UBER—do not recommend for Portugal

I had a couple drivers cancel on me last summer in Portugal, too (Lisbon). My guess is that it's because the trips were relatively short (train station to Airbnb, but a long climb uphill with luggage, which is eventually how I got to my destination). I didn't have any trouble getting from the Airbnb to the airport via Uber, though.

I’m kind of confused why you continued to use Uber. Taxis in Portugal have been reliable and relatively inexpensive and recommended by the locals.

@ Margie, as I said, we didn’t really make many attempts to use them. We used them for 3 trips in Sintra. (Tried another time from Monserrate, didn’t get a ride at all) We tried to use UBEr twice in Lisbon. I don’t consider that a lot.

Lisbon was quite busy. We were there a holiday weekend. We gave up on public transportation except for the train to Cascais and Belem. People on the Forum and a Portugal Facebook group had told us they used UBER in Lisbon. We tried them twice. In Lisbon, locals recommended UBER, as well.

Also, I have an UBER app, as opposed to needing a phone number and needing to speak Portuguese to request a taxi and give a location

This was posted to help others plan.

Oh jules m, that sounds so frustrating. I saw something similar when I arrived at the Lisbon Airport last October. Surge pricing was clearly in operation and frustrated travelers were standing around waiting for their rides. I suppose any location will buckle under a load.

I was glad I had researched the metro from the Lisbon airport and opted for that, which was straightforward and not crowded. But Uber is so handy, usually.

I'm headed to Portugal in a few weeks. Thank you so much for posting this. I'd read another post recently by someone having trouble with Uber drivers cancelling in Sinta. Your post communicates the same thing happened to you.

Elizabeth, I’m happy it’s helpful. BTW, I was the one that posted Sintra, as well. I could t decide if I should update that Sintra post, or start new. I do so much research to avoid hiccups like these, but they do happen. And in Sintra, the result was to have a really fun time with some amazing folks from Peru.

@CWSocial, I thought that the metro from the airport couldn’t have been easier! We always take public transportation to and from airports. The trip to the Lisbon airport was the first time we’ve used private transportation to the airport., in Europe, ever. We used it because of Lisbon’s hills and cobblestones and the 7 bottles of wine in our suitcases from wine tasting in Douro and Evora. I overheard my husband talking to the kids, “Because of all mom’s wine and olive oil”. So I was the problem;) That’s always about it for my travel souvenirs—wine and food.

Uber was banned in Portugal for a time. It appears Bolt and Taxify are common rideshare apps. Blablacar is also around, but more a car sharing that means you will have others sharing your ride.
I also read that UBER early morning rides don't get picked up as the drivers have their routines they may not want to break. Here in Ottawa, I pre-arrange taxi pickups, rather than Uber pickups for anything before 0700 hrs. Knowing how late Portuguese stay up and how dead Lisbon can be even at 0800, I wouldn't rely on ride share for any crucial pick ups before 1000.
I just mention these for other readers.

Hey, if wine and olive oil souvenirs are "the problem," then I'm taking Uber too!!

I overheard my husband talking to the kids, “Because of all mom’s wine and olive oil”.

Well it's nice to know he won't be consuming any of your wine or olive oil ! (But especially wine)

We used Uber in both Porto and Lisbon, and had no major problems or cancelations. Once or twice the driver took a wrong turn on the way to pick us up but it didn't really affect our schedule too much. One day we used Uber to get from Lisbon to Pena Palace door to door, and then from the Moorish Castle to a lunch spot close to the Cape, then from lunch to the Cape and finally from the Cape back to Lisbon. No cancellations, and the longest we waited was 15 minutes. Sorry to hear your experience was not as good.

Also, Uber in Portugal was much cheaper than it is at home! My understanding is that Bolt is a bit cheaper than Uber.

I can understand Sintra being an issue, probably for both uber and taxis (just being able to move in the horrible traffic is an issue), but I'm a bit surprised about Lisbon to the airport.

I've only ever used uber once and that was actually in Lisbon for a ride to the airport. It was too early to take the Metro (my favorite mode of transportation in Lisbon). We pre-booked it the night before and had no issue. It was surge pricing though, but even then, it was cheap. But our backup plan in case it didn't come, was a taxi.

From what we could see, UBER prices are much lower than a taxi.

My husband just reminded me that we took a taxi in Evora to get to the bus station. There again, the staff at our B&B strongly encouraged taxi over UBER.

Jules, sorry to hear about your experiences. I’m wondering if being in very touristy areas was part of the problem. And, I’ve been hearing the tourist surge this spring has been very unusual. For whatever the reason, sorry for your problems.

That said, I’ve mentioned Bolt a number of times on this forum and wonder if it would be better. As I don’t have a car, I use both Uber and Bolt semi regularly and rarely have cancellations. When I do, it’s for short trips.
I would suggest everyone try Bolt but also have the local taxi number, just in case.
And, this also suggests to me a group tour to Sintra might be a solution to the Sintra mess. I know it’s a great draw, but those of us who live here, don’t go there!

I have used Uber multiple times in my prior 3 visits and only had a problem last June. I agree with Kathyrn (as I always do) that a surge in tourists may have been the cause of my problems.

Taxis (when not at Arrivals at the airport) are cheap and available as a backup, bust sometimes require cash.
After further consultation with Kathryn, I will be adding Bolt to my phone.

My logic is I will be bringing 2 CC's just in case one does not work. Why not 2 ride apps?

Dennis

I just want to make clear, we enjoyed Portugal very much. All the information I got on the forum and a Portugal facebook page helped us to plan our itinerary make the best use of our time. I just provide information that may be helpful to others.

We were all over Portugal visiting cities of all sizes. Other than issues with our rental car procurement, driving in Portugal was extremely easy except for our very minor problems parking in Braga.

I can't even narrow down to a few favorite cities. Nazare, Tomar, Piodao, Douro River, Braga, Guimaraes, Sintra, Porto, San Martinho, Casa Insua all charming and spectacular. All our accommodations were close to perfect. I can't recommend Na Travessa in Porto enough. They were so helpful with trip planning and tips for best handling sightseeing in Porto minimizing steps and hills.

And, yes, Sintra. Loved Pena and Monserrate. We also enjoyed Regaileria, and the Moorish Palace. My husband enjoyed the National Palace tho I was less enamored with it. We had so many tips on how to manage Sintra that I would say we did quite well. I had been told that the buses were more trouble than they were worth, but my recommendation would be to use the buses for Monserrate, going to and from city center or Regaleira. We did Regaleira and National the first, partial day and Pena, Moorish and Monserrate the second. If I had to do over, we'd do Regaleira and Monserrate the first day and Pena, Moorish and National the 2nd.

The train strike did cause us a few issues. Mostly that bus terminals were not as convenient to our accommodations as the train stations were.

Lisbon definitely was problematic. First, its busier than ever. Second, we realized we were there not only on a weekend, but a holiday weekend. We had looked forward to Cascais and went on a Monday (Since Belem is "closed" Mondays) and Cascais was busy with tourists and vacationing locals. Public transportation in Lisbon was swamped so we were trying to cope on the fly.

We did the best we could with Belem and we did very much enjoy the monastery. The cloister is pretty spectacular.

In regards to UBER, I think we had super bad luck in Lisbon. The driver was inexperienced. I also think she was texting on some other matters because I received messages that clearly were not meant for me. In Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, Evora, the hotel staff indicated that UBER (and BOLT) was problematic. I should have switched to BOLT, but after Sintra I didn't think we'd use anything but public transportation (and a rental car)

Lastly, to comment on Dennis' post. We did have minor issues with credit cards. We have between us 2 mastercards, 1 VISA (each with separate accounts) and we each have an AMEX. AMEX was accepted more in Portugal than anywhere we've been in Europe. I can't speak to that. We often had a card that simply wouldn't go through for whatever reason. Our VISA would get a block after every gas or FLIX transaction. Every card had been notified of our vacation status. VISA said they were working on new fraud control measures and suspected we were caught in that. We had no problems with ATMs. We always watched for Multibanco. So, to Dennis' comment, my recommendation would be to have multiple credit cards, preferable at leaset one of Mastercard, VISA and AMEX.

Do you plan on doing a trip report. I'd love to read it. Glad you enjoyed the sites :) When my husband and I rented a car and drove around, we fell in love with Portugal. We were lucky in that the couple of trips we made in Spring and Summer were during the covid years, so tourist numbers were low.

From what we could see, UBER prices are much lower than a taxi.

Yes, but if you can't ever get Uber to actually pick you up, that is immaterial ! The price is a fiction anyway!

We used Uber and Bolt during our recent trip to Porto and Lisbon and were lucky to never have a cancellation, either for local rides or to/from airports and train terminals.

And every driver except one spoke passable to good Englisn.

Maybe we were just lucky.