Data for Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve and the islands, installed before you fly. Portugal is on the Europe plan, so the same eSIM keeps working on the train north, on the ferry to Madeira and across the border into Spain.
The Portugal plan covers Portugal only.
The same 10 GB in a package that keeps working past Portugal.
38 other countries share the package with Portugal. A few of them:
What's included, when it starts, and how to get connected.
The Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains link Lisbon Santa Apolónia or Oriente with Porto Campanhã in about 2h50; fares are sold in tiers, so booking a couple of weeks ahead on cp.pt is noticeably cheaper than the same seat on the day. In Lisbon, the Viva Viagem card (or a contactless bank card on the metro and buses) is the way to pay — the famous tram 28 takes it too, and is a queue by mid-morning.
Several motorways, including most of the A22 along the Algarve, have no toll booths at all: gantries read a transponder. Ask the rental company for one when you collect the car (a small daily fee plus the tolls) — without it, the tolls arrive later as fines. Parking in Lisbon and Porto is easiest outside the old centres.
Lisbon and Porto both levy a city tax on overnight stays, charged on top of the room rate and often settled at check-in — budget for it separately. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; the local MB Way system is for residents, so a card with no foreign-transaction fee is the thing to bring.
July and August bring the heat and the crowds to the south, and Lisbon can be over 35°C. May, June, September and October are the months Portugal is at its best, with the sea in the Algarve warmest in September. Porto is greener and wetter than the south year-round, and the Atlantic is cold everywhere — the Algarve included.
Um café gets you a short, strong espresso at the counter for about a euro; a galão is the milky one. The bread, olives and cheese put on the table are not free — couvert is charged if you touch it, and politely refused if you do not.
Portugal is on the Europe plan, so the same eSIM works in Lisbon, on the train to Porto, in a village in the Alentejo and in Funchal without anything to change. Coverage follows the local networks: excellent in the cities and along the coast, good on the motorways, thinner in the interior of the Alentejo and on the higher ground of Madeira and the Azores, as it is for everyone.
If the trip continues into Spain — Seville from the Algarve, Galicia from Porto — it is the same package and the same allowance. The Europe plan covers a list of countries rather than one border at a time.
Answers about data, coverage and setup for Portugal.
Yes. Madeira and the Azores are Portugal, and the package treats them the same way as the mainland: the same networks, the same allowance, nothing to switch. Coverage on the islands is strong in the towns and along the coasts and thins out on the high ground and the walking trails, so download offline maps before a levada walk.
Yes. Portugal is on the Europe plan, and so is Spain: the same package and the same allowance carry on across the border, whether that is Seville from the Algarve or Galicia from Porto. Your phone picks up a Spanish partner network within a minute or two of crossing. Nothing restarts and nothing splits per country.
The package connects through the networks listed under Local networks on this page — the phone picks one automatically when you switch the line on, and 4G/5G comes with it where the network offers it. If you land and see no service, wait a minute with data roaming on for the onesim line; if it still refuses, choose the network by hand under Settings → Mobile Data → Network Selection.
