The information has been obtained from printed
timetables and other local sources(like taking the bus)and is
given in good faith.
Bus operations in the Algarve are possibly quite different from
what you may be used to back home!
Click here for a list
of all the timetables on the site; please first read the various
notes on this page.
An alphabetical list of all the places included in the timetables
is here.
A diagram showing the train and bus routes in the Algarve is here
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There are different types or operations of bus on rural and
interurban services. In the major towns and cities, the local city
or urban mini-buses may operate along the same roads and use the
same stops as VAMUS buses, but fares are different and tickets are
not generally inter-available.
AEROBUS -
(Route 56) in summer (May to end October), Seven buses each
way daily Faro - Faro Airport - Albufeira Bus Station -
Lagoa Bus Station - Portimão Rua Abidcada Bus Station - Lagos Bus
station. It stops only at these places. Fares are higher than on
other buses. In winter only two journeys each day.
TRANSRÁPIDO
(VAMUS route 57) (picture below) runs as an express service
the length of the coast between Faro and Lagos. It stops only at
the places shown in the timetable plus the Algarve Shopping mall
near Guia and Portimão Hospital. Download
and print the latest timetable.
TOILETS - or lack of! Transrápido buses do NOT have toilets on
board and neither is there sufficient time at any stop to use one.
So if you are travelling the whole way, make sure you go before
getting on! WARNING - toilets at some bus stations are no longer
free to use. At Faro and Albufeira there is a €1 charge.
This may be more of an issue at Armação de Pera and Guia where there is no bus terminal building and therefore no toilets nearby!
DELAYS - Transrápido buses are frequently delayed by traffic.
Anticipate delays on all the Transrápido buses and also on the
buses between Albufeira and Lagos, even at weekends! Running were
times extended by around 15 minutes in an attempt to create
more realistic timetables. Even that may not work in the height of
summer.
ALBUFEIRA
- LAGOS (Linha Littoral) (VAMUS route 51) runs as a
limited-stop service between Lagos and Albufeira. If two buses
arrive at the same time to the same destination, you may need to
ask the driver which one he or she is!
Between Faro and Albufeira some buses on weekdays (ie
Mondays to Fridays) are labelled ‘DIRECTA’ and miss out some
stops, notably in the outskirts of Vilamoura and the outskirts of
Faro. The differences in stopping places between the NORMAL and
DIRECTA routes are detailed here.
NB - there few bus services at the airport except for a local bus
into Faro city centre, three buses each weekday to Loulé and
Aerobus 56 to Albufeira, Lagoa, Portimão and Lagos. Route 55 runs
in the summer between the airport, Almancil, Quarteira and
Vilamoura. Details will be here.
Several towns have local city (Urbanas) mini-buses operated or
sponsored by the city or town council. I have included details for
Faro, Albufeira ,
Lagos and Portimão in
these
pages and links on the alphabetical index
page to the local council website for the timetables for the
Loulé and Quarteira services. I have included brief details of the
operations in Olhão and Tavira
in the relevant pages. There is also a local bus running between
the airport and Faro city centre - details here.
All
towns and many villages have their express buses (coaches) to and
from Lisbon and further afield. Larger places eg Faro, Albufeira
have 12 to 15 departures a day. Smaller places might have only two
or three.
I have listed some timetables for Rede-Expressos here but check their website
for changes also service at other locations. The website is
available in English.
These long-distance services are operated REDE EXPRESSOS but you
will sometimes see 'borrowed' vehicles in other companies colours.
You should reserve a seat in advance for all long-distance buses,
especially at weekends and around holidays. Tickets can be bought
from the various offices and agents around the Algarve. There is a
list of ticket offices and agents, with opening hours, on their
website here.
Rede - Expressos stops in larger towns will be the main bus
station, but elsewhere it may be just an ordinary bus stop by the
side of the road. The Rede Expressos website does have a system of
maps showing stop locations and local ticket sales offices and
agents. Beware that in Lisbon two different bus stations are used.
Some journeys to or from the Algarve use both, but most use one or
the other. These are ORIENTE which is out in the north-eastern
suburbs near the airport and SETE RIOS which is to the north-west
of the city centre.
Both of these are several km from the city centre, but have metro
(underground railway) stations adjacent for the final part of your
journey. Lisbon Aerobus service
no longer operates.
Ticket offices in Algarve bus stations etc are NOT open 24 hours.
If your bus / coach leaves late at night or during the early hours
of the morning, you will need to buy a ticket in advance or from
the Rede Expressos website. You can get times and buy tickets
at www.rede-expressos.pt.
You cannot buy tickets from the driver for long distance trips.
These services do not carry local passengers in the Algarve,
except on the route out of Lagos towards Aljezur etc where no
other services exist.
It will cost about €22 to get to Lisbon from anywhere in the
Algarve. A round-trip (return) fare is slightly less than the cost
of two singles. The journey is around 3 hourss from Albufeira and
obviously more the further afield you are.
Flixbus is a low cost operator running daily
services between Lisbon and some of the larger Algarve towns.
Internet booking via their app or website www.flixbus.com
- they may not use the usual bus stations. In Albufeira their
calling point is the 'small' bus station in Avenida da Liberdade
in the old town. In Lisbon they use Lisbon Oriente bus terminal,
which is 9km (6 miles) from the city centre but much closer to the
airport. Their stop in Faro is also in a different place - CHECK
THE DETAILS ON THEIR WEBSITE OR APP!
Trains run locally along the Algarve coast, also to and from Lisbon - click here for information. Some stations, such as Albufeira and Loulé, are a long way from the towns.
Stopping places are clearly indicated with signs of various
types. 
PARAGEM is the Portuguese
word for bus-stop; helpfully many signs also display ‘Bus Stop’ in
English. In rural areas, the bus stop sign may be only on one side
of the road. The bus will stop on the opposite side if you are
waiting. All bus stops are REQUEST stops. If you are waiting at a
stop, give the bus driver a clear signal as the bus approaches. If
you are on the bus and wish to get off, ring the bell in good time
before your stop. In some towns stops used by local buses have
their own design. The number below the stop name is the number of
the stop on their travel planner. You can therefore find that stop
using their website or 'app' and see
if there is a bus coming your way. The map looks impressive at
first sight, but remember that many routes only run two or three
times a day with many having little or no service at
weekends. CLICK THE MAP TO SEE IT FULL (ENORMOUS)
SIZE. External link which will open in a new window.
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Most of the larger towns have a bus station or terminal, ranging
from the large busy bus stations in Faro, Lagoa and Albufeira,
down to simple waiting shelters, for example in Silves. These are
usually at the edge of town, as the roads in the town centres are
either too narrow or too busy to accommodate buses.
The bus terminal in Albufeira is
about a mile/1.6km from the old town centre and major hotel
areas. If arriving from the west, north or on Transrápido
from Faro, you will need another bus, a taxi or maybe 15 minutes
walk to reach the old town centre and beaches. Local buses from
the east (eg Faro, Quarteira, Vilamoura, Olhos D'Agua) pass
through town and it’s best to get off near Albufeira Terrace
Shopping (the stop is officially called Rotunda dos Rélogios -
Watches roundabout in English - before you end up in the
middle of nowhere. Click here for
more information about the bus terminal and ways to get into town.
The bus terminal in Faro is in the centre
of town and 150 yards/metres from the railway station. The bus
terminal in Tavira is three
minutes walk from the town centre.
The bus terminal in Loulé is
about four minutes walk from the main shopping area, indoor market
and town centre. Most buses also make a stop in the town centre
near the indoor market. The stop at Silves
has no office, there is an enquiry office/agency nearby at the
municipal market building. Portimão has an
outdoor bus station for local and regional services - click here for more information. A
separate bus station in Portimão is used by long distance and
international bus / coach services. This is about 1.5km or
nearly a mile from the city centre. Information here .At Lagos, the bus terminal is a few minutes
walk from the historic town centre and about five minutes walk
from the railway station and marina, which are on the other side
of the river.
IMPORTANT! When boarding at a BUS STATION/BUS
TERMINAL you must usually buy your tickets at the ticket office
window or VAMUS ticket machine before getting on the bus.
VAMUS, the regional bus company, has installled ticket machines
at bus stations. These make it easier to purchase tickets and
recharge pre paid passes.They have instructions in English and
Portuguese, but will not sell tickets and passes for the urban
networks such as Vai e Vem in Portimão and Giro in Albufeira. I
have read that these will be available at some future date.
BUS COMPANIES DO NOT ACCEPT
CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS ON BOARD THE BUS. AT TICKET OFFICES, THEY
TAKE DEBIT CARDS ONLY.
Allow a few minutes for buying tickets at the ticket office,
especially at Faro! Ticket prices for single journeys are
currently not available at the VAMUS website.
There is a list of ticket offices and agents at https://vamusalgarve.pt/#/pt/vamus%20algarve/point-of-sales
If boarding elsewhere or when the ticket office is closed, have small change ready and pay the driver as usual. For our North American readers drivers will make change, but they will not thank you if you hand over a €50 note! Even the longest journey here on an ordinary bus will cost only about €8.
Fares for some single journeys are not published on the official website. Those below may be incorrect, but are my best guess from information available.
Fares on AEROBUS route 56 are higher than on other buses - click
or tap here for
details. Aerobus 56 runs between Faro and Lagos, stopping only at
the airport, Albufeira, Lagoa and Portimão.
Any contributions gratefully received! Email
webmaster(at)algarvebus.info [replace (at) with @] and thank you!
On board full price fares according to official website. I
have added some train fares for the purposes of comparison.
Children aged between 4 and 12 travel half price.
Faro to Lagos (Bus 57) - €6.90 by train €7,95; Albufeira to
Portimão and Praia da Rocha - €5,80; Albufeira to Alvor - €6,50;
Albufeira to Lagos - €6,50; Albufeira - Faro €5,80**; Albufeira to
Vilamoura €5,20; Portimão - Silves, €5,20; Portimão - Lagos €5,40
by train only €2,20!; Albufeira to Silves €5,40; Albufeira to
Quarteira also to Fonte Santa for the market €5,40 (€3,19 using
prepaid card or app); Monte Gordo to Tavira €5,20; Monte Gordo to
Vila Real de Santo António €2.80; Monte Gordo to Faro €6,90;
Tavira to Faro €5,80, by train €3,45; Albufeira to Loulé, €5,40;
Albufeira to Mar Shopping €5,80. ** Albufeira - Faro with the pre
paid card or app account (see below) the fare is reduced to €3,83.
Similar reductions apply to other fares when using pre paid card
or app account. The pre-paid card costs €3 and can be purchased at
any bus station ticket office then loaded and re-loaded with cash
as required.
Trains are often cheaper than buses where they offer service
between the same towns, except when using the pre-paid bus pass.
These can be downloaded from Google Play and https://apps.apple.com
and offer all ticket discounts etc and paperless travel for the
VAMUS buses.
If you are staying a while and intend to use Vamus buses more
than a couple of times and don't want to use an app, it will be
worth investing in a pre-paid ticket card. This rechargeable card
stores cash for amounts of €5 or more. It saves money compared to
on board tickets (in some cases as much as 50%) and queuing time,
but you do have to pay a €3.00 fee for the card. You can buy the
cards using the VAMUS website, download the app or
buy from any bus station or ticket agent. Also on sale at
some tourist information offices.
These can be recharged using the VAMUS ticket machines at larger
bus stations or at the ticket counter. Obviously the app can be
recharged on line.
Details here. On
boarding, place the card on the ticket machine pad or the display
on your phone as directed by the driver. Count three and your
ticket is automatically printed. The ticket will show the balance
on your card or app account.
I have it on good authority that these cards do not expire. Any
balance remains available even after several months of not being
used.
There is 50% discount on monthly point to point season tickets.
That's is primarily aimed at commuters and students. For long
stayers who may be using their buses frequently, this may be of
value. These passes can be obtained from any bus station ticket
office or you can download the application form from https://vamusalgarve.pt/#/pt/vamus%20algarve/pre-purchase-fares
and select Requisição de Títulos de Transporte (passes mensais).
The form does not require a photo, but does ask for some kind of
ID number e.g. citizen card or passport number.
CHILDREN - those aged between 4 and 12 pay half fare on
VAMUS buses, but those aged 13 or over have to pay full fare
unless they have a 'school pass', so in effect that's for
residents only. Children aged under 4 years travel free. There are
NO child discounts on the city and town local bus systems except
for residents.
SENIORS - discounts are often available only to
residents. Buses are not free here for seniors as in many
European countries. You need to be 65 or over to get senior
discount. You will need to ask at a local bus station or ticket
agent what senior discounts are available, fill in a form, provide
proof of age and sometimes a passport size photo. For the buses
between towns and villages operated by VAMUS, all passes and
tickets (except the tourist passes) are for travel only between
two specific places.
Tickets and passes are not interchangeable between
different operator's buses. All the urban buses require a
different ticket or pass.
The local bus systems in and around Albufeira, Faro, Lagos,
Loulé, Quarteira, Tavira and Vilamoura have different fares and do
not accept VAMUS tickets, nor vice-versa. All offer pre paid multi
journey passes and monthly season tickets. Albufeira's monthly
passes can be download and used on your phone. Local mini-buses in
Loulé, Quarteira and Vilamoura are currently free of charge.
You can get your money back for the pass card if you hand it in
at a bus office before leaving. You can of course keep it for next
year.
Non-residents using local buses around the main towns normally
pay full fare. Senior discounts may available only to residents.
You will have to ask. Children at school here travel free.
Timetables are displayed at most bus stops and are in Portuguese
and English. They can be confusing at stops served by more than
one bus route, so study carefully. If you see 'Business Days' that
means weekdays, Mondays to Fridays except holidays. 'Non Business
Days' means Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. English is
spoken at most locations but it is polite to ask first! The
VAMUS bus company website and app do have a
timetable search facility with timetables that can be downloaded,
saved and printed.
Click here for a
list of all the timetables on the site; please first read the
various notes on this page.
An alphabetical list of all the places included in the timetables
is here.
Portugal uses the 24 hour clock - all timetables are in the 24hr
clock format. 1300hrs = 1pm, 1400hrs = 2pm etc.
Many bus routes are very irregular and infrequent, especially at
weekends and on public holidays when many routes have no service
at all.
In general, bus services linking the various towns and villages in the Algarve start around 0700hrs on weekdays and finish by 2030hrs, which means that, in most places, last buses are on their way around 1930hrs. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays first buses are generally fairly early, but there are many fewer buses than on weekdays. Last buses are often much earlier than on weekdays. Many villages out in the countryside have no buses at all at weekends or on public holidays, but the main inter-urban routes do have weekend and holiday service, albeit at reduced levels.
Buses do not usually run at regular intervals i.e. at so many
minutes past each hour. Buses away from the main coastal tourist
areas are mostly few and far between, as they cater for local
needs of schools and shopping. You are strongly advised to
double-check the times of last buses back if you are off hiking in
the hills.
Point-to-point timings, but currently not fares, for VAMUS
services from the main towns can be checked and official
individual timetables downloaded on their official website here.
The local city buses (GIRO) in
Albufeira mostly operate until 2200hrs during the summer (1st July
to 30th September) and until around 2000hrs for the rest of the
year. Buses between Portimão and Alvor, also Portimão and Praia da
Rocha run until about 2000hrs all year. There is a late night service between Portimão and Alvor
during the summer. The Lagos area has
local buses until midnight on some routes during the summer,
otherwise service ends around 2000hrs. Weekend and holiday service
on the urban routes in and around Lagos and Portimão is sparse,
especially in winter. Check carefully. Many routes only operate on
weekdays.
In other cities and towns, local buses usually operate between
about 0700hrs and 1900hrs on weekdays and between 0700hrs and
1400hrs on Saturdays. They either run very limited schedules or
not all on Saturday afternoons, Sundays or holidays.
Details and links to timetables are included within the various
sections of this website.
Many bus journeys do not run every day. Weekend and holiday buses are very few in some areas. In the various timetable pages, there are column headings, colour highlights and notes to indicate the days a particular bus runs. In one or two timetables, there are separate sections for weekday and weekend services where the times are very different, but on most pages there is one table for the whole service in both directions.
These codes and information en Français, auf deutsch, em Portugues, на русском языке, please click here
Daily – runs every day including holidays (NB - buses and trains DO RUN
on Christmas Day, New Year's Day etc)
MFO – Mondays to Fridays (weekdays) only; does not
run on Saturdays, Sundays or Holidays
SSH – runs
on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays only
SHO – runs on
Sundays and Holidays only
SHX – does not
run on Sundays or Holidays
SAT – runs on
Saturdays only except holidays
SCH – runs
on SCHOOLDAYS only i.e. will not be running in July and
August, nor during Christmas and Easter breaks or on Public
holidays.
NSC - runs
weekdays but during School Holidays only
XXX – used
where bus runs only on certain days that do not fit into these
headings – look for a special note.
I have tried to be consistent with these headings in all the
pages. Apologies if I fail anywhere.
On the official VAMUS website timetables abbreviations are used to show the different days of the week etc that buses run. Timetables are shown with the times vertically. The downloadable timetables do show the weekday, Saturday and Sunday times in separate boxes, but confusingly for some the winter and summer timetables are put together.
At the TOP of the column you will see either A (Annual) meaning
the bus runs all year round, E (Escolar - schooldays) meaning the
bus runs only when schools are open. For some routes and times you
will also see EA (Época Alta - High Season) meaning that the bus
runs only between 1st May and 31st October or EB (Época Baixa -
Low Season) meaning the bus runs only during the winter (low)
season.
In the next row you will see U (Úteis - weekdays) meaning that
the bus runs only on weekdays, S (Sábados - Saturdays) meaning the
bus runs only on Saturdays or DF (Domingos e Feriados - Sundays
and Holidays) meaning that the bus runs only on Sundays and Public Holidays. In
practice, times for almost all routes with weekend and holiday
buses are the same on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, but do
check just in case.
Finally, for buses that serve very rural areas and that run less
than five days a week, you may see the days of the week shown as :
2 = Monday 3 = Tuesday 4=
Wednesday 5= Thursday 6=
Friday or some combination, for example 35 = bus runs only on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A word of 'warning' - between 0800hrs and 0900hrs also between
1630hrs and 1700hrs on schooldays, buses to/from the main towns
are VERY crowded with schoolchildren and older students on their
way to and from school/college. In some areas schools operate
early and late 'shifts' (because of overcrowding) and you may get
an extra 'rush hour' around 1300hrs, for example in Lagos.
I personally have experienced this at Loulé on the afternoon
buses to Albufeira and also from Silves to Albufeira. You may have
to stand for a while - no they are as unruly as in any other
country!
The good news is that schools are closed during the main holiday
season of July to early September, for two weeks at Easter and for
two weeks over Christmas and New Year.
For a list of all the timetables on the site,
click here
For an alphabetical list of places in the Algarve, click here
For some important general notes about buses in the Algarve,
click here
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