Thanks Sher,

Won't you have to make a down payment as well as the E2 reservation fee up front? I thought that was what I read ( E54.68 for us +E2) I guess that would be ok, especially if as you say they are only brokering for another company. Keep us posted.

Another reference of a farm with rooms in the Evora/Reguengos/Monsaraz area:
http://www.casasaramago-monsaraz.com.pt/
The site is in Portuguese, but the non-readers, may just follow the links to see the lovely pictures.
It's 50 euros all year round (double room) including breakfast. I believe that extra activities such as horse riding are payed apart.

For those who might be interested in "The Maias". Check the amazon.com. Inserting just the word "Maias" in the serch box returns "The Maias" in the 1st place. The revisions are varied, some consider it the better novel ever writen while others say "forget". The truth as usual should be somewhere in the middle.
Amazon offers online the 1st 2 pages of "The Maias". It's enough to see if it's "your cup of tea" (as Matt would say). It depicts the atmosphere of the Portuguese society by the end of 19th century, very centred in Lisbon's downtown and Chiado.
Important note: the Portuguese version hass 600 pages. If you are not a heavy reader, it's better to skip.

Regarding car rentals - I just booked a 7 night rental through AutoEurope (for July) to pick up and drop off at the Lisbon airport and it was $173 (that's dollars, not euros). It's a manual though, and it's small. But I thought that was a great price. They said it will be through EuropeCar which I have used before in other countries with no problems. That $173 is with a 5% discount that I got by mentioning Karen Brown's name. I started to book it on the web but had some questions so called the 800 number and did it by phone. They emailed me a voucher. I had the option to pay in advance or just a deposit. It looks like local taxes and fees payable at pick-up will be another 30-40€, which is pretty average.

Ladylyn. I will have to pay the down payment. What I meant was that if I do not think I will go through with the reservation, all but the 2E is refundable.
So basically, I am paying the 2E to see which rental car company they come up with and what the contract says.
If I think that is isn't valid, I will cancel.
I want a reservation with zero excess or no coverage. I am only able to come up with a couple of companies with those options. The price with Auto Europe is ridiculous, $800.
Sixt is the next best company that I have found. The price is not as good as Economy, but I am familiar with the company and they offer a rate with no insurance. Then I will use my credit card coverage.

Isabel. I just picked a week in July (the 12-19) and priced the smallest automatic with Auto Europe. It is almost $700. So you see the difference.

This is why I shop around. I do not drive a manual and my husband does not feel comfortable driving one in Europe.

So we just find the best price and go with what we feel more confident with.

Sher,
Sorry, I probably should know this, but can you explain what you mean by no excess? Does this have something to do with insurance coverage?

Sher,
We're renting from Economy Rentals in Faro at the end of May, so if you're still interested in them, I'll be happy to let you know how it worked out.
Nancy

ladylyn. The best way to describe "excess" is to call it deductible.
That means you are responsible for a certain amount of damage to the car should you have an accident or if it is stolen.
In order for my credit card to cover the full car, I must decline all insurance offered by the rental agency.
I have several cards with this coverage.

So if I rent a car and intend to use the card for coverage, I must get an "exclusive" rate. No insurance coverage. Sometimes it is difficult to find this option. Sometimes there is all coverage except for some Euros (usually several hundred) depending on the model.
Some people feel that deductible is a fact of life. Almost all of us have some deductible at home on our cars. But I really do not want 800E of responsiblibty for a rental car hanging over my head on vacation. So I use their coverage with no excess or my credit card with no excess.

Does this help?

Nancy. I am very interested in your experience. Please post or drop me a line:
[email protected].

What made you decide to rent with them?

Sher,
Your mentioning the company in this thread led us to look at it. It was much cheaper than what we had and didn't require us to post a large sum on our credit card in case we damaged the car, which CarJet did.

Sher and Nancy - Can you help me make sure I understand this correctly? We're renting from CarJet and we plan to buy-out the insurance excess (for about $80). If we do that, then they shouldn't hold a deposit on our credit card, right? We also had the option to use our credit card's insurance and decline the rental car's insurance. But, in that case, CarJet would probably still place a deposit on our credit card.

To continue my previous post...

The third option would have been to rent from Economy, use our credit card for insurance, and they don't put a deposit on your credit card, right?

When we rented from Carjet, we had a Travelguard trip insurance policy with car rental insurance.
To the best of my knowledge, they did not put a hold on my card. I think it has to do with the company you are placed with and their requirements. Let me say that I was not aware of a hold. It is my understanding that if you buy the insurance, there is no hold put on your card.

Remember that there are always exceptions to the no excess rule. Usually they are spelled out. If you are driving recklessly or under the influence or somewhere you are not supposed to be driving and cause damage, I don't think anyone will cover that. Also sometimes there are exceptions made for lost keys, tires, broken antennas, etc. But I have noticed that as a way to make more money, some companies are even offering this kind of coverage.

The way I understand Economy, they are actually picking up the no excess insurance costs for you. That some companies will still insist on putting a hold on your credit card. That if you turn in all of your paperwork when you have an accident (and they spell what is needed out plainly), like proof that your card was actually charged the excess and the accident report among other things, they give you back the charges on your credit card. They are not saying all companies put a hold but they deal with many and there are probably exceptions.
This is why you have to look at the contract you actually get.

Also, if you do not submit the correct paperwork you will not get the credit. Well, you cannot blame them. They need proof for their insurers.

This is what the agent explained to me when I called.

So the excess insurance coverage cost is actually picked up Economy, I think it is sort of built into their cost. But the prices are still good.

This is my understanding, and this is what I am going with. I hope I am correct. I do not really mind the hold, if I get it back.

I also have to say that we have never had an accident. I just try to be prepared but only being human I can and do make lots of mistakes.

I defer to Sher's greater understanding of all this...

Sher - thanks. I think I am getting it( slowly!) So I can either use my credit card and decline all car rental insurance ( I'll have to check with Amex to see what is covered) or if I choose to use Economy rental, I will have full coverage but will have a hold on my credit card. Do I have this right?

Thanks

Hi all

Guess we are all back and getting closer to our time in Portugal! It has taken me awhile to read through all the new posts but it looks like thread part II is going very well.

We will just miss the big LDC group at the end of May since we arrive in Lisbon on June 1. And unfortunately I probably will not have a chance to read the report before that.

Just a comment on the car rental discussion. One mistake we made a few years ago was make sure you use the same credit card for the rental as the reservation if you want that to cover insurance. It was either Hertz or Avis in Spain and I made the reservation but then my husband used his card for the rental. After a nasty scrape from a building that seemed to come right out to the street, we found out about our error - about $900 worth as I remember.

My itinerary has been set for awhile so now it is just reading and planning our days. So much to do and see I don't think 2 weeks will be enough.

A question for the Portuguese speakers. I try to learn a few words of a language before I go any where. Here in the US a lot of the tapes and books on Portuguese are really Brazilian. I know I will not be able to hear the differences but are there some obvious ones I should be aware of so I do not make a big mistake in pronounciation? I think Portuguese may be one of my bigger challenges.

Also a cell phone question. We have both rented one before we go (through the car rental with free deals) and rented at the airport upon arrival. The latter option at least gives you a local phone number so may be a bit cheaper calling rates but more costly daily rental. I have read through many threads on Fodors and everyone has opinions. Just wondering if there may be anything specific to Portugal I should know.

Only 4 weeks until we leave for this trip and I am really getting excited now.

Barb

Hi Barb, if you are not available for the big LDC meeting, it doesn't mean you are not available for a smaller LDC meeting. I am not sure when you are around Lisbon area, but the night from 12th to 13th June (the night Lisbon doesn't sleep) would be a good occasion to go party. If this date doesn't suit you, Matt and I are always ready to pick another available date.
Don't worry with Brazilian-Portuguese accent. Everybody will say to you that you speak lovely Portuguese.
And last but not the least, the subject of cellulars. I don't know what is your budget for this issue, but let me explain my ideas. 1st the telephone itself. There is a shop in Imaviz Shopping (the same block as Sheraton tower) that sells telephones from very cheap to quite very expensive. This is the kind of shop without the neons of the regular operators chain shops, but where is possible to find models as cheap as 39.90 euros. The day I was there they were selling a 2nd hand terminal by 29 euros. If you want an unlocked model, it should cost a bit more, in the range of 50 euros.
The 2nd issue is the SIM card. It costs from 5 euros with 2.5 euros of air time.
If you have doubts or you need me to organize telephones or SIMs for you, please let me know.
My email is [email protected] . I don't post my telephone number here, but I'll email you with no problems.

hi everyone! i just discovered your postings and they're so fun to read through. really making me excited about my upcoming trip.

question for you all. my husband and i are going to portugal for 6 days this may and i was hoping to get your opinion on my itinerary. we don't get a chance to get away often because we have two little ones at home, so we're really splurging on hotels (within reason, of course).

i had been planning on staying 3 nights at the four seasons in lisbon and then three nights at the ritz in the sintra region. recently however, we've been reading about the wine region up in douro and i'm wondering if we should spend two days in lisbon, two days in up in douro area and then two days in sintra. is that too ambitious? we tend to be very energetic travellers but i also don't want to waste too much time travelling from one spot to another. i had thought maybe we could train up to porto and then rent a car and drive back down to sintra after a few days up there. what do you think? also, any splurge-worthy hotels up in douro area?

thanks so much!!

Thanks Lobo for your confidence in my Portuguese - I can only hope people don't stare and wonder what is that woman trying to say!

We will be in Lisbon only the nights of June 1,2 and 3. We will be back in the US by the 12th. I would love to have a meeting of the LDC if we can work it out.

Thanks for the information on the phones. That is very interesting. We will be arriving in Porto. Do you think there are such stores in that area? My husband travels so much I don't know why he hasn't bought a phone he can use with sim cards but it is mostly when I go with him that we want a phone. You mentioned that they cost from 5 euros with 2.5 euros of air time. About how many minutes is that and I assume that is calls within Portugal. Both incoming and outgoing calls?

As always thanks so much.
Barb

ladylyn915. I received my rental voucher from Ecomomy and they have placed us with Thrifty.
I pulled up the voucher, but cannot find any information where there is a hold or anything about excess from Thrifty. I only have the information from Economy which says there is no excess.

Barb. We used a Portuguese SIM in a phone I brought from the US.
I bought the SIM in a store much like was described by lobo_mau. Not a specific company store, but a store that sold all kinds of phones and SIM cards.
The gentleman at the store said he provided us with the most economical SIM he had and if I remember correctly, the cost was .17E per minute on the weekends(and night time) and .35E per minute during the week. He also unlocked the phone for us. But of course, he sold all kinds of phones.
We did this is Braga, so I am sure Porto will have the same kinds of stores. We could not do it at the Lisbon airport. We asked at several phone stations and they told us to find a store as described.
It was easy.