# trip to portugal advice needed



## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi
we are new to motorhoming and have decided to go to southern portugal
at the beginning of feb.
we would like to take a leasurely trip down there
but wandered what the weather is likely to be like and .what the best route to take.
we are in the south of England near Heathrow airport and wondered what the best ferry to take is likely to be.

we have not joined any clubs yet so advice on that would also be appreciated 

IN FACT ANY ADVICE FOR US NOVICES

BARRY


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## bigles (May 26, 2008)

Hi Barry - have a look at our blog http://jeanandlesm.blogspot.co.uk/

If you click on the January 2013 on the right hand side you will see our trip down to Portugal - and the rest of Europe if it's of interest to you!

I'm sure others will add advice and comments for you.

We had a fabulous time and met some lovely people, however I get the impression that the police are becoming stricter in the Algarve so free parking can be a little difficult.

Happy travels!


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

I offer here the best advice I know from practical experience.

Step one: Subscribe to MHF where the resource base is capable of answering almost every question. Not in a week or months time, but usually on the same day.

Step two: Decide how much you are willing to pay for a crossing and how much time you have to take a leisurely drive to Portugal

Step three; Do you wish to use motorways?

Step four: My route would include Bordeaux, Burgos, Caceres, Badajoz. but that may not be the best route. Some people prefer Zaragoza, Valencia, Seville.

Enjoy all

Alan


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## jeffro (Jan 13, 2009)

*portugal*

We are going at the start of feb from Folkestone we have booked a site which is quiet cheap in portugal .for a month just going to treat it as a adventure and see what happens ,Jeff


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

*trip to portugal*

hi jeff

we have friends that stay at parque de campismode, armcao de pera
so want to end up there for a month or 2. the site is pretty cheap as well
and we have stayed at a hotel near by early this year

have retired early through health so am exited to just get away and just take it easy.
dont really want to go down the motorways as i think it will defeat the object of having a motorhome

dont know which ferry to take but am open to suggestions as to route ect

barry


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## jeffro (Jan 13, 2009)

*portgal*

Hi Barry We are off to benidorm at the end of December and are booked in at a campsite There until the beginning of fed then we are driving to Olhao in Portugal .We also have taken early retirement and try to avoid motorways. We did drive to Portugal about 5 years ago about the same time in jan and had several days of rain but generally it was pretty good . Think there is gonna be a lot of snowbirds this year ! Jeff


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## wasfitonce (Apr 27, 2009)

*Portugal trip*

Buy "Camperstop" which will give you thousands of "aires" all over Europe and of course Portugal plus loads of places you can stay on the way to Portugal.

Take your time and spend time looking around on your journey, use the trip as part of your holiday.

WASFITONCE


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## SNandJA (Aug 22, 2008)

If you use the motorway in the Algarve then you need to visit the website
Portugal Tolls
There are various methods of paying the fees, the easiest perhaps is to visit a Post Office and buy a 20 Euro card perhaps. There are no toll booths on some motorways, and they use number plate recognition. The toll card is activated via mobile phone but the website will keep your account use. It is really slow to update your use! You can cross the Algarve with non-toll roads which we did mostly.
On the way to your long stay try Ria Formosa Camping at Cabanas which has easy/cheap train ride to Tavira which has an interesting camera Obscura to look over its Roman Bridge and other sights. Olhao also on your way is a good place to stop and has a good campsite. From here there are trips to the various islands that form the interesting natural Parque Ria Formosa, boat trips can be made. We hired a motorboat with guide/skipper for a day visiting the lighthouse the islands and the wildlife on the salt pans. Alvor and Carveiro also worth a visit and 3 Euro aire near the beach at Alvor. We spent late October on Algarve.
Interesting way in is via ferry to Santander, Tordesillas where the Spanish and Portuguese split the Atlantic colonies in a treaty. We went west via Duoro valley Porto, Lisbon to Algarve and returned via Mertola, Evora with a wealth of Roman remains, Elvas, Caceras and Tordesillas to Bilbao (Gugenheim museum). Bilbao ferry back to Portsmouth.
Duoro valley is spectacular...

Steve


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

A couple of years ago we hired a villa with the kids down in Estoi, just north of Faro. When we left (mid-April) we travelled up the eastern border of Portugal, via Mertola and Moura and eventually on to Caceres in Spain.

The wild-flower meadows in Portugal were absolutely stunning - whole seas of yellows, whites, blues and pinks. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, you'd drive round a bend and .... Wow!!


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

We spend months each year in Alentejo, about 4 hours north of Algarve. If the weather is good, we amble about on the journey, especially in France, but in the winter (when France and Spain can be very cold, and few camp sites open in France), we have found the best route to be:

Calais to Rouen, then past Chartres, Poitiers, Angouleme, Bordeaux to Urrugne on the border.

Then on past Burgos to Salamanca, past Caceres to Badajoz, crossing border to Portugal at Elvas.

All the autovia through Spain is free, very uncrowded, and makes for simple travel. We use free motorways in France, N roads otherwise, but we do choose to pay some tolls to save time and fuel, e.g. around Tours ( a real pain otherwise), the A63 from Bordeaux to Urrugne ( two tolls of €5ish each), from Urrugne across the French/Spanish border, (about €7). No more tolls until Elvas, but you really are better off on the non-toll road anyway, you get to see the magnificent aqueduct in Elvas!

The electronic toll roads in Portugal are a pain, you need to hire a transponder to use them, and are better avoided, in our opinion.

From there, without tolls, it is a 4 hour run via Beja to Faro. Or you could take some time to see some of the great places in Alto Alentejo, such as Marvao, Evora, and the many wonderful lakes in the area.

If you want any advice on camp sites open all year on this route, let us know.

Have fun, whatever you decide.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

*portugal*

hi easyriders

thanks for the info

we have been up to the the man made lake about 2 hours drive from armecoa de pera lovely views driving into the mountains

cannot make up my mind which way to get the ferry as i think the first time i just want to take things easy and try to avoid cities and traffic
would the snow be a worry in feb

barry


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## SNandJA (Aug 22, 2008)

Easyriders said:


> The electronic toll roads in Portugal are a pain, you need to hire a transponder to use them, and are better avoided, in our opinion.
> 
> From there, without tolls, it is a 4 hour run via Beja to Faro. Or you could take some time to see some of the great places in Alto Alentejo, such as Marvao, Evora, and the many wonderful lakes in the area.
> 
> Have fun, whatever you decide.


Can be used without transponder but you need to either go in at one of a very few designated entry points or get to a post office for a "Tollcard" see link on my previous post to Portugal Tolls website. It isn't very user friendly but we bought a Tollcard in a post office (CTT) and activated via mobile phone and it worked OK. Updates of usuage is way behind so it is worth totting up the tolls as you pass the info boards! You can have more than one Tollcard and activate it as and when. Tolls fairly expensive and the Portuguese don't use them because of this issue.

Steve


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## peaky (Jul 15, 2009)

Im here at Silves at the moment, Its full up at the "free wild spot " and also the aire down the road where we are staying, its been very busy the last week and there was only 5 free spaces per night on average, its been full today and vans have had to go elsewhere.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

> peaky"]Im here at Silves at the moment, Its full up at the "free wild spot " and also the aire down the road where we are staying, its been very busy the last week and there was only 5 free spaces per night on average, its been full today and vans have had to go elsewhere.


Hi Dee and Tina.

We will be in Portugal in the New Year, was going to Morocco but my mate is struggling to get insurance as his van insurance won't take on non EU... You like Silves don't you..:lol:

OP, when we came into Portugal from Southern Spain last year we were diverted to a toll machine signed "Foreigners" that took your credit card, and a camera read our number plate, it took about 80 cents off our card and gave us a printout with our Reg on so the tolls would be taken off the card we had registered... Very useful meaning you didn't need to bother with go boxes, it lasted for three weeks from registration..

We don't ever bother with toll roads same as the Portuguese truckers, you expect to see tumble weed blowing across the motorways, the traffic is so light, the big non motorway roads are just as good but slower, but you do get to see Portugal as you go through villages and towns instead of tarmac for miles on end..

If you do use motorways be safe and factor in extra expense as the tolls can be expensive on some parts of the system in Portugal

ray


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi Ray.
I will be driving from Madrid to Albufeira on December 15th. and staying in southern Portugal 4 weeks.
Is it practical to set the sat nav to avoid all tolls or register for charges?
I hear the fines are considerable.

Ray.


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

Our route and our stay of 9 weeks at Gale, Portugal are given on our blog as linked below


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## TheNomad (Aug 12, 2013)

1302- something wrong. ....your post appears twice and there is no link showing.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

> raynipper"]Hi Ray.
> I will be driving from Madrid to Albufeira on December 15th. and staying in southern Portugal 4 weeks.
> Is it practical to set the sat nav to avoid all tolls or register for charges?
> I hear the fines are considerable.
> ...


Absolutely, we did 22 countries over a year including Portugal all non tolls all big normal roads, (well not Albania and Montenegro), if you go into Portugal from Southern Spain it should take you to the sign in various languages saying "Foreigners lane", just follow it to the machine put your card in and you will be registered for tolls when you get your printed receipt with your registration on it.. You then have the choice of turning off the toll road before you go on it to the non toll road system..

As for the fines my mate who lives in North Portugal in NV Cerveira says the Spanish just come over use the toll roads and drive through the Verdigre lane without paying, he says ignore tolls and he is Portuguese 8O ..

Me I am not that brave, I avoid toll roads. :lol:

ray.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Thanks Ray.
I'm not that brave or rich to end up paying up to €200 in fines either.
I will register.

Thanks.
Ray.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Ray,

We found on our trip last year that there are two types of toll road..

The electronic payment one Ray mentions that deducts money from your card as you pass under number plate recognition gantries with no need to stop after the initial match of credit card to registration number. 

.... and the other manned type where you have to take a ticket on entry and then have to pay at the booth on exit, these are signposted 'Portagem' on the approach.

We're off again next year and shall avoid them all this time around. :wink:


Pete.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

We're doing a similar trip to the OP, our first trip to Portugal.
Will be catching the Eurotunnel just before Christmas and driving down France and crossing into Spain on the A63 in the south west.
I did all the route planning on Garmin's Mapsource. Just set four waypoints and specified no toll roads except the A63. The programme worked perfectly but took over an hour to check the route in detail, which turned out to be perfect.
We have booked onto a Dutch owned campsite near Castelo de Vide at a weekly rate of €87. The is is the winter long stay rate but gets cheaper if you stay for 2months or more.
We will be getting the Portuguese Easytoll which is the system Ray mentioned.
Seems to be a very easy way of doing it, although the explanatory websites are very confusing.
We have also bought the Sanef toll road tag to use in France in case the weather turns nasty. We know the French give priority to the toll roads in the event of snow and the Caravan Club is doing a deal on the tags at the moment.


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

Well, we've had no joy with that automated system just over from the Spanish border. Mind u , I have a French number plate and French card. But we,ve never got it to accept either the registration or the card.
No probs if that happens. Come off at the first junction ,down to Villa Real de St. Antonio , and go along the free N 125 All the way to Sagres if you want....!
Garcia


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

Hi Powerplus, sorry to have been a while getting back to you.

We have done this trip several times in November, and once at the end of January. There was snow on the January trip, between Irun and Burgos, but the snow ploughs were all out, and we had no real problem. They always do their best in Spain to keep this route open.

The reason we suggest this route is because much of it, in France at least, is not too far from the coast, and so less likely to have ice and snow. The free autovias in Spain are kept clear.

As for ferries etc, it's your choice. We always use the tunnel, I hate ferries, and it's kinder on our dog. Remember, too, that the weather may make for a rough crossing.

France and inland Spain can be very cold, especially at night, so take good bedding and hot water bottles! If you have refillable gas, fill up in France before crossing Spain (make sure you have the right adaptors for filling). LPG (GPL) is freely available in France and Portugal, but thin on the ground in Spain.

If you don't have refillable gas, make sure you take adaptors for foreign gas bottles.

Have a good trip! Linda and John.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi linda / john

thanks for the reply

we were thinking of possibly following the coast down from calais
hopefully the weather will be kind to us as we are newbeas.

. i and think my friend has the adapters once we get to them we will be taking 2, 6kg red gas bottles and hope this should last to get there

from what i have learnt over the last week or so i think it would be best to
get there over a few days and do the sight seeing when we return in april / may

do you have a full route with stops that you can suggest for us

barry


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

Hi Barry

We returned from Portugal earlier this month, these are the campsites we used for the journey, they are all open all year:

campsite in Portugal: Camping Alentejo (on ACSI website, not in book). Great little site, very helpful owner, very cheap, especially for long term rates by the month. Tell Siebo Linda and John sent you!
N38º47'37" W7º41'10". 4 hours to:

Salamanca, Camping Olympia, Autovia 62, Exit 225. Very easy from free Autovia, good food in restaurant. N41º3'29" W 5º32'46".

We then went 5 hours to Urrugne, Larouletta, in ACSI book (so take card), easy from motorway, great showers. N43º22'13" W1º41'10". If 5 hours is too much, or weather bad, you can stop between Salamanca and Urrugne in Burgos (also takes ACSI card) N42º20'30" W3º39'28".

From there, we went to campsite Le Rejallant, Ruffec, between Angouleme and Poitiers, takes ACSI card (10€ a night), lovely walk by river and park just 150 metres away, also restaurant by river).
N46º0'53" E0º12'46"

Then we went to Campsite Etangs de Marsalin, between Dreux and Evreaux, N48º45'39 E1º17'25". From there it's 4 hours to Calais.

Of course, you'll be doing the trip in reverse!

If you put these coordinates into google maps, you can see the route. Choose the "no tolls"option. All the route through Spain is on free autovias, apart from a short stretch near Burgos. Many of the roads you will take in France are also free motorway or dual carriageway. The tolls on the A63 between Bordeaux and Urrugne are pretty well unavoidable without going out of your way, but not very expensive. It's also worth paying tolls to get around Tours in France ( a nightmare on ordinary roads), and from Urrugne to the Spanish side of the Pyrenees.

Hope this helps. In summer, when more sites are open, we amble around more, but in winter when few sites are open, especially in France, we just want to get to our destination as quickly as possible!


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## bormy (May 1, 2010)

*crossing to France then into Portugal*

dear Barry we have been going across since 1995 .we live near Bournemouth and find the Channel Tunnel suits us very well the beauty of it is when we come home off one trip we book the next usually get a very good price and the wonderful thing we can amend or alter our booking online for up to one year in fact in October wanted to get home early and changed the booking without any extra payment in the past have only paid about 7euros or 5 pounds 
PS we started off using ferries but because I'm a wheelchair user it now means I don't have to leave the van until we get to our first night stop (in October it cost us £26 because we were 10 days early I was not very well ) our first trip with the van through the tunnel august 2010 cheers Bormy


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## rugbyken (Jan 16, 2006)

Good article in Decembers issue of MMM very detailed breakdown of writers route to and round South portugal same one we used but he has got mileage etc ,


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