Andante Tour Card – Metro do Porto

First and foremost, kudos to Porto for, in a short period of time, erecting a Metro system to complement its extensive bus system. It received accolades for doing so. One really does not need to own a car if living here and does not even need to rent a car if visiting here, thanks to this great system. For day trips, trains and various bus companies augment the transportation options.
I will forgive them for making it a light rail. The reasons are that this is a smaller city that is perched on hills in a river valley and a heavy rail subway would have been disruptive and too expensive, the trains are actually nice, and, unlike many American cities with light rail, all of the stations in the center are underground, or recessed, and don’t share the roadway and interact with traffic. Well done.
Trindade is the main station. About 5 lines come together there. First and foremost, the violet line (the E) takes you to the airport. There are stations most everywhere you need to go: the main Campanha train station, the regional Sao Bento train station, Estadio de Dragao (soccer), the major hospitals, the Casa da Musica, the growing Maia area, a line which runs up the beach towns way out to Povoa de Varzim, and one line (the yellow) crossing the river southward using the Ponte Dom Luis to traverse Vila Nova de Gaia along its main thoroughfare. For buses, large rectangular Praca dos Aliados is where most of them seem to have stops, but many also stop nearby at the Metro’s main Trindade hub. Also, if you have a flight at crazy hours, the night bus (3-​M) will take you to the airport at 4 or 5 am.
The stations are clean. Some are simple and modern. Others are more artsy. They feel safe. The visitor version of the Andante Card is set up as a 24 hour option or a 72 hour option and is a real deal. The cool thing is that, if you buy it at 11 am, you can use it the next day to go to the airport in the morning. Also, not only does the card include Porto’s bus lines, but those of other abutting communities allow its use as well.
The only way to go if not renting a car. Hell yes! I’m a fan.