Help w/ rental car arrangements-Pickup in Lisbon, Portugal-Drop in Seville?
 

We are a party of four that will be flying in to Lisbon and transporting immediately to Sintra, so ease in exiting the city is key. Are we better off to pick up a car at the airport, or to take public transport to an area nearer the edge of the city? (Please keep in mind that we speak no Portuguese. One in our party speaks fluent Italian, but I have heard that they don't like that.....true or not, I don't know. Also, we have driven many times in Italy, Germany, and Ireland.)

Itinerary is: Lisbon-Sintra-Algarve (Lagos)-Seville

If possible, would like to drop the car upon entry to Seville and use public transportation for our few days there. We are staying at the Monte Triana (at Clara de Jesus Montero, 24 - Triana - Sevilla, 41010).

If it does not work to drop the car in Spain vs. Portugal, we may have to take a train (?) from Portugal to Seville. Suggestions on this are welcome also.

Is there a particular car company that is better to deal with?

Many Thanks!

You are best off getting the car at the airport - best choice of cars to meet your needs. I would assume that you wuold have to pay a significant drop off charge to pick up in Portugal and drop in Spain.

But we got a Spanish car that we returned so there was no drop off fee - from Hertz. But you can;t count on that. You need to check the various rental agencies to see what the drop off might be.

Separately I believe that Portugal to Seville by train is a PIA - taking you through Madrid to get there - but do check on that.

The route from the airport to Sintra is pretty easy. Motorways only.
So aside from the usual question if one should drive right after a red-eye flight, I'd guess that driving 30 kms is not that much of a problem.

You can probably save a lot of money if you drop your car after your stay on the Algarve in Lagos.
The easiest way to get to Sevilla from there would be by direct bus:
http://www.eva-bus.com
The site can be set to work in English, just pick "Sevilha" as destination when you check departures and fares from Lagos.

If there are four of you in your group, you might want to consider a private transfer or taxi from Lagos to Sevilla. It's only a 2-1/2 hour trip. There are several companies that will do the transfer, and the four of you can split the bill.

since it is 4 people the drop off fee of dropping the car from portugal in spain may be worth it . saving train/ bus tickets and time . I rented once in Italy and dropped off in france the charge was around 200 dollars check with the rental company. like posted above maybe they will have a spanish car in portugal.

The odds of getting a 'Spanish Car' from the rental company are rather slim. The drop-off fee is based on the value of the car. $200 USD might cover a compact but not a mid-size or standard size rental. The last mid-size rental drop off fee from Portugal to Spain was listed at €470 EUR, so we had the client us a private transfer service for half that much.

Thank you all for your input. I am going to check these options out. It is good to know that picking the car up at the airport is a good option. Time to do some more research....

Robert2533, or anyone else - Can you make suggestions for private transfer or taxi from Lagos or Tavira to Seville? We would like to check out this option before we commit to the bus. Thanks!

Try contacting Sevilla Services (www.sevilleservices.com)/

"One in our party speaks fluent Italian, but I have heard that they don't like that.....true or not"

If you were talking to Spanish people you can just about understand what they are saying with good in Italian (badly but you would survive) and since spoken (written is another thing) Portuguese is very unlike Spanish it is fair to say that they may or may not like it but they won't understand it. Written, you might have a clue.

In tourist areas they will be more used to English and German.

Even that is incorrect as Spain has 4 to 5 languages within the country, but I'm just being pedantic.

Thank you Robert 2533. I have contacted Seville Services for a quote. I actually had not thought of contacting someone in Seville, which would make much more sense!

billoburgler - thanks to you also regarding the language issues. I know it is always appreciated if one knows some of the language in the country to which you are traveling, but HOW could one know ALL of them?!? :) P.S. My word for the day was provided by you - "pedantic." :)

Nothing to offer on the car rental, but you might find this recent article to be of interest.

Sintra:


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/tr...aces.html?_r=0