Hi lovely people,
I need your help .... this is my first solo trip and I'll be arriving in Lisbon at the end of March. My plan is to head down to the Algarve via bus or train (no rental car) and will be exploring the area for 4 days. I'll stay either in Salema, Lagos or Tavira. Which of these would you recommend for a female solo traveler?
I'm a RS fan and he highly recommends Salema.
Since my flight arrives in the evening after 7pm , it looks like there are no buses or trains that leave in the evening.
Could anyone recommend a place or area in Lisbon to stay that is safe and easy to get from the airport and then easy to get to a train or bus station from there ?
Thank you in advance for the help.
Posted by
1 posts
I will be watching this thread!
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1826 posts
I see a couple of significant problems with your current plan.
The Algarve without a car is not very doable. There are buses but they are infrequent. It might be possible if you stay in Lagos but I wouldn’t go to the Algarve without renting a car.
I realize RS loves Salema but I encourage you to do a search on this forum to see what a number of us regular contributors think. The one time I visited Salema was in March and it wasn’t worth driving the distance from the main highway! There was virtually nothing open of the very few establishments. Without a car, you would have a nice small beach but really nothing else! I didn’t see one restaurant open in the brief time I spent there.
Any place you would stay in Lisbon - or Portugal in general is safe for a solo female. Portugal regularly ranks in the top few safest countries in the world. You could easily stay in the Oriente area for that one night. It’s close to the airport and you can catch the train to the Algarve easily from the Oriente station. You could also stay in the Baixa area and see a bit more of Lisbon. You would then be close to Santa Apolonia train station where you can catch the train the next morning. The airport is very close to town in Lisbon.
Posted by
OP
Vancouver
16 posts
Wow, thank you for your reply.
I want to see some of the Algarve before I join the RS Portugal tour. When I get back, I'll give an update on whether I was or wasn't able to explore some of the Algarve.