The Spanish border further south

Photo: Alessandro Bonvini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

People ask for “Spain, near the border” as if it were one place. From Porto, the close border is the Minho, which is Valença and Tui. Everything else is a long day or a night away.

Elvas is the walled city on the Portuguese side of the Alentejo crossing, and Badajoz is the first Spanish city past it. By train this is not a Porto afternoon. You are looking at Lisbon or Entroncamento and then the line CP lists as Entroncamento-Badajoz. By car it is the A1 and then the A6, both tolled, on the order of four hours if the road is clear. Check CP’s timetable list before you promise someone a day trip.

The southern crossing is Vila Real de Santo António to Ayamonte, on the Guadiana, at the eastern end of the Algarve. There is a bridge. From Porto that is closer to six hours by road, and it only makes sense if you are already going to the Algarve. It is a useful border. It is not a neighbourhood of Porto.

Checked 24 October 2026. If an official page disagrees, follow that page.