutes and costs €2.60 - a Z4 (four zone)
ticket. More details at the METRO DO PORTO website.
By the way, don't throw away your 'ANDANTE' ticket if you are
coming back to Porto. It is rechargeable. You can use it until it
wears out and saves you €0.60 on each subsequent ticket of the
same type. Tickets are sold at the Airport tourist office, but if
it's not open you will need some coins for the ticket machines.
At Campanhã walk round from the Metro station to the main railway
station of CP, Portuguese Railways. That takes only a couple of
minutes.
From there, local electric trains of the Porto Urbanos network run
to Guimarães about once every TWO hours, with extra trains on
weekday rush hours. The journey takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes
and will cost €3.20. There are simple to use ticket machines in
the hall; there were long lines at the ticket office all three
times I was there. The machines take notes as well as coins. NB
these tickets are NOT VALID on Intercity trains. Urbanos trains
are (mostly) bright yellow! 
First train from Porto São Bento is at 0620 on weekdays, 0720 at
weekends and holidays and the last train is at 2320 daily. These
stop at Porto Campanhã five minutes later. Be sure to check
timetables at the Portugal Railways Official website
By bus from Porto city centre
The bus fare is nearly double the train fare.
The Arriva 'Rápida' bus service (route 500) also runs between
Porto and Guimarães, making the trip in about 50 minutes. Buses
run every 1 - 2 hours on weekdays, less frequently at
weekends. There is no service on 1st January, Easter Sunday
and 25th December. Timetable here. The Porto terminal for Arriva is in
Rua Régulo Magauanha close to the Trindad metro station.
TRANSDEV also has a local
bus service between Porto (Campo 24 de Agosto) and Guimarães with
six buses on weekdays, three on Saturdays and two on Sundays and
holidays.
If you are not planning to spend time in Lisbon, you will need to
get from the Airport to LISBOA ORIENTE station. This is now very
simple using the underground metro trains (subway). Trains run to
Oriente station every few minutes from 0630 until 0100 every
night. The journey takes about 5 minutes. There is also city bus
route 744 to Oriente.
There is also city bus 744 to Oriente station details on Lisbon
city bus website
If you are planning to spend time in Lisbon, most trains to the
north start from the city centre SANTA APÓLONIA station. Check
timetables and buy tickets at www.cp.pt
There are currently two trains every day direct from Lisbon to
Guimarães. In the morning there is a daily Intercity train leaving
Lisbon Santa Apolónia at 1130hrs arriving in Guimarães at
1539hrs. The evening trip (which does not run on Saturdays) leaves
at 2000hrs, arriving in Guimarães at 2349hrs.
The return trips leave Guimarães at 0643 (except Sundays)
arriving in Lisbon Santa Apolónia at 1040hrs, and at 1650 daily,
arriving in Lisbon at 2100hrs . One way tourist (2nd) class fare
is €26,20 on those trains, less if booked in advance. Advance
reservation is highly recommended.
You can create more journey options (about another eight trains)
by taking one of the frequent trains between Lisbon and Porto
(Campanhã) and changing to / from the local 'Urbanos' service
there.
Reservations for train trips in Portugal can only be made up to a MAXIMUM of 60 days in advance. You can reserve on line at www.cp.pt and print your own ticket. A big discount is available on many trains for tickets purchased more than 8 days in advance. DO NOT use RailEurope etc as they cannot issue the required seat reservation for which you will pay extra.
For most departures, you will need to make your way from the airport to the SETE RIOS
bus terminal. This is about 3 miles/5km from the airport and is
linked to it by the newly-opened metro line. Take any train to the
end of the line at Sao Sebastião then change to the Blue Line for
a two stop ride to Jardim Zoológico station which is adjacent to
Sete Rios. Trains run every few minutes from 0630 daily, the
journey will take around 25 minutes and cost €1,90.
There is also a direct special bus, Aerobus 2, running about every
20 minutes. Consult the Aerobus website for details. For your bus
options from elsewhere in the city check the city bus website at http://www.carris.pt/
Consult the Portuguese long distance bus website www.rede-expressos.pt
for Lisbon - Guimarães times;remember it's LISBOA in the timetable
search. One-way fare is currently €19.50 and the journey takes
about 4hrs 30 minutes. There are three direct journeys every day
and two or three more with a change in Porto. There are also a few
departures from Lisboa ORIENTE bus terminal, which is next to the
railway station and much closer to the airport. Check both sets of
timse.
Rede Expressos also
covers journeys to Guimarães from many towns and cities through
Portugal. Tickets can be purchased at the website up to 30 days in
advance.
The railway station in Guimarães is on the south-western edge of
the city centre, about six or seven minutes downhill walk. (Uphill
on the way back of course!) Taxis are outside as are local buses.
It's at Alameda Drº Mariano Felgueiras, close to
the large shopping centre Guimarães Shopping and the Hotel IBIS.
Map.
The bus station in Guimarães is a little closer to the city
centre, but a fairly stiff uphill walk. It isn't well signposted
(look for Central de Camionagem) but It is close to McDonalds, the
Hotel IBIS and a large Continente supermarket.
The tourist office is located in the historic city centre at Largo Cónego José Maria Gomes, 4800 - 419 Guimarães.
Guimarães is a walkable city, if a bit hilly! The historic centre
is traffic-free. If you need local buses around the city and
immediate suburbs, consult the city bus website ; these buses operate under
the name TUG - Transportes Urbanos de Guimarães. The website is
only in Portuguese. The fare for any trip paid cash is the strange
sum of €1,78 but various passes and multi-ride tickets are
available to reduce that cost.
There is a circular route around the centre operated by electric buses, running every 30 minutes every day from around 0800 to 1900.
Unusually for Portuguese cities I have visited, these buses not
only operate at fixed intervals (eg every 20, 30 or 60 minutes)
but some routes also run until 11pm or midnight, including
weekends! Night bus times are on a separate page at http://tug.com.pt/horarios/REDE%20NOITE.pdf
This is because there is a large University campus (Universidade
do Minho) located there. There is a large outdoor market on
Fridays, behind the castle.
Guimarães is at the end of the railway line, so the train does
not give any options apart from getting back to Porto or Lisbon.
Several bus companies operate from Guimarães bus station to a
variety of nearby destinations. I recommend that if you are
intending to roam the area or make an onward journey by bus, you
visit the bus terminal as soon as possible after your arrival.
Each bus company has its own office, so you may need to make
several enquiries, which is why I didn't.
Buses are reasonably frequent on weekdays, but very few run on
Saturdays and there are almost none on Sundays or Holidays. Most
interurban buses finish around 8pm. Please bear these things in
mind before making your plans too firm.
There is a plan of the large bus terminal here,
showing which stops are used by which buses. External link.
Bus companies operating from the terminal include:
Rodonorte -
buses to Braga, Barcelos and Montalegre
TransDev - buses to Braga, Viana do Castelo, Vizela, Póvoa de Varzim and Famalicao
Arriva
- Braga, Brito, Famaliçao, Fafe, Póvoa de Varzim and Santa Luzia.
EBA - Braga jointly with other companies - see below.
Guimarães < > Braga
Buses to Braga are a joint operation between TransDev,
Arriva and EBA. Buses run about every hour on weekdays until 8pm,
but less frequently on Saturdays and only about every 90 minutes
on Sundays and holidays. These run through Caldas Taipas, a
well-known spa resort, and Morreira. The timetable is on-line here
in Portuguese only - look for Bus Plus 03.
There is also a fast bus once each hour on weekdays via the
motorway, timetable here look for Bus Plus 05. This bus
basically operates only when the schools and universities are
open; check the timetable calendar carefully.
There are also international links to Spain available through some
of those above.
There is a téléferico (cable car) from the city to Penha, a hill
resort some 1300 feet/400 metres above town and a mile distant.
Well worth a ride (€3.60 up and back) for the views if it's a
clear day. Good walking and general recreation areas. It runs
daily all year, except being closed for maintenance on the last
Monday of every month. Opening times vary according to
season. Website with all the details here but
only in Portuguese.
The stadium of SC Vítoria Guimarães is within easy walking distance of the city centre, you will be pleased to know. It's on the northern edge of town in "Parque Central".
If you have any comments or updates for this page, I will be
pleased to receive them by email.
For more about Guimarães as a city, please see this article in Wikipedia.
I take no responsibility for any inconvenience caused as a result of later changes to times etc. This page is for general guidance only and you must check details before making commitments and decisions!