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private driver(s) for Portugal

Hello Fellow Travelers,

Will be in Lisbon area this September and am considering hiring a local driver(s) to take us around some of the outlying areas we want to visit from Cascais, Tomar, and around Evora. I checked into MyDayTrip.com and think it is very overpriced! Has anyone found a driver(s) they liked and could reccomend not via Uber or any commercial service? We would be very happy to pay someone to drive us around and then leave us for pick up later-allowing them to take other fares while waiting for us to finish our sightseeing/lunching/whatever. Monthly income for the Portuguese is such that we would rather our driver(s) got paid directly through us rather than having to pay a fee to get the fare. We will be in Portugal for a total of 12 days plus flying and will need driver(s) for probably 8 days...someone who enjoys 2 chatty gals who are very spontaneous and gregarious. Lunch for the driver included!

Posted by
62 posts

We used 'Taking U There' company for a day tour, we had Paulo as our guide. Would highly recommend! This was in 2017, looks like the website is still active, send them an email and let them know where and what you want to do and I'm sure they would work with you. Overall we found Portugal very reasonably priced with everything, including the day tour we did, of course 2022 may be very different. Happy travels!!

Posted by
2622 posts

We used Lisbon Riders for three long day trips. They are awesome. We met three of their six driver/guides as we did so many tours. You can’t go wrong with them. Their prices are very fair - about 250 Euros for a private van and a day of driving you around. https://lisbonriders.com/

I sent you a private message as well.

Posted by
184 posts

Second the recommended Lisbon Riders. Used them yesterday on Sentra/Cascais day trip.

Posted by
28 posts

Consider renting a car. We spent 6 days in Lisbon/Sintra, then rented car for a week and drove to Evora, Coimbra, Duoro (and Quintas), Porto, Nazare and back to Lisbon. Dropped off car and stayed walking distance for airport for early flight. Nothing really farther than 2 hours apart, leisure to go at our own pace and very easy to drive there as virtually no traffic on roads. But, note most cars are a stick, so ...

BTW can easily take metro/train Cascais and Sintra (40 minutes). I wouldn't go back to Evora, but Tomar was wonderful and Alcoboca and Batalha monasteries were fabulous. Each about 30 minutes from Nazare. Price was $550 with all included insurance (car was scraped on side and no problem); gas about $35 a tank and used 3 tanks; tolls about $40.

Posted by
31 posts

We have used the same service on 2 trips to Portugal: Lisboa Panorama Tours. http://www.lisboapanoramatours.pt
On our second trip, we went from Lisbon to Porto with many stops in between, over a 3 week period. Federico drove us from hotel to hotel, making the sightseeing/eating stops along the way. On our way to Coimbra, we wanted to eat a picnic lunch at Conimbriga. Federico picked us up at our hotel in Tomar, on time, smiling and happy as always, drove us to Conimbriga, and waited in the parking lot while we had a picnic, saw the ruins, and went through the museum. Then he delivered us to our hotel door.
Using a private driver is the only way to travel in Portugal, as far as I'm concerned. A nice Mercedes with cold water that goes anywhere you want and waits for you. And yes, it was nice to support a local business person that clearly has passion for his work. We feel fortunate that we were able to make a local connection like that.
Don't miss the Stone Soup in Almeirim.