Ericeira Bus Station to Lisbon: 44-min Bus, €3-5 & Tips
Quick answer to how annoying it is to get from Ericeira to Lisbon: open this exact Google Maps bus trip link and play around with the exact time you wanna go. See if you can find a 44-min bus gem for €3-5 which makes the annoyance manageable or just get an Uber for €32 ish. More tricks and tips from meai below after 4.36 years of trying to minimise transport annoyances between Ericeira and Lisbon.
Ericeira to Lisbon bus - you need to know the Google Maps tricks
The distance from downtown to the bus station (officially called "Ericeira Terminal") is not the issue. A healthy 19-min walk. But already here, Ericeira fcks you over. Cause if you do not use this exact Google Maps walking link, moody Google Maps will trick you into a longer way cause it doesn't know shortcuts like meai. There is an even more important exact Google Maps bus link, that you should use, or you'll never find the hidden gems of buses that only take 44 min.
Short story long, but for example, don't:
- don't choose "Lisbon" or so as the destination but instead "Campo Grande" 🙄
- don't select the normal "Campo Grande" but the actual station "Campo Grande" (with the station symbol) 🙄
Bus Ericeira to Lisbon - how to find the 44-min bus gems
These days, there are a bunch of buses going to Lisbon that take the motorway and therefore the bus duration is only 44 min (instead of 1h10 to 1h20 on the other lines). Funny enough, Google Maps shows 44 min, but sometimes I put on a timer and very often the bus just needs 38 min. How lucky we are! So sometimes you are daydreaming so hardd and feeling so cosy just as in good ol' high-school-bus-times, that you almost wish the bus would take a bit longer.
How to find the 44-min gems? I basically never looked up the actual timetables of the bus company Carris Metropolitana. I guess because they change them anyway over and over again. The fast one is line 2801 btw. So what I basically do is .. I open that Google Maps bus link and then gamble around with times.
Based on pure feelings, I feel like at least every 2 hours there is a 44-min gem. And on weekday mornings it's even better: between 6 and 7 am a 44-min 2801 leaves about every 10 min, which kinda proves you can live in Ericeira and still work in the city. So I aim to take one of these shiny gems and then, if still time in Lisbon before an event starts, I just hang around on my laptop somewhere or write or eat something city-fancy.
And back from Lisbon? Same game, just open this exact Google Maps link from Campo Grande to Ericeira Terminal and gamble around with times until it shows you a 44-min gem.
Ericeira to Lisbon - if rich, take an Uber obv
There are people in the world, the very last thing they would do, is taking a bus. God forbid, a 44-min one. So, ofc, if you are rich and time-poor, just take an Uber for €32 ish and tadaa problem solved. But likely you aren't, or you wouldn't have read until here and the 2 of us just wouldn't be talking.
If you feel rich-ish from time to time, try out Uber and Bolt, cause sometimes one app shows you the trip costs €25, while the other wants to scam you and says €45 plz. These days, there is also "Uber Share" popping up in the Uber app occasionally, which can make a trip €10 cheaper - so watch out for that one. If you're lucky, you'll get a Tesla, cause by now there are quite a few around :)
And just to distract you a bit: but how amazing is it, that an Uber around downtown Ericeira costs just €3-6 no matter where you go? Which means you can feel like living the fancy New-York-taxi-life, while paying a fraction for it. (Girl, where exactely are the skyscrapers?) But honestly, the most mind-blowing thing about it: as mommas and daddies it frees up so much time, if your teens can just order an Uber for Teens instead of you driving them to their sports. Even better if they can walk/run to their sports 🤯
Ok, ok, really last philosophical bit: maybe you've reached ultimate richness if you never ever feel pain again when ordering that Ericeira - Lisbon taxi 🤔 Add to that feeling no pain ever again ordering a taxi to eat whatever food in whatever fancy restaurant in Lisbon 🤯 I do think these 2 pain eliminations are part of ultimate richness. No joki.
Ericeira to Lisbon airport - the 7 am flight drama
Back to the essential stuff: at some point you'll sadly leave Eri (for a few days), won't ya? So almost every single person in Eri has that issue .. how on eriearth do I get to the Lisbon airport from Ericeira? Well, simple maths: take a bus as described above if you're broke or take an Uber if you're rich.
But let's talk about the worst case in depth: you are broke and therefore booked that 7 am flight, but the bus thing between Ericeira and Lisbon is not really working out well, is it. So instead of spending a bit more on a better flight, you spend a ton on an early taxi (sounds like hoes-maths to me, but yea that's what whos like me do).
But the thing with getting that 7 am flight is: there are not only no early buses, but even waking up at 3:30 am and then trying your luck to get an Uber at 4:30 am .. feels mega risky, no? So what do Eripeople do? They pre-order a taxi ofc. For that you can use Mr. Shuttle to pre-book for €70 ish that 4:30 am taxi from Ericeira to Lisbon airport. I haven't tried them yet, but they're my best bet. And you can even pre-pay online per PayPal, credit card & Co .. wow. Still reconsider your flight calc skills next time.
Lisbon airport to Ericeira - 90% of the time it's an Uber
You think you can manage it by metro and bus. Technically possible, practically you are just fcking tired, you wanna get home and you have way more luggage than you expected. So 90% of the time I end up taking an Uber.
How to get that Uber at Lisbon airport: come out of arrivals and turn straight left, the signs show you where the Uber pickup is. Open the Uber app and check if it's €35 ish or lower. Either way, also open Bolt, cause as I said, sometimes there's a €10 difference. Then walk along the parking lot to the pickup area and get in.
And if you happen to not have €35 for that Uber? Public transport from the airport is possible, but I would definitely not recommend it. Finding the right bus stop at the airport is a mess, and not every bus stops where you think it does. If you still wanna try: put the exact "Campo Grande" metro station into Google Maps, go to the bus stop it shows you and take the bus to Campo Grande .. good luck, I tried a few times.
At Campo Grande, walk 1-2 min from the metro to the Campo Grande bus station and take the fast bus to Ericeira. Time it so you catch a 44-min gem, which is its own gamble.
Every single time I stand in that pickup area, I wonder: there's an 80%+ chance someone else is also going to Ericeira right now. We could just share that Uber, but there's no way to coordinate it .. yet. That's exactly what rideshareri is for.
Ericeira bus station is not the best place to get your monthly bus card
If you don't only go to Lisbon airport, but generally have developed too much of a craving for Lisbon, then you might consider getting a monthly bus card. Which is kinda cheap ish: for €40 you can use any bus, metro & train in Ericeira and Lisbon, yey! And no subscription, so you can just use it flexibly.
Do not go to the Ericeira bus station to get that monthly thing. Not even to the Lisbon bus station. Go to the Mafra bus station instead .. lol. Got that tip from the person who works at the Ericeira bus station. Cauuuuuuse, only there in Mafra, you get your personal plastic card immediately.
If you do it at the Ericeira bus station or the Lisbon station .. good luck in getting that letter with the card in 1 month time. Good luck. So instead do this .. it actually worked for me:
- decide when you want to start your monthly ticket - !warning! only full month tickets from 1. - 31. possível, so choose wisely when to get your card
- have a passport-ish photo ready on your phone (just any professional-ish pic of your face)
- take yourself and your phone to the Mafra bus station (get there by Uber??? My lord)
- watch out for a mini white house with a nice lady in there and say you want the €40 monthly card
- she'll then ask you to email your photo to an email address and then pay by card
Done. Wonderful, another plastic thing in your life. That one, you tap it against the machine every time you enter a bus/train. And feel free like a bird cause you can roadtrip around Ericeira, Lisbon, Carcavelos, Cascais, wherever <3 Rebuy the monthly ticket at any Lisbon ticket machine :)
How to get to Ericeira from Lisbon if you're at your annoyance limit
So I have this rule, if it feels very very painful to spend money on an Uber, but I feel meeeeeeega annoyed about buses, then I tell myself: you just work, make money in that Uber, no matter what. So I open my laptop in the Uber and feel even more like living the fancy New-York-taxi-life, hehe.
Lisbon to Ericeira and Ericeira to Lisbon - there is only 1 solution
I feel too much pain. So my body made up this wild dream .. to create a stupid simple ride share app for people moving between Ericeira and Lisbon. Why?
- cause I neeeeed it, yesterday
- heard rumours Portuguese ppl have been talking about making a train happen for 50 years, but it is not gonna happen anytime soon, is it? Don't see a way to vibe code my way to a train yet
- cause people asked me if I could do something about this inefficient Uber to Lisbon thing
- I had amazing convos during ride shares in my life, and I liiike to traffic test people
The plain reality is, every few minutes someone is taking an Uber between Ericeira and Lisbon and theoretically could share a ride. But there just hasn't been an annoyed-enough German broke bus girl around who also happens to be a wannabe indie hacker. Until now guys, until now. So I made up a mockup for a very stupid simple ish ride share app called rideshareri.com - if you wanna see that becoming reality, get on the list here.
Until rideshareri is real: ride shares between Ericeira and Lisbon already happen in a few WhatsApp and Telegram groups. WhatsApp me and I’ll send you the links.
So that in the end, we remove the annoyance of erijoying Lisbon here and there <3
