Finally finishing up a few tasks for our trip to Portugal. We fly in to Lisbon and will spend several days there. We then want to rent a car for a little over a week and eventually drop it off in Porto. I see many people rent from the Lisbon airport and drop it off at the Porto airport. What are the pros and cons of renting and dropping at airports versus locations close to our hotels in these two cities?

Airports typically have a larger selection of cars so you might even get the car you want, e.g., automatic vs. manual transmission, convertible, gas vs. diesel, etc.

Airport pickup and drop offs often come with an airport fee where a local office probably won’t have that although some may have a railroad office fee if located at the train station.

In general terms, we found extended opening hours at airport locations. Particularly useful over weekends. Also traffic, roads, directions can be easier to navigate from or to an airport. From my memory of Lisbon, I would not want to drive in the city area.

Have done that trip several times. Very easy and limited traffic from Lisbon to Porto Airport. Stop for lunch in Tomar. Uber from the airport to Porto midtown. There was never a high fee on the pick/up..drop/off fee.

I picked up in the city of Lisbon (not the airport) and dropped off in Porto (not the airport).

As others note, you are less likely to get an automatic car at a location other than an airport. Not an issue for me, as I prefer standard! And there can be challenges driving into / out of cities, so I always research the locations to make sure I have little city driving. For me, the savings in time are worth it; obviously, not everyone feels that way!

Both airports are easy to drive too. Lisbon and Porto are a nightmare to drive in if you do not know the city. The streets are narrow, drivers dont any prisioners. The chances of you getting lost, or even worse stuck in traffic for hours is very high.
Lisbon airport is in the north circular, the streets are wide and parking is ample.
Porto is further out of the city than Lisbon airport, but again driving is easy to navigate, parking is easier and making mistakes are easy to fix.

Both cities are on the metro so if you need to go to your hotel, transport is very very simple.
Having lived in Portugal since 2011 I would not advise to drive in Lisbon or Porto, if you are new to Portugal.

crob08940 - thanks for the info.