Airport car park or private car park: what changes
Anyone flying from Lisbon Airport has two families of options: the airport's own car parks, identified by P and a number, and the private car parks that sit outside and take the customer to the terminal.
There is no single right answer. There are concrete differences that matter depending on how many days you will be away, which vehicle you drive and what time you leave. This guide explains those differences without inventing anyone's prices: the airport car park rates are on the airport's own website and change with the season, so we do not reproduce them here.
How you get to the terminal
This is the most obvious difference. In the airport car parks you park and walk, or take an internal link, to the terminal, with your luggage.
In a private car park with transfer, you leave the vehicle and a van takes you to the door of the terminal you specified; on your return it picks you up. With valet you do not go to the car park at all: you hand the vehicle over at the terminal itself and get it back there.
For anyone travelling with children, heavy luggage or reduced mobility, this difference usually weighs more than a few euros of price difference.
How the price is counted
Airport car parks usually count by the hour for the first hours and by the day after that, with different rates per car park and depending on how far ahead you book.
At Check-in Park the unit is the 24-hour period counted from your drop-off time: 6 € per 24 hours for a car, with a 20 € minimum per booking, and a monthly rate of 120 € from 20 days. Transport is added once per booking — 5 € with transfer, 15 € with valet — not per person and not per day.
The practical consequence: for a few hours, an airport car park is almost always cheaper. For days or weeks, the sum turns around.
When you pay and what happens if you cancel
At airport car parks, booking online usually means paying up front, and the terms for changes depend on the rate you chose.
Here the booking costs nothing, we do not ask for card details and you pay only on your return, when we hand the vehicle back, by card, cash or MB WAY. Cancelling costs nothing until the vehicle enters the car park.
For anyone whose plans are not yet firm, this is the difference that counts most.
Which vehicles fit
Covered airport car parks have a height limit, which rules out motorhomes, campers and tall vans.
Here the car park is open-air and we take cars, motorbikes, motorhomes, campers and large vans. Vehicles 2 metres or taller use the transfer instead of valet, for reasons of circulation at the terminal. Coaches, lorries and vehicles with a trailer are accepted on request, by phone.
Being open-air, we have no covered spaces: anyone who wants to protect their vehicle uses the protective cover, at 2 € per 24 hours.
When each one makes sense
To drop someone off or pick them up, or for a few hours, the airport car park is the way: it costs little and it is right there.
For a trip of days or weeks, for motorhomes and motorbikes, for anyone who wants to pay only on return, or for anyone leaving at dawn who wants to be driven to the terminal door, a private car park with transfer usually works out better.
If you are hesitating, the sum takes half a minute: put your real dates and times into the booking form and compare the total with what the airport's own site gives you for the same dates.