A portal in fiction is a magical or technological doorway that connects two distant locations.

Portals are a common concept in sci-fi and fantasy fiction. They can be of two forms: either you must step through the frames of an object (a mirror, a cupboard, a picture frame, a gateway etc.) which serves as a portal or, when they stand alone, the portal will appear in the form of a vortex of energy. Vortex created by the passage of an aircraft wing, revealed by coloured smoke A vortex is a spinning turbulent flow (or any spiral whirling motion) with closed streamlines. ...

Places that a portal will link to: a different spot in the same world (inwhich case it might be an alternative for teleportation); a paralell world (interdimensional portal); the past or the future (time portal); and other planes of existence, like heaven, hell or afterworlds. It has been suggested that Materialization (science fiction) be merged into this article or section. ... In metaphysics and esoteric cosmology, a plane of existence (sometimes called simply a plane, dimension, vibrating plane, or an inner, invisible, spiritual, supraphysical world, or egg) is a theoretical region of space (and/or consciousness) beyond, but permeating, the known physical universe (or the region of the physical universe itself... Michelangelos interpretation of Heaven Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies. ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. ...

Portals play a primal role in:

• Planescape
• Sliders
• Stargate
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Through the Looking-Glass