Popular Airport | Lisbon Portela Airport |
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Popular Airlines | |
Approximate Flight Duration | 5 hour |
Approximate Travel Distance | 3995 Km |
Beirut, the capital and largest city of Lebanon, offers limited but comfortable transportation facilities between the city center and the airport, as well as the historical and natural beauties it has. You can be at the airport in a very short time with taxis or private cars that you can easily find in the city center.
Since there is no official transportation vehicle to the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, which is the only civil airport in the country since 1954 and was established for the replacement of the much smaller Bir Hassan Airfield, taxis become compulsory for passengers. Taxis are also open for bargaining for the average amount you will pay for the travel of about 15 minutes. In the city where taxi drivers speak French and English, taxis are air-conditioned and comfortable.
It is also a good option to go to the airport from the city center by private vehicle. Because in Beirut having a population of 1.5 million, it is extremely normal to encounter a traffic like in Istanbul. There are many alternatives but 2 major roads directly connect the city to the airport. The first one is the road that is connected to the airport via Ahmad Mukhtar Beyhum and Hafez Al-Assad street.
The second one is the road arriving at the airport through the Gamal Abdel Nasser Street, Ruhollah Khomeini Street and Umar ibn Al-Khattab Street. By using the either road, you can arrive at the airport within 15 minutes and can leave your vehicle to the parking lot with a capacity of 2350 vehicles.
The airport, which hosts 6 million passengers per year, aims to host 35 million passengers annually as a result of the developments in the process up to 2035. It also offers free internet service for airport passengers. The only airport of Lebanon, the country having the most non-Muslim population in the Middle East, has places of worship for every religion.
There are a few cafes and restaurants as well as a Japanese restaurant right now at the terminals. The terminals are expected to have more facilities when they are expanded and new terminals are opened in the future.
The airport, which welcome millions of mainly European tourists as well as Lebanese living abroad, has a very interesting Beirut Duty Free. There is also a car gallery in Beirut Duty Free.
You have options such as metro, bus, airport shuttle, and taxi and car rental to reach your destination from this airport which is just 7 kilometers from the city center.
The fastest and cheapest way to get to the city center from the airport is taking metro. The red line of the Lisbon metro goes up to the airport and departs every 6 to 9 minutes. The red line starting from the airport stops at "Encarnaçao", "Moscavide", "Oriente", "Cabo Ruivo", "Olivais, Chelas", "Bela Vista", "Olaias", "Alameda" and "Saldanha", and reached Sebastiao station. Some of these stops intersect with the green, yellow and blue lines of the Lisbon metro. You can change to the green line at "Alameda" stop, to yellow line at "Saldanha" stop, and to the blue line at "S. Sebastiao "stop. For example, if you would like to go to the city center, Baixa-Chiado, upon your arrival without going to your hotel, you need to get off at the "Alameda" stop and change to the green line. You can also change to the train line in the city at the Oriente stop and go to other cities of Portugal from here. When you arrive at the city you can explore the metro by taking a metro map or browsing the internet. It is a quite regular system that can take you to many places in the city easily and quickly. The duration of the journey varies depending on your destination. You can get to the financial center in 15 minutes and the city center in 25 minutes on average. The Lisbon metro runs between 6.30 am and 1 am. You have to get one of the pre-paid 7 Colinas or Viva Viagem electronic cards. If you buy a daily or 3-day unlimited use ticket, depending on the length of your stay, you can travel more economically in the city. You can also use these cards in buses.
You can also take advantage of the buses that arrive at the airport's arrival terminals. But you cannot take these buses if you have much luggage. There is a limit on the size of your luggage and you only have one hand luggage allowance. The journey can last about 30 to 50 minutes depending on your destination and the traffic conditions. Nevertheless, if you want to use the bus, bus number 744 works between "Marques Pombal" - "Airport" and "Moscavide" and passes through many important tourist stops of the city every weekday from 5.35 am to 8.40 pm. You can also take a short city tour with this bus. In addition, you can also use buses number 705 (Oriente - Airport - Rome / Areeiro) and 783 (Amoreiras-Airport-Portela), operating between 6.40 am and 8.10 pm, working days only. These buses do not operate at night. After midnight, you can take the bus number 208 which runs between "Cais Sodre" - "Airport" and "Oriente" till 05.30 in the morning. In order to take advantage of the buses, you have to buy the prepaid "7 Colinas" or "Viva Viagem" electronic cards. If you buy a daily or 3-day unlimited use ticket, depending on the length of your stay, you can travel more economically in the city.
If you have a lot of baggage, you can take AEROBUS, airport shuttle that operate between the airport and city center or the financial center every day of the week. You can take the AEROBUS from both terminals of the airport. AEROBUS Line 1 runs between "Airport" and "Cais do Sodre" stops. These buses departing every 20 minutes stop at "Entrecampos", "Compo Pequeno", "Av. REpublica", "Saldanha", "Picoas", "Fontes Pereira de Melo", "Av. Da Liberdade", "Restauradores", "Rossio"(City Center), "P. Comercio", and reach "Cais do Sodre" stop. The shuttle operates between 7 am and 11.20 pm. The AEROBUS Line 2 departs every 40 minutes and after the airport, stops at "Entrecampos", "Catholic University", "Sete Rios", "Praça de Espanha", "Av. Jose Malhoa (Sul)" and reaches “Av. Jose Moalhoa” stop. The working hours for this line are between 7.30 am and 11 pm. After 8 pm, the shuttle does not depart every 40 minutes, but every hour. AEROBUS stops are metro stops at the same time. You can get off at these stops and change to metro. If you are not traveling alone, the fare that you would pay to the taxi might be close to the fare you would pay to AEROBUS. For this reason, we recommend you to compare the fares of these alternatives. Discounts are provided for those travelling as a group of four, to children and to those who buy return ticket. You can buy tickets online, at the bus, or at the airport's arrival terminal.
As soon as you leave the arrival terminal of the airport you can take one of the taxis waiting for the passengers. However, you may encounter the problem of finding a taxi at busy times. In such cases, you can take the elevator to the departure terminal and take a taxi from here. Moreover, you pay less if you get your taxi from the departure terminal. You may need a taxi especially at night, when the metro and AEROBUS shuttles do not operate. Nightly buses remain as an alternative to public transport at night, but there are baggage restrictions in these buses. In Lisbon, airport taxis charge extra per luggage. In addition, at weekends, official holidays and night time fares increase by 20 percent.
If you are evaluating car rental option, which provides you flexibility on your journeys, you can find the offices of Avis, Europcar, Guerin, Hertz and Goldcar car rental companies at Lisbon Airport. If Lisbon is your starting point for your trip in Portugal, which is already a rather small country, and if you are traveling in groups of several people, renting a car may be an even better option. Also remember that you have to pay for many parking areas in the city.