Visiting Portugal: flying and driving

This post is about the practical side of getting to Portugal and moving around once you are here. Flights, hire cars, tolls, and travelling with children. If you have a question we have not covered, ask us in the comments.

Fares, toll prices and child seat rules change from time to time. Use this as a starting point and confirm the details with your airline or hire company before you travel.

Flying to Portugal

Getting here is easy, which matters more than it sounds. Frequent flights from all over Europe, plus genuinely good roads once you land, mean less of your week goes on the journey and more of it on the stay.

The main airports

• Lisbon, for central Portugal. Metro line into the city
• Porto, for northern Portugal. Metro line into the city
• Faro, for southern Portugal. Bus into the city
• Funchal, for Madeira
• Ponta Delgada, for the Azores

Airlines and routes

• Direct flights to Lisbon from across Europe with the national carrier TAP, including Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as from the USA and Brazil. Porto and Faro are reachable with a single stop.
• Ryanair and easyJet fly to Porto, Lisbon and Faro from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
• Some routes are seasonal and disappear in winter, so check before you plan around one.

Flying with TAP

A few things worth knowing about TAP's fares, particularly if you are travelling with children.

• The cheapest fare, ‘TAP Discount’, cannot be rescheduled. Every other TAP fare can, for a fee of around 100 euros.
• ‘TAP Discount’ includes no hold luggage, only hand baggage up to 8 kg.
• A child's pushchair travels free. You can take it all the way to the aircraft, and it is handed back to you at the door of the plane on landing.
• A child's car seat counts as extra luggage, and the cost depends on your fare:
  • On ‘TAP Discount’, 25 euros each way if booked at least 36 hours before the flight, or 40 euros if not
  • On ‘TAP Basic’, 50 or 60 euros each way
  • If your fare already includes hold luggage, you can take the car seat instead of the suitcase
• Or take the car seat free of charge by booking a seat for your child. Two things to remember:
  • When booking online, select an age of 2 years or above, even if that is not the case
  • Call the airline at least 24 hours before the flight to say you are bringing the car seat on board, or you will be charged at the airport

Driving in Portugal

Renting a car

The best deals are usually with companies that are not based inside the airport. Without a desk in the terminal, they meet you in one of two ways.

Either someone waits for you in the airport car park with the car you booked online, which is the quicker arrangement (Zitauto works this way).

Or, more commonly, you are met at Arrivals and driven to their garage for free, along with a few other customers, with a shuttle leaving every 20 to 30 minutes. If it is this kind, be prepared:

• Take a ticket and wait your turn at the garage; there is no orderly queue
• From meeting the rep to driving away, expect anything from 45 minutes to two and a half hours, in our own experience
• Given the time and the detour, this may not suit everyone, particularly on a short weekend break

The rules of the road

• Drive on the right
• Documents to have with you:
  • Identity card or passport
  • Driving licence
  • Car documents: valid insurance, tax and registration
• Speed limits are in kilometres per hour:
  • 120 km/h on the motorway
  • 90 or 100 km/h on open road
  • 50 km/h in town
• Alcohol limits are low and enforced:
  • 0.5 g/l for drivers with three or more years of experience, 0.2 g/l for everyone else
  • Penalties run from heavy fines to imprisonment
• Mobile phones only with a hands-free device
• Fines are issued on the spot and can be paid by card
• Children: European safety regulations apply
  • Anyone under 12, or shorter than 135 cm, must use a seat approved to the R44 or R129 standard. R44 has been progressively phased out across the EU, so check which standard your own seat meets before you travel
  • The front seat may be used by children under 3 in an approved rear-facing seat with the airbag deactivated, and by children of 3 and over only if the car has no back seat, or no seat belt in the back
  • Car seats are not required in taxis, though they are still a good idea

Motorway tolls

Portugal's motorways are fast and in excellent condition, and using them costs a little.

To give you a sense of scale: driving the length of the country, from Faro in the south to Ponte de Lima in the north, works out at roughly 31 euros in tolls. You can check your own route with the official toll calculator.

There are also national roads, which are free. They are slower, and often a good deal more scenic, if you have the time.

Renting a portable toll device

This is the option we would suggest for most visitors.

• The device is rented for a small charge and linked to the driver's credit or debit card
• Tolls are debited automatically, both on ‘electronic toll only’ motorways and in the Via Verde lanes of the conventional ones
• Via Verde is the express lane on conventional toll motorways. You do not stop
• If you end up in a barrier lane by mistake, you will be asked to pay there, and you will not be charged twice

Paying without a toll device

On conventional motorways:

• Pay by cash or card at each toll barrier
• You must stop at every barrier
• The Via Verde lane is not available to you
• Foreign plates can instead buy a prepaid 3-day unlimited pass (around 21 euros) or a prepaid pass for a set date and destination

On ‘electronic toll only’ motorways:

• Where to pay: at a post office (CTT) or Payshop
• When: within 2 to 5 working days of using the motorway
• What to bring: your registration plate number
• Prepaid card: buy it at a post office and activate it by text message, linking your plate to a debit or credit card
• Foreign plates only: register at an EASYtoll machine, which links your plate to your card and charges you each time you use these motorways