Andante Card for Public Transport in Porto

Hi, I’m planning a long weekend in Porto soon with 4 other adults, and I’d love some info about the rechargeable Andante card for public transport. Since we’ll be traveling across different zones, I’m thinking of getting the single-trip rechargeable option. When we buy it, do we *have* to purchase just one trip for a specific zone, or can we buy multiple trips for the same zone—or even one for one zone and another for a different zone? Also, how do we go about recharging it?

Otherwise, is the Andante Tour 72-hour card a better deal? The catch is we’ll need to get to the airport on the 4th day, and it won’t be valid anymore by then.

Thanks for your tips!

I have the same question as you, so if you've made any progress in your research, I'd love to hear about it.

What I'm leaning toward: If, like us, you're staying near the center, buy a single airport-to-city-center ticket on the first day and do your sightseeing on foot. For the other 3 days, I wouldn’t bother: the 3-day all-zone pass costs 16 €. It might not be fully worth it, but at least you don’t have to calculate or risk a fine if you make a mistake!

From what I understand, you can buy both at the same time at the airport, and the 3-day pass only starts when you first use it.

Just got back from my weekend in Porto. FYI, at the airport there’s a tourist office (to the left as you exit) where they sell ANDANTE cards (it’s written in big letters on the glass). I was lucky enough to speak with someone who spoke French and could answer my questions.

So, on the rechargeable card, you can’t combine trips from different zones. You need to buy a Z4 trip to get to the center, and then you can top up with Z2 trips (which cover the entire tourist zone) to get around, and another Z4 for the return trip. If you buy a round-trip Z4 right away, you won’t be able to add trips from other zones.

For us, we only used it for the round-trip to/from the airport. Since we were staying right in the center, we walked a lot—the city isn’t very big. We took the bus just once and paid the driver directly (2.50 €). Otherwise, we also used a round-trip Uber (super fast and cheap) because the bus wasn’t coming, as well as the old tram, which isn’t included in the Andante card.

Hope this info helps! Have a great trip

Thanks so much for your feedback, Françoise. Yes, this is going to help me! 🙂

We're back now, and here’s my little comment in case it might help others.

As @Frechoise explained so well (thanks again! 🙂), since the airport is in zone 4, you need to buy a physical card (0.60 €, no big deal!) and load it with a ticket to the city center (or a round-trip ticket, which is what we did).

Since this card covers trips to or from zone 4, it’s not valid for the city center (zone 2 or 3). Once we arrived in the center, we bought another card (another 60 cents, still no big deal!) and loaded it with zone 3 tickets since we wanted to go to Matosinhos. We were also staying in the center, and everything was within walking distance, so we only used public transport 3 times in 5 days (on top of the round trip to the airport).

Hi there! The Andante transport card topic comes up often, so I’ll try to clarify. First, know that Porto’s public transport is really well-maintained, clean, and quiet. You can safely take the metro and bus at any time of day.

The Andante card is a rechargeable transport card that’s useful for metro and bus trips. Each passenger must have their own ticket, validated individually.

You can buy one at the airport, where a metro line takes you to the city center in under an hour—it’s fantastic and way cheaper than a taxi.

Also, you don’t need to buy a new card each time; it’s rechargeable indefinitely. To understand the "zone" system, each machine shows a list of stations on the right side of the screen. Just select the zone corresponding to your trip when purchasing or recharging. The fare (very affordable) depends on the distance to your destination.

Honestly, if you’re staying in the center, this card is pretty much useless. Everything is easily walkable. I only use it for my trips between the city center and the airport. As for the 72-hour card, I bought one on my first visit, and it wasn’t helpful at all.

Finally, keep in mind that the Andante card isn’t valid for tram rides, as trams are part of a different transport network. For the tram, you’ll need to buy your ticket directly from the driver when boarding.

Thanks for the info.

Regarding the card itself, maybe it’s because we had a round-trip ticket to the airport (zone 4), but we couldn’t reload the card with 3-zone tickets—we had to buy a second one. But like I said, the card only costs 60 cents, so it’s not a big deal!