We're taking our first trip to Portugal in early March with a of couple days in Lisbon at beginning and end, and 6 days in the Algarve. We're not renting a car, prefer to get around with locals if possible. We know we can take a public bus to get from Lisbon to Lagos but I'm wondering if there might be a guided day-trip transport that might give us some info and maybe a stop at one or two places along the way, just so we can see a little more in transit. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1817 posts
You can easily find transport from Lisbon to the Algarve but not a day trip. It’s too far for a day trip.
Btw - the Algarve is quite challenging without a car. The bus service is sketchy and infrequent. Renting a car once down there would be easy and likely pretty cheap that time of the year. The driving is easy and it would really free you up in that part of the country.
Posted by
MD
639 posts
kathrynj, Bolt and Uber are pretty easily available from what I've read. Is that not correct in your experience? I really don't want to rent a car for my trip to the Algarve next month.
debc, I'm taking a train from Lisbon to Lagos. I also like the idea of being able to stop along the way, but can't justify to myself the cost of a private driver. If it fits your budget though, it sounds like a lovely idea! I follow a Facebook group on Portugal travel and they often have recommendations for private drivers and/or private tours. Maybe you could check that out?
Posted by
USA
134 posts
KRS,
Bolt is easily available and quite cheap by US standards within city limits
For Intercity transfers with stops, something like Fernando Batista from PortugeseCauffeur is a good economic and efficient alternative.
Posted by
12 posts
I agree that having a car in Algarve is much preferred. We just came back and we drove all around down there. I am not sure what your hesitation is but the roads are excellent, well marked, not crowded at all, drivers are sane, it was all very good. If you have GPS you will be just fine. There are a lot of tolls on the highways so if you decide to rent make sure you have the EZPass type device in your vehicle. We had reserved with Sixt but they cancelled our reservation because we were two hours late picking up, 30 minutes of which was in their line. Upon return I read many TripAdvisor reviews that convinced me that Sixt would be a terrible place to rent from anyways. We ended up renting with Ace Car Rental and that worked out very nicely, especially since we returned the car the afternoon before our flight, I would not have wanted to do that the morning of, since they are offsite a fair distance. Whatever you do, don't go with Sixt in Lisbon.