jpie

We are going to be doing a driving trip from France to Portugal next spring in late March and all of April, and after getting feedback here about driving into Lisbon we have decided to base outside Lisbon for 4-5 nights to visit the outlying region, and then take a commuter train into Lisbon and stay 2-3 nights in the city without the car. We have initially been thinking about staying in the Cascais or Estoril area. Are there other nice places to use as a base there that we should consider? We generally rent apartments but are also open to hotels.

Also, does anyone know if the train station at Cascais has any kind of overnight parking that would work for 2-3 nights? And finally, since it looks like the train goes to the Cais do Sodre station, is that a nice area of Lisbon to consider staying in or would it be better to take a taxi or other transport from there and rent a place closer to the Rossio - Lisboa area. Where ever we stay in Lisbon and choose as our base outside the city, we would prefer for it not to have too much incline even though I am aware much of the city and surrounding area is hilly.

Thanks for the help!

Maribel

jpie,
I really like Cascais and could happily spend several nights there. We've often thought about using it as a base but haven't yet. There are apartment rentals and B&Bs, and I think you'll find more offerings there than in Estoril. The two are quite close; you can walk from one to the other on the pretty seaside promenade. And Cascais won't be crowded then.

The area around the Cais de Sodré has been considerably gentrified with the arrival of the Time Out market, new restaurants and bars.
I would move to the EAST of the station, though, towards the huge Praça do Comércio, Lisbon's main square on the water. There have been several fairly recent hotel openings there.
When we were last in Lisbon I checked out the Corpo Santo, the AlmaLusa and the Pousada, all which I liked very much, but they may or may not fit your budget.
I especially liked the "tucked away", quiet location of the AlmaLusa on an attractive square, away from the tourist tsunami that flows daily from the cruise port into the Praça do Comércio.

To the north of the Praça do Comércio, in the pedestrianized, flat area of the Baixa leading up to Rossio, you have the Brown's Boutique and the Brown's Central, which get solid reviews (friends have stayed there) and are moderately priced. Further on north, across from the Elevador de Santa Justa, there's the newish 4-star Hotel Santa Justa Lisboa, which is also quite nice, although in a very busy area (but no inclines!).
And probably new apartments/suites, which I didn't look at. That area is undergoing a huge amount of construction, lots of new lodging going up. *Lisbon seems to be in building frenzy these days.

Friends just stayed at O Artista Suites but they're further up towards Rossio.
You*might look at the Baixa hotel/apartment list at LisbonLux.
https://www.lisbonlux.com/lisbon-hotels/**
And then check their guest ratings/reviews on Booking.

Just some ideas for you to consider.

About parking at the Cascais commuter station: There's an Empark there.
https://www.empark.com/pt/pt/aparcam...go-da-estacao/

jpie

Thanks Maribel for the wealth of info! I will definitely look at the properties you mentioned-I actually already had the O Artista Suites on my favorites list if we decide to stay up near Rossio. I will look further at the Cais de Sodré area as well-I have read about the neighborhood within the context of the Time Out Market but have not really investigated too much more deeply than that.

And thanks also for the parking info-that is extremely helpful as well.

Maribel

jpie,
We tend to stay in smaller properties, and I first search through the offerings of i-escape (and their reviews) and secretplaces for ideas.
i-escape has Brown's Central, Baixa House and the Lisboans Apartments on their list for the Baixa section of Lisbon, the last two being self-catering.

For Cascais I have the Pergola House (very traditional), the Casa Vela and The Charm of Cascais on my list for a Cascais stay someday and also Ocean Center Apartments.

jpie

Thanks Maribel-I will check those out! Also have you actually ever seen or used the empark in Cascais commuter station? It is hard to tell from the site whether it is underground-but I am assuming so since it indicates an elevator? And also I assume they let you leave the car there overnight 3-4 days in a row? Since it shows that it functions 24 hours I am guessing that overnight parking is okay?

scrb11

How long does the commuter train take to get into Lisbon?

Maribel

scrb11.
It's a 40-minute ride.

jpie,
I haven't used it, but since it's open 24 hrs./day you should be able to leave your car there overnight for multiple days.

HappyTrvlr

jpie

@ HappyTrvlr-Thanks for the feedback. We are going to split our time between Cascais and Lisbon, but will leave the car parked in Cascais while we are in Lisbon, and the number of nights in each place right now is just kind of an estimate. We can really take as much time as we want in each place-it will just sort of depend on what kind of places we find to stay and what else we decide to see around the region. So if we love Lisbon we will stay on. I also have to see how I do with the inclines in the city-but I am very willing to use taxis etc. when needed. Since it is a road trip we are going to try as much as we can to leave many of the nights open, and hopefully in late March we will still have the ability to flex a bit on lodging.

@ Maribel: thanks-I am thinking you are right since it does say that it is open 24 hours. Since we will probably rent a place in Cascais for a number of nights I will probably go sleuth out the parking at the station then so that if I do end up needing a plan B I can figure something out.

Wombat47

Hi there I have really enjoyed your questions and posts. We are also going to those areas in April/ May 2020. is there a way I can link in to get all of the questions and answers you have had regarding this area. Also do you have a specific company you use for rental cars?
We are thinking of flying into Porto travelling down to Lisbon - or there abouts. Train out to Sintra and then leave the rental near the Spanish border and train to where the ferry leaves for Tangiers. The only part we have booked is the 18th April from Casablanca for 8 days then back to Spain.
Looking at Seville, Granada and then on to Barcelona.


Thanks in advance Jeanette

jpie

Hi Wombat47/Jeanette-feel free to private message me. Just click on my name and there is a function to do that. I am collecting lots of info on possible rentals etc. and am happy to share or answer questions that I can. We did some extensive planning last year and a week before leaving my husband had a last minute health issue come up-not too serious thank goodness but we needed to delay that trip. We were in Portugal 40 years ago but not since.

I see from your profile that you are coming from New Zealand-We are dual US and French nationals so we tend to stay in Europe 3-6 months at a stretch so the best rental car program for us is to use what is called the Peugeot Open Europe plan. It is actually a car lease plan. You can only use it if your main residency is outside the EU or French overseas departments. Here is a rundown of the main rules;

• Your main residence is outside the European Union or in the French overseas departments and territories?
• You will be staying less than 175 days over a period of twelve consecutive months in a European Union member country?
• You are not engaged in any remunerated activity in a European Union member country?

We use Autofrance.net to set up the lease. You have to lease a minimum of 18 days but really it only makes sense over renting if you are staying over 2-3 months. We love the program because you can specify the exact model you want, automatic or manual transmission. It is a brand new car-usually with only 20kms on it or so and note that they don't give you hardly any gas-so you want to return it empty. Although there is a charge to pickup or drop off the car outside of France it is much less than for a rental and the pricing includes full insurance and allows your spouse or immediate family to drive the car without an additional fee. One year they even came to our house in a seaside village in France to repair a chipped windshield. It isn't a program for everyone-but it works for us.

Here is the website of the program we use:
https://www.autofrance.net/

There are others from Renault and Citroen but we have found the Peugeot one a bit cheaper and now are just kind of more used to the Peugeot. Here are some of the links for the others:

We have used these guys too

https://www.ideamerge.com/car-lease-...ee-france.html

And here are links to the car maker sites for the programs

https://www.citroen-europass.com/

https://www.renaultusa.com/index.asp

Feel free again to contact me directly about the programs-they seem complicated but are pretty easy use once you understand the details.

In terms of seeing my questions etc., just click on my name and that should pull up my questions and also threads I have posted on. Since we base in France at our family home north of Bordeaux we have done lots of driving trips down through Spain to Sevilla Granada Cordoba Barcelona etc. so feel free to private message me. Also one thing you might think of doing your trip south to north if that works for you since in April north still need to warm up a bit if that matters to you.

Fodorite018

We split our time and stayed in Lisbon as well as Cascais. Loved both, and were very happy with staying in both areas, FWIW. We did not rent a car so I can't help with any of that.

MoBro

We stayed 5 nights in Lisbon, and LOVED the Hotel Avenida Palace. You can't find a better located and more elegant hotel. Prices were not ridiculous, given it's Portugal and a few years ago. I think for their standard double room, it was about $225, including their fabulous breakfast buffet.

This hotel staff will take care of you. Best to reserve directly and contact them with questions. We arrived at 9:30a.m., and I'd let them know we'd be arriving early. Our room was ready! What a treat.

http://www.hotelavenidapalace.pt

We day-tripped by train to Cascais, on two different days, because we liked it there. Very cute little place. The second trip, we got off the train at Estoril, ate fresh seafood at a tiny place on the beach, investigated Estoril, then walked the short distance to Cascais from there.
We admired this hotel in Cascais, where we had a nice lunch on the patio overlooking the water. I imagine it's very expensive:
https://www.thealbatrozcollection.com/albatrozhotel/

We loved Portgugal. Enjoy planning your trip.

jpie

Thanks for the hotel suggestions we will definitely put them on the list!

scrb11

Yeah that Cascais seaside hotel starts at 220 Euros a night and that's a room without sea view.

Is there much to do out there other than to go for walks along the coast?

Aren't the coastal attractions actually in Sintra, not Cascais?

MoBro

jpie

First of all a big thanks to those of you who have helped so much our up-coming driving trip through Spain and Portugal next April! I just wanted to update this thread a bit and will be posting a new thread about planning for the areas north of Lisbon and Porto.

It looks like our whole trip will end up being around 35 nights round trip from our house in France north of Bordeaux leaving March 21st and getting back April 25th. But about 10 of those nights are basically the time it takes just to do the driving to get to Spain/Portugal versus some of the more prolonged stays in various places. We will also be "touristing" along the way of course, but some of the places where we spend the night wouldn't normally be destination visits-just the necessity of driving.

We have locked in our dates for Lisbon at least and have booked with O Artista Boutique Suites in Lisbon. It is good thing we decided to book early because that property is completely full for the whole month for both April and May! So we are going to stay there the last week of March which was as late as we could book there. That impacted our dates and driving itinerary a bit but since we are pretty flexible on the trip we decided to book there and plan around those nights. We will still be spending some nights in Cascais but I haven't really decided where yet-I will take a look today for properties there. In terms of parking near Lisbon and I think we decided that instead of taking the train in from Cascais we will leave the car at an Empark near the cruise terminal area: Parque Terminal de Cruzeiros Lisboa Avenida Infante Dom Henrique 1100-366 Lisboa. It is an underground lot with video surveillance. I am hoping getting a space won't be a problem in March but I have a "back up parking lot picked out just in case Even though I don't want to drive into Lisbon, it looks like if you just drive the N6 into that area along the water and the road is all flat and looks like it should be a pretty drive!

On to planning for north of Lisbon and Porto!