hello, we want to take a train from Lisbon to Porto on May 26. I am having a horrible time trying to figure out their train website as well as appropriate stations. We are staying close to the center of each town. Does anyone have advice? Thanks.

Looks like direct trains are Lisbon Santa Apolonia to Porto Campanha. If you go here you can play around with different station combinations:

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Metros go to Santa Apolonia in Lisbon and Campanha in Porto..

We took a train from Porto to Lisbon in October. I bought our tix online in the US a few weeks before we left & received them by email.
Our tix were Porto Campanha to Lisboa Oriente, but as I remember, we had to go another stop to Lisboa Santa Apolonia...i.e., that may be the departure station you need, just depending upon where you are staying. (It's not that big a deal if you're just going to get a taxi or Uber from your hotel to the station in Lisbon.)
Portuguese train staff are incredibly nice, ime. Like bend-over-backwards nice.
Point being:, you probably want Lisboa Oriente to Porto Campanha or Lisboa Santa Apolonia to Porto Campanha.

https://www.cp.pt/sites/passageiros/...n-time-results

Check www.seat61.com for lots on booking own tickets in Portugal and all over Europe. Book early at site Lucie gives above. For more on trains in general also check www.ricksteves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts.

Pal, with all due respect, I didn't book particularly early (3 -4 weeks, maybe?) and had zero problem getting tickets. But maybe May 26 is peak season, I don't know. In any case, it was a straightforward transaction, took me all of 15 minutes. The trains are so nice, it's not that big a deal which seats you get or which carriage you're in. ime.

I was talking about booking early as possible to snatch discounted tickets which are limited in number I believe but getting seats rarely a problem.

Whichever station you go into in Porto, be sure to go sightseeing at Sao Bento station. It is right in the centre of town (I thought it was the main station) and has spectacular blue and white tilework

I agree about Sao Bento, gertie. Anyway, if you're staying in town, you kind of have to go to Sao Bento to get to Porto Campanha. Unless you're taking a taxi to PC.

You don't have to take a taxi. Porto Campanha is on five metro lines.

MapaRede_NOVO.pdf

Porto also has buses....

thanks so much for all the helpful information. I am booking our tickets today.

Be interested in what you paid and how easy it was to book?