What is the best alternate for driving in Portugal with a rental car from Spain. I am concerned the transponder will not work in Portugal. What is the best way to go with a Spanish license plate for the electronic toll system in Portugal.
Do you buy a toll card or what?
Also does anyone have experience parking at the Lisbon airport and then taking a Taxi or bus to their hotel. Any recommended parking garages at the airport? It looks way cheaper and easier than parking in Lisbon.
This may not be a completely helpful response, but I thought I'd provide it anyway. My experience was over 12 years ago, and we rented in Lisbon and drove into Spain, instead of the other way 'round, and there weren't electronic tolls back then.
Driving out of the Hertz location and out of Lisbon to Sintra and beyond was easy, but we didn't have a car until we were leaving Lisbon. Can your car rental company provide you some information to make you decision easier?
The current system was introduced c 5 years ago. Assuming you're entering Portugal via a main route, there are points where you can pull over and get an easytoll ticket which is linked to a credit card. Portugaltolls.com/en has full details of how the system works.
Are you going to use the motorways? There are alternative A roads for most routes. I have just spent 2 weeks in Portugal and not used the motorways. Therefore, I didn't get a transponder.
Tolls in Portugal
We have recently returned from a trip by car in Spain and Portugal. We rented in Spain (Madrid) and drove into Portugal. We then returned the car in Madrid.
We had read about the toll roads in Portugal and were somewhat concerned. Turns out, it’s very easy.
But you need a credit card with a chip. And, ideally, one that will not charge you foreign transaction fees. With it, you buy a 30 day EASYTOLL that works on all new toll roads. (There is no cost up front. You pay only when you drive on toll roads.)
About a couple of miles or so after we crossed into Portugal (we were on Spain’s A62 which becomes A25 in Portugal) there was an ‘Exit’ clearly marked for ‘all foreign vehicles’. We then saw what looked like a toll station with overhead cameras. There was a toll collection-like machine into which we introduced our credit card. (It had instruction in English and other languages, but you had to do nothing but introduce your credit card.) And, immediately it printed out our EASYTOLL receipt (which included our vehicle license plate number). That’s it. It took less than one minute. Once we crossed back into Spain, we cancelled the EASYTOLL. As I understand it, all major roads from Spain into Portugal have similar EASYTOLL machines.
You need to understand that the EASYTOLL works only on the new toll roads. On the older ones, you need to insert your credit card at the toll booths (or pay with cash). It’s easy to tell the old roads from the new ones since only the old ones have ‘regular’ toll stations. There is nothing but overhead cameras on the new ones. It’s simply an electronic toll that you drive under at regular highway speeds.
There is an alternative that we did not use. It’s probably better, but not as easy to get. You can rent a temporary ‘Via Verde’ Visitor’s Device. It's similar to ‘E-Zpass’ that we use in the East Coast. (It’s a small device, a ‘transponder’, that you place on your vehicle’s windshield. As you approach the toll station, an overhead antenna reads your transponder and charges your account.)
The advantage of the Via Verde device is that you can use it on all toll roads. It works like EASYTOLL on new roads. But, you can use special Via Verde lanes on older highways and drive through without stopping.
More information at:
http://www.portugaltolls.com/
