LISBON to PORTO on Portugal's Premier Train! - CP Alfa Pendular First Class Review

hello and welcome back to another video today i am in lisbon portugal for a ride on portugal's premier train service the high-speed alpha pendulum over to porto i will be traveling in the recently refurbished first class for this journey a new experience for me so let's go [Music] welcome to santa apollonia station the main centrally located station in portugal's capital city and the oldest rail terminus in the country dating back to 1865. taking the main station entrance leads you to the ticket hall and beyond this you can find the platforms themselves now this station is beautiful though i do think it looks a little tired and could do with a bit of an overhaul as for facilities a small and thus very cramped supermarket can be found in the station perfect for getting snacks before your trip you can also find a small bakery located here in the main hall for onward transport you can find the metro departing beneath the station building as the terminus of lisbon's blue line my train today is the o800 to porto campagna running as train number ap121 this service departs from track one found at the far end of the station so be sure to leave enough time to reach it here's my ride for today's journey this is a cp-4000 series alpha pendulum a high-speed tilting train with six carriages capable of 220 kilometers an hour the train is operated by the national operator comboyos de portugal whose logo is cleverly displayed on the train's smart silver livery the fleet composes of 10 units built in 2000 with a refurbishment project taking place in 2017 leading to the current interior my seat today will be coach 1 seat 45 this is a forward-facing window seat in conforto which is what camboyos de portugal called their first glass carriages at the time of travelling comboyos de portugal were only selling some seats meaning i got both of these seats to myself for this trip today's route will take us from portugal's capital city just a few meters from the rivertagos estuary we'll travel north following the taegos as far as entrancemento before cutting across to the west coast running alongside the atlantic ocean before finally crossing the riverdale route into porto campagna [Music] departure from lisbon is on time at 0-800 right after departure we can see a few older carriages parked up in the sidings i always thought that these looked really american but what do you think let me know in the comments the first few minutes of the journey are spent weaving through the buildings of portugal's historic capital as well as speeding through the local commuter stations of the city after eight minutes we arrive at the first station lisboa oriente or lisbon east it serves as the terminus for trains between lisbon and faro which don't run through to santa apollonia as well as seeing various urban trains the station style may look familiar being designed by the spanish architect santiago calatrava who also designed stations in lyon in france liege in belgium and rikio emilia in italy after a brief stop to pick up passengers we're once again on the move anyway it's time to have a look at what portugal's premier train has to offer here in first class to start here's something that the key night viewers may have already noticed the windows are fitted with motorized window blinds a small touch but one that feels really posh this is well in tune with the rest of the train smart interior which has a real bespoke feel to it as for the seats well they're pretty much a massive black leather armchair of course the comfort lives up to the seat's good looks too thanks to its good padding there's even a nicely winged headrest for extra support the alpha pendular is well equipped for either leisure or business travel with a number of facilities catering for both there's a large seat back table perfect for fitting a laptop on as some of my fellow passengers were already doing each seat also gets a standard european plug socket and the entire train is wi-fi enabled tied with the overall ambience i think the alpha pendulum is a great train to work on the only thing i would mention is a lack of at seat service but i'll give more details on the catering later on half an hour later we're arriving into our next station santalem i simply adore the look of this station the architecture style is really quaint whilst this design is fairly typical around portugal's railways this station stood out to me as one of the nicer examples with its good condition and well-kept foliage not all trains stop at the station though with some alpha pendulum services operating even faster than my own [Music] we're soon back up to speed and now zooming along winding track our top speed of course enhanced by the train's tilting system it's almost hypnotic watching the train roll into these curves gracefully tilting to enhance onboard comfort a few stations later we arrive into entrance this is a place with a lot of history on the railways with much of its development stemming from its status as a major railway junction that is in fact what the place's name actually means it literally translates to junction anyway let's get back to the trains interior the seats are all equipped with a pair of chunky adjustable armrests on the armrests you can find an in-seat audio system though unfortunately i had no earphones on me to try it out you can also find the button for the seats recline which is great for relaxing in the seat in front has a fairly large storage net ideal for smaller items above this is a little coat hook button with even more coat hooks found between the windows a reading light can also be found above your head perfect for when they switched the interior lights off which was actually for most of my moving on to legroom it's generous there's certainly plenty of room to sit back and stretch out on a long journey with an adjustable foot rest adding further to the comfort finally a small bin is located between the seats in front i love this feature as it helps keep the train clean and tidy next up is coimbra b possibly one of the less interesting names for a station with its centrally located counterpart being coimbra a coimbra is actually portugal's fourth largest city and is situated in the middle of the country roughly halfway between lisbon and porto now let's have a little look around the rest of the train at the end of the carriage you can find these luggage stacks these have a rather cool feature with a small deposit allowing you to lock your luggage giving you extra peace of mind when traveling further down the carriage next door to this is where you can find the rather groovy toilets aside from the funky blue lighting everything is exactly as you would hope all in working order and clean as promised let's look at the catering we're now in the bistro bar area found in coach number three the menu is fairly expensive and actually reasonably priced though no full meals are provided do be warned though only cash payments were possible let me know in the comments if this is always the case i purchased the sweet combo consisting of this fairly nice cake and a drink for 2 euros 50. by the way hot chocolate is not available however you can buy cold chocolate milk and have it heated up instead next up is aviro a city which is also known as the venice of portugal thanks to its beautiful canals the station also serves as one of the start points of the nearly abandoned vulgar line a narrow gauge railway in a very poor state of repair i've got a video on this rickety railway coming up soon so subscribe to see it when it comes out after running through the countryside for a bit longer we dive into ishbino station a newer construction that is situated beneath the site of the old station here from then we skirt the atlantic ocean for the remainder of the trip into porto so for this trip i paid 33 euros 50. this is for a flexible first class single including a youth discount of 25 for the 209 mile trip that gives a price per mile of about 14p all things considered this is a fantastic price and represents great value for money overall i was really impressed with the cp alpha pendulum the onboard ambience is super relaxed and smart with the comfort living up to the visual flare it's a very convenient way between portugal's two biggest cities offering speed and great value for money a fantastic service and one that i highly recommend we're now crossing the ponche de challe across the river dohru opening in 1991 it replaced the 1877 gustav eiffel designed ponte maria pia visible out the window as we cross the river and with that the three-hour journey from lisbon comes to a spectacular close as the train arrives into porto campagna a few minutes late at 1108 so what do you think of the cp alpha pendulum while i'm leaving the train is a perfect opportunity to leave a comment below telling me if you think it's worthy of its position as portugal's premier train service thanks for watching my video on this train if you enjoyed then please give the video a like as it really helps out and for more content like this then subscribe to the channel to get notified whenever i upload i hope you enjoyed the video and i look forward to seeing you again on my next journey [Applause] you

Channel: Superalbs Travels

Views: 508,697

Keywords: Superalbs Travels, Alfa Pendular, high-speed train, high-speed rail, Portugal, Lisbon, Lisboa, Porto, Oporto, Santa Apolónia, Campanhã, Comboios de Portugal, CP Alfa Pendular, Alpha Pendular, Intercidades, CP 4000, Interrail, Eurail, Portuguese Railways, Lisbon to Porto, Porto to Lisbon, train tickets, easyjet, flixbus, trainline, Pendolino, things to do in portugal, visit portugal, trains in portugal, portugal trains, Simply Railway, Dylan's Travel Reports, Nonstop Eurotrip, train, trains

Id: m_OHaIVebb8

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Wed May 18 2022