Car rental advice for 3 week Portugal trip
 

My adult daughter and I are (fingers crossed) re-planning our twice delayed trip to Portugal for May 2022. We plan to start and end our trip in Lisbon. While in Lisbon we do not want a car but planned to rent one when we were departing for our travels to Sintra, Porto, the Duoro and back down the western border of Portugal toward Evora before ending up back in Lisbon at a hotel near the airport for the return flight home. I'd like advice on best/easiest way to pick-up and drop-off the rental car. Is it best to do both pick-up and drop-off at the Lisbon Airport or is it possible or sensible to rent a car in town just prior to leaving town and then drop-off at the airport just prior to departing for our flight home? I am concerned the driving/traffic to get out of town will be difficult and we may be better off using public transport to the airport after concluding our sightseeing in Lisbon and leave from there. It seems to be back tracking but if it would save me from a nerve-wracking experience, then I would opt for the inconvenience. I'd appreciate some how-to car rental advice and any companies that could be recommended or any to steer (no pun intended...) clear of.

The absolute easiest place both for a rental pickup and return would be at Lisbon airport, especially for the return from Evora, as you will just simply follow the airplane icon on the auto route signs that will lead you directly to the airport without having to deal with any inner city traffic at all, which can be tough in very busy Lisbon.

Since you'll be heading directly to Sintra after Lisbon rather than to the north, I would pick up at the airport. You would then head west on the IP 7 to the A 37. The drive should take between 25-35 minutes on a good day.

I would not choose to pick up at any center city location.

Our information may be a bit dated now, but we rented a car from Avis for three weeks of touring in 2015.

Pickup and return at the Lisbon airport was fast and straightforward, and getting onto the autoroute was well sign-posted. On your return, there is a BP petrol station at a roundabout just before you drive into the airport grounds.

As we were flying out the early the next morning after returning our car, we stayed at the Melia Lisboa Aeroporto Hotel, which is about a 150 metre walk from the airport. If I recollect properly, it is at the same roundabout as that BP fuel station. It was all pretty easy.

Rental vehicles are equipped with a transponder so that you can drive on the toll highways. I think they asked whether we wanted it activated, which we did, and about 30 days after arriving home, Avis sent me a list showing every toll we passed and what the charge was (less than € 100 in total). As expected, they put through that charge to my credit card. Very simple, very clear.

One thing that was interesting about that rental was that the vehicle they gave us looked like it had been driven through a barbed wire fence; I have never seen a rental with so many cosmetic scrapes. I pointed this out to the attendant, who acknowledged that listing all of the blemishes would have taken all day. I took photos before driving away, thinking there might be a problem on return, but they didn't bat an eyelash.

Thank you so much. This was exactly the information I needed.

This was extremely helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. The hotel information will be useful. Thank you.

Excellent information from AnselmAdorne, especially about the necessary transponder, with which all rental vehicles are now equipped. As he explains, the process is simple. The agent will simply ask you if you wish to activate it, and you should respond, yes. The tolls for our most recent trip were actually quite reasonable.

The one issue we had was with our diesel vehicle, a Volkswagen Tipo. It had been quite a while since we had rented a diesel, and we failed to ask the attendant to check the AdBlue level to make sure it was full before departure from the Europcar office.
When reaching the Douro Valley, the warning light came on, indicating that the vehicle's Ad Blue level was low. We tried to purchase more AdBlue at the (only) gas station in Pinhão, but they didn't have it. We then did need to drive to the Europcar office in Régua (the only rental car agency in the valley) on a Saturday morning (offices closes for the weekend at 12:30 pm). The agent escorted us to a gas station, so that the attendant could refill the AdBlue canister.

Just our cautionary tale about diesel rental vehicles and AdBlue.

I hope you don’t mind my jumping into this thread with my own car rental question.

I’ve booked our car with Hertz (through AutoEurope), picking up in their downtown office on RUA CASTILLO 72, LISBON. We will be driving to Evora. Would you recommend that we switch the reservation to pick up at the airport? My husband is generally good with driving out of an urban environment, but if it’s not a big problem to get to the airport, does it make sense to switch? It won’t change the cost.

We are dropping the car in Porto at the airport to avoid driving into the city.

Hi progol,
I recommend that you switch the pickup to the airport.
The last time we left Lisbon for Evora we actually chose the Calatrava-designed Oriente rail station (Gare do Oriente), which was extremely easy to get right to the autoroute to Evora, but.... we used Europcar rather than Hertz. I don't believe that Hertz has an office at the Oriente station (I only remember Europcar and Avis there). I believe that Hertz only has the airport office and has no presence at Oriente.

So, I would avoid a downtown pick up at all costs, even when the Hertz office is near the Marques de Pombal square, especially since there is no extra cost. Pick up at the airport and save yourselves some aggravation with the inner city traffic, and it's busy, ime, around the Marques de Pombal.

Many thanks, Maribel. I’ll shift the pickup location to the airport unless I find an agency with a pickup location by the station.

Good call!:)

We used Autoeurope as the broker with Europcar the actual rental agency. We chose the agency near the Marques de Pombal metro station, and getting out of Lisbon from there was very easy. We returned the car in Porto, which was not easy. But if ploanned properly, you could return the car at the airport on the day of your flight out of Portugal.

I was able to change the reservation to picking up at Lisbon airport with Hertz through AutoEurope. The drop-off remains Porto airport.

We are renting the car for almost 2 weeks in May, and, Hertz, through AutoEurope , had the best rates out of all the rentals offered. I even tried to book Avis and Hertz directly, and I checked Kemwel, but AutoEurope's rates were the best. We book Economy and don't take the extras as we use the CC insurance.

progol,
We also use either brokers, AutoEurope or Kemwel (whichever gives us the best rates) and have done so for over 20 years without a problem.
We now chose the very easy drop off at the Porto airport. The rental agencies are housed in a separate building away from the terminal, but the signage leads right to them, and there's a shuttle that takes passengers to the terminal. We found a drop off in downtown Porto exceedingly challenging.

Continue to have fun with your planning!

Thanks, Maribel! I’m starting to get excited about the trip! I can’t wait! I’ll start my more detailed planning in a month or so but I’m beginning to believe it will happen!

I’ve got my itinerary, my accommodations and the car all set. What else do I need? 😉

Hi progol,
Nothing right now that I can think of...

Once you're in Lisbon and decide on a day to do your exploring of the Belém sites, you can now purchase online tickets to the Jeronimos Monastery to avoid the (often) huge lines.
https://bilheteira.patrimoniocultural.pt/pos/event/list

Later on, closer to your departure, maybe online tickets to the Sintra monuments that you want to visit: the big 5 are Pena Palace (finally they have timed tickets that allow for some crowd control!!!), Castle of the Moors, National Palace and Gardens/Palace of Monserrate that can be purchased here (sr discount available):
https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/

If you decide to visit the over-the-top Pena Palace, you now select a time, the type of ticket (adult, senior, etc) and you can add the 3 euro supplement for the green trolley that takes you from the park entrance to the palace gate and the audio guide, if you want it.

Quinta da Regaleira doesn't belong to the above and has its own online system here:
E-TICKETS

If you see some performance of interest, the stunning Gulbenkian Museum does have the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation performing arts series, and tickets are very well priced:
https://gulbenkian.pt/musica/en/agenda/#page=3&target=

If you want a guided tour of the University at Coimbra (wish we had done this), Go Walks does a tour of the U with guaranteed entrance of the Joanina Library. We did Coimbra on our own but would like to have gone with a former or current U student so that he/she could tell us tales of being a student there and to make our visit really come to life.
https://www.gowalksportugal.com/coim...ity-of-coimbra

In Evora some have very much enjoyed the megalithic tour given by Ebora Megalithica but some have just done this on their own with a car.
https://www.eboramegalithica.com/actividades?lang=en

Thanks, Maribel, you are just the best! This is so helpful!

Keep having fun planning! :)

Maribel-
Thank you for the links and such helpful information. I am also getting very excited about our trip. I need to do some homework and then I will come back with more questions, if you don't mind.
I am interested in the archeology and the megalithica tour from Evora and will look into that more. We will be in the Douro for a few days, would you suggest we also stop by the Vale do Coa park? Is one site better than the other? Would visiting both sites be overkill?
One additional thought for logistical planning...We will be in Porto before heading toward the Duoro area and thought we would stop by Braga, Guimaraes and Amarante on the way. Would that be too much for one day? Would we be better off doing those locations from Porto and then head toward the Duoro?
You're wonderful with your advice! Thank you!

rancherswife,
About visiting the Vale do Côa park----it depends on how many days you have in the Douro Valley, the weather (it can be hot as Hades in the Douro Superior even in May, beastly hot), how much time, if any, that you plan to dedicate to winery visits while in the valley, how much driving you want to do in unknown territory, where you plan to stay in the valley.
The Côa valley site is all about rock carvings whereas in the Alentejo you have dolmens and menhirs all around.

Yes, stopping by Braga, Guimarães and Amarante on the drive from Porto to the Douro Valley would be much, too much on one day. Braga and Guimarães for me personally each deserve a full day. And they're best done as day trips from Porto.

I've stopped in very pleasant Amarante for a few hours on my way to Régua to have coffee and (very interesting shaped) pastries at one of the pastry shops overlooking the river (Confeitaria da Ponte is nice and the oldest, since 1930), but would never attempt all 3 towns on the same day. Market day in Amarante is Saturday and the town gets very busy.

Hope this helps and continue to ask questions!

https://www.confeitariadaponte.pt

If anyone is heading to Pinhão in the Douro in need of a pharmacy, there is one on the main street, Farmacia Saraiva, in the northern section of town, that is open Mon-Fri from 9:00 am-12:30 pm and 2:00-6:30 pm (if the Google listed hours are correct). They open on Saturdays from 9:00-1:00 pm only and are closed on Sundays.

Hello- Just throwing this out, we picked up our rental just outside Sintra. The Sixt office was about a 10 minute taxi ride from the Royal Palace. If you are heading Lisbon, Sintra, then driving around, this will save you a few days rental and not have the parking issue in Sintra. Plus, you start your drive in a suburban area.

It's a real easy train ride from Lisbon to Sintra.