Portugal Travel Forum

We were allready sure not to rent a car in Portugal,but now we started to think,that maybe for a one day(at Porto).Now I red from Lonely planet book (from year 2005),that Portugese people drive like"grazy" and they have highest number of traffic-deaths in Europe.Is that so?I donīt allways belive Lonely planet books,cause Iīve heard big mistakes on them.My husband allready said,that letīs forget the renting,and go by train.But weīd like to visit Guamaraes,Amarante and Braga(sorry,if I wrote names wrong),so with car we could do it in one day,by train it would be three day-trips.(we will stay all nights in Porto).I think we will deside while we are there,but if someone has some opinions to help us deside,it would be nice.
We will leave at friday,so thereīs no so much time anymore to read VT before .

i have just been cycling 10 days through portugal and i found the traffic ok.
i think the lonely planet info is a little outdated here as it used to be worse.
mainly cause portugal used to have very few restrictions on cars in the past which meant that you had a lot of wrecks driving around causing accidents, but since the late 90īs things have really gone for the better and i was very happy riding my bike on the portugese roads last month.

We read that a few years ago too. But drove anyway with no problems. Just home from New Zealand road trip.....traffic accidents per head of population much higher than Portugal!

Thank you for opinions!!I thought it might be little wrong there.I have seen wrong things told in Lonely planet about Finland also..At this book there was again some things I found hard to belive.Like you should bring sunlotion or tampons with you to Portugal!I donīt belive they donīt sell them there.I do have my favurite sunlotion,so Iīll take it with me(I belive itīs made in Denmark,so maybe not sold at Portugal),but if you donīt want any special brand,there must be many brand sold.
There was many other things sounding funny to me.I never buy those books myself,but my friend had it,so I red it.

As other members have said, you should not have any problems driving in Portugal. There are worse countries in my opinion, like Italy and Spain, but really, you have to drive like a local, not the way you might have done in your own town.

I just returned from Portugal as well ... saw Claus and many other VT'ers. This is my second trip to Portugal.

Yes, traffic as in any large city. Personally if I would not mind driving.
I would rent a car in Porto to see Guimaraes and Braga. From Porto could go to places like Pinhao by car, but they do drive a bit faster up on the hills where the vineyards are - so I just got a taxi to take me there (but took the train from Porto to Pinhao which is a breathtaking ride).

In actuality, I had not planned to visit Pinhao - just Braga and Guimaraes, but after seeing the photos I changed, so then I hired a driver from the hotel to go to Braga and Guimaraes for the same reasons you thought of, it's just too much of a rush to visit both places via public transportation.

If you'd like, take a peek at my Pinhao, Galafura, and Ervedosa do Douro pages - if you're in Porto you may want to take a look.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/m/9e639/

I would not have the car in Porto - there's good transportation, too much traffic, and challenging roads up and down hills and across the river.

As Claus mentioned, guides do exaggerate.

Yes, LP is useful for backpackers but it's always outdated and it has plenty of mistakes. F.ex, once I read at LP that Portugal had been the last dictatorship in Western Europe (before democracy), which it's not true.
Portugal had the highest death rates on road in Western Europe in the 90's. Not anymore, at least according to EU statistics (if they are reliable). Countries like Spain, Ireland or Greece have the same of more death rates than PT.
All the new member countries have now more road deaths as well.

Unfortunately, the increase in accidents is a side effect of an increase in living standards (when people have more cars and are not used to driving consciously), and the new use of motorways. That's what happened in Portugal in the 90's and it's nowadays happening in the new member states.

After a period of terrible accident rates, people here became more aware of the dangers of driving. The policing of roads is nowadays stricter as well (although it's not enough in my opinion).
Other factors are the ongoing crisis that have been lasting for years in Portugal, making many people to sell their cars: less cars, less accidents.
Also, the gov necessity to fulfill the eurozone budget ceiling of 3% pushes the police to look for fines.

However, do not rent-a-car to drive in large cities. It's just not handy. Jams and parking are a nightmare in Porto and Lisbon. I suggest you to rent-a-car in the Algarve, or for driving between Lisbon and the Algarve. Also, the terrain in the north of Portugal is very hilly. It's not a good place for driving, I think. Unless you want to go away to off the beaten path areas and you have no other option.

Thanks for all opinions.We really wouldnīt drive at big citys,only those three from Porto.
We are not going to Algarve at all.
We reall must think what we will do,some of you say itīs not so bad,and others say it is ;)
We have driven anyway at all Baltic-countries(witch are told to be bad at traffic),at Poland(which has been worse if you ask me),at Check Republic,Italy,Slovenia,Slovakia,Germay,Austria,Creece,Spain,Cyprus(witch was strange because driving on the left!).
We have also driven at big citys like Prague,Varsova,Krakov,Granada,München and so on.So after this,I might think,we could go to those three places.But it debends a little about the traintimetables also.
We will check that one place also(sorry,I forgot the name) and your page also.

I was there last September and hired a car and did Braga and Guimaraes in the one day. Driving was no issue at all. I recommend driving up the hill to Sameiro and Bom Jesus, it has a great view of Braga. Trying to find a park was the most difficult part of hiring a car. have fun!

Sameiro is definitely beautiful and worth the drive. From Guimaraes you see all the "vino verde" which are the early wine vines which are planted higher off the ground. The sanctuary itself is wonderful.

Braga and Guimaraes both deserve some time spent. They are easy to reach from Porto by train and the fare at €4,30 for a round trip of about an hour each way, is really not expensive and much cheaper than driving and parking.

You could leave Porto early, go to one place in the morning, take a bus to the other and come back to Porto in the evening. I personally have spent a whole day in each city there is so much to see.

The timetable for buses between Braga and Guimaraes is here

http://www.transdev.pt/bdtweb/line.php?operator=3&line=2

Thanks again!Both opinions seem quite nice now.About renting a car,there was one point,that because we love castles,we might pick some of them on the way.But on the other hand-itīs so easy to not have car.Maybe take a glas of that vinho verde-my husband(who drives at hollidays,I donīt outside Finland) also..Hard to decide!Anyway,we will go those places,Iīm quite sure now!
Our flight leaves tomorrow at 23 0īclock.. :)

Another option would be to see how much the car would cost you, then see if getting a private driver which would be a bit more would be justified.

I stayed at the Sheraton, and driver was from "CleverTours". It was 200 Euro for the day, for me it was worth it. The driver was Paolo or Pablo, very pleasant person. 200 Euro sounds like a lot, but when you consider that you will make the most of the little time you had, don't have to worry about driving, and make the most of the time, it makes sense because you are in fact buying some time and removing stress.

They have "set tours" - but I requested a driver for a day and let him know what I wanted. He added Sameiro, and since there was time left over, he took me for a tour of Porto which was great (I had selected the places where I wanted to go ahead of time).

Clever Tours site is www.clevertours.pt, the general email geral@clevertours.pt.

I hate it when people recommend specific places on the forum and I'm doing the same thing, but this guy was pretty good (not sure if you'll get the same person). The other guy who picked me up from the aiport was from the same company and he was nice too, I think the person who picked me up was the owner.

agh! correction: The person who took me in the tour was the owner, because I waited until the last minute to finalize the tour because I was still weighing my options with the train.

I find that getting to Guimaraes or Braga by train is fine - problem is hooking up with the bus between Guimaraes and Braga, and once in Braga it's a ways to get up to Bom Jesus. I do not know if any buses stop in Sameiro, but this would waste quite a bit of time (finding and waiting for the buses) - and that's what made me book the driver.

Thanks for your comments.I belive we find it too expensive.We are more like budget travellers,try to find the chepest way allways.And we are little wired,we rather be only two of us-of course we could just talk Finnish,and no need to talk with the driver,but it just doesnīt sound like our thing.
Iīll see if I have time to check your pages.This time tomorrow we will be on the air allready!

Other things regarding cars:

I do not want to scare you, I've read over the last years many news in newspapers about carjacking. That has happened mostly in the north of Portugal. I do not live in Oporto, I do not really know how is going on there. I went several times to Oporto (once to Braga 4 years ago) but by train or bus. In this way, it's perfectly ok.
Of course, news are news, so they highlight single situations among lots and lots of cars on the roads, and most of the cars stolen are cars with more powerful engines so as to use them in robberies and run away quickly.

Another thing which tend to be really messy (maybe more in Lisbon than in Oporto) is parking. People tend to park their cars everywhere. The police is out there to put clamps on the cars, but not as frequent as in other European countries. Drivers complain a lot if the police is too strict.
It makes it difficult to drive inside towns, when there are cars parked in "2nd row" or in intersections (blocking the view of coming cars).

The traffic itself is not that bad. Many drivers use "defensive driving" - do not know if this buzz word exists in English - basically driving slowly and slowing down in situations of danger even if the car has the right of way.

But again, the southern regions are the best in Portugal for driving.

About tampons and sun lotion. It's sold here, of course (lol). The brands tend to be the international ones, so they're sold everywhere. Do not know about prices. Should I write a warnings and dangers tip about the false informations in LP guides? Would you do that?

Thanks again.Iīm starting to think we will use the train.It seems that we should use one day at Braga and another in Guimaraes,so we could use train.Maybe we will forget Amarente.I didnīt remember why I had put in on my list.

I was sure those things are sold in Portugal,like these also:extra sunglasses if your sungalsses brake,enought things for your contact lenses and an umbrella..(I belive,if I need one,I will find one in cheap price,no need to be told by LP).I will have no more time to write tips today-actually Iīm here to look last minute timetables and so on.
That parking by the way sounds like in Seville!We saw 4 cars in row,no idea how the first came could leave?We didnīt drive there,I just took photos of those parkings :)

I think that if you figure out the bus from Guimaraes to Braga, you can do it well in a day. Braga is not that big. Main issue is that the main "Braga" attraction is about 7 km. from the center of town (Bom Jesus, a must see) - if you check this forum, I received many replies on buses before I took my trip last month - I would not make it a two day trip. Instead, make Pinhao a day trip - go to the train station and see how much a taxi charges to drive you up to San Leonardo de Galafura. Even if you don't go to Galafura, the ride from Porto to Pinhao is awesome.

When you get to the CPP train site, you need to click on the upper left "Horarios" tab to see the Pinhao trains - you need to buy these tickets at the station, they're about 9 Euro, the ride is about 1-1/2 hours - you'll be glad you went. Here are some of the views:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9e639/461db/

Sorry I have not finished my pages ...

Many inexpensive places to eat along the river in Pinhao, or you can go further on the train - forgot the name, something like Pineda - the girls in my hotel went down and loved it.

O.k.We will think about that.We are more into old buildings,castels,ruins and such.
Right now I have huge problem to decide what to leave off the bags,they are too heavy.How can clothes weights so much!We will leave home in 3 hours.

If it will help, it was mostly hot. Could be a bit cooler in Porto, but a light jacket or cardigan should do. The good part is that you *are* trying to get stuff out ;=)

I am confident you will enjoy your trip - I am wishing to return to Portugal and it has not been a moth since I got back.

We are odd coupple.My husband has taken more clothes than me!I hope he will take something off also,when he comes back from work any minute.