Discounts up to 80% at CP? A little explainer

To go to Viana do Castelo for 6 euros, to Porto for 5,50, to Covilhã for 4, to Évora for 2,50 or to Faro for 4,50? As of this Tuesday, April 12, CP is making available about 30,000 Intercity train trips at reduced prices to different parts of the country. But these kinds of discounts are not unheard of and are available all year round.

Buying Intercity or Alfa Pendular trips at least five days in advance, at any time of year, you can benefit from discounts up to 65%. The discount is greater the further in advance of purchase: with five days, discounts can go up to 56% and, with eight or more days, can reach 65%. Thus, it may be possible to travel between Lisbon and Porto for 9.50 euros in Intercidades (2nd class), or even have 1st class travel in both Intercidades and Alfa Pendular for the price of 2nd class.

Dynamic pricing

The discounts - which CP calls "Promo Tickets" - are offered on trains with less demand, for example. So it will be difficult to get a discount if you decide to travel on a Sunday evening, a time that is usually in high demand. With this dynamic pricing strategy - which CP has been applying since 2018 and which is similar to what is done in other countries - the national railway operator is trying to compete better with the new road competition, such as Flixbus and Rede Expressos, which have been making trips available at very competitive prices.

What is the difference, then, to the discounts offered now? The difference is that the discounts are now higher in percentage and greater in number. CP says it will put 30,000 discounted trips up to 80% between April 21 and July 15, 2022. So if you want to take advantage of the lower prices, you'll have to travel within that date range, and you can book tickets starting this Tuesday, April 12.

How to benefit?

To do so, simply go to the CP website or app (or a physical ticket office), select a date, and see the available prices. Note that tickets with this promotion must be purchased at least 10 days before the travel date to qualify for the discount and that the promotion is only valid for the Intercity service (2nd class) - the other services, such as the Alfa, maintain the traditional "Promo Ticket" scheme that we explained earlier in this article. Note also that, as with normal "Promo Tickets", the discount does not exist on all schedules and is still limited to the number of seats available with promotion on each train.

In the following table, you can see some examples of trips with the maximum discount of 80% from Lisbon:

(*the connection to Guarda will be made exceptionally by buses due to the closure of the Beira Alta Line for nine months for requalification works)

The "Promo Tickets" cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions in effect, so if you have a Youth Card or are under 25 years old, you will not be able to add the usual 25% discount. If you decide to change the date of a trip purchased with a "Promo Ticket," you can do so through CP's website or app (or at a physical ticket office), free of charge - however, if you make that change for a date less than 5, 8, 10 or more days in advance, you will lose the discount and will have to pay the difference in value for a normal-priced ticket.