Travel around Portugal

[stevec176]

Hi,

I'm going over to Portugal for 3 weeks soon and want to know from all you experts is it possible and practical to get around Portugal without using Toll roads. If not which is considered the best method to pay for the pleasure.

Thanks from a wet Hebden Bridge CMC site.

[spirou]

Of course it's possible and even if you do get on the toll roads, the process is simple.

[Solwaybuggier]

Possible, but not always simple - eg first time we came we stopped off toll motorways until one day a road closure near Porto gave us little alternative to using a toll stretch. The roads are very variable - some can be pretty bone-shaking.

 

This link is quite useful in explaining the toll roads : http://www.portugaltolls.com/en/web/portal-de-portagens/faq-s .

 

We are currently using a transponder to pay automatically - works in Portugal & Spain - from here https://www.saneftolling.co.uk - there’s an offer on with the tunnel.

 

It may depend how much of the country you plan on visiting in 3 weeks.

 

 

[weldted]

If you are entering Portugal from the south as you enter near Castro Marim you can pull in near the bridge a machine reads you number plate put your bank card in the machine, it prints out a ticket valid for 28 days for the electronic tolls only. As you pass through the check points it just deducts the charges.

[StuartO]

Portugese motorways operate with automated toll collection using ANPR technology, so you need to register yourself with their system, to link your credit card to your number plate.

We found it easy to do this as we first entered the motorway system using an automated system at the first services.  There had been big signs telling foreigners to pull off in order to register; ignore them at your peril!

Unfortunately there don't seem to be options to register at every services, just the ones at the points of entry, so look out for them.  There are other ways but they are less convenient.

Using motorways (sometimes) is very handy.  Being obsessional about avoiding them is creating problems for yourself. 

[Adiebt]

We are just in Portugal this very moment , we pre registered and obviously it’s been a breeze since ! Currently in Peso Da Regua on The Douro on the 3€ per night fully serviced Aire and some tight wad has just drove on and drove off again after balking at the price ! There are some skinflints around !

[vindiboy]

Just set your Sat Nav [ assume you have one ] to avoid toll roads , works for me in Portugal or any where else for that matter, easy to get around Portugal on non pay roads.

[Solwaybuggier]

StuartO - 2018-09-09 11:08 AM

 

Portugese motorways operate with automated toll collection using ANPR technology,

 

Some do (those with the “Wi-fi” type symbol on the signs) - others, I think mainly older ones, with “portagem” on the signs, have conventional toll booths. You can speed up paying for these by getting a transponder, then you can use the Via Verde lanes at toll booths.

[Solwaybuggier]

StuartO - 2018-09-09 11:08 AM

Portugese motorways operate with automated toll collection using ANPR technology, so you need to register yourself with their system, to link your credit card to your number plate.

We found it easy to do this as we first entered the motorway system using an automated system at the first services.  There had been big signs telling foreigners to pull off in order to register; ignore them at your peril!

Unfortunately there don't seem to be options to register at every services, just the ones at the points of entry, so look out for them.  There are other ways but they are less convenient.

Using motorways (sometimes) is very handy.  Being obsessional about avoiding them is creating problems for yourself. 

Some do (those with the “Wi-fi” type symbol on the signs) - others, I think mainly older ones, with “portagem” on the signs, have conventional toll booths. You can speed up paying for these by getting a transponder, then you can use the Via Verde lanes at toll booths.Sorry for the duplicate post - I messed up the quote.

[Adiebt]

I think the poster is talking about the over road “ taxas “ gantrys and not the toll booths at the “ other “ toll stretches of road , confusing I know , the taxas gantries deffo use ANPR !

[Solwaybuggier]

Adiebt - 2018-09-09 10:41 PM

 

I think the poster is talking about the over road “ taxas “ gantrys and not the toll booths at the “ other “ toll stretches of road , confusing I know , the taxas gantries deffo use ANPR !

 

Agreed - although I suspect they use either ANPR or a transponder, as ours beeps every time we go under one of the things, and the transponder is not linked to a registration number.

 

But I just wanted to point out to OP that StuartO’s post was misleading as not all Portuguese toll motorways operate with overhead cameras. The A1 certainly doesn’t.

[StuartO]

Solwaybuggier - 2018-09-10 8:13 AM ...  I just wanted to point out to OP that StuartO’s post was misleading as not all Portuguese toll motorways operate with overhead cameras. The A1 certainly doesn’t.

The only thing that's special about Portugese motorways is the need to pre-register your credit card to use the ANPR-based system of charging which applies to most motorways - and it's expedient to do so at the first opportunity since the registration points are only provided at entry points into the motorway system. In a few places there might still be toll boths, but we all know how to cope with toll booths don't we - you simply stop at the booth and hand over some money or a credit card. I didn't think it worth mentioning those.

I suppose it is a personal thing that someone should feel the need to add unnecessary detail of that sort to someone else's post, and to remark that the omission was "misleading".  It takes all sorts.

[stevec176]

Thanks for all that, think we've decided to go with the option of registering my credit card against the vehicle reg and then if we use the toll roads we'll only pay as we use them.

Simples

[StuartO]

stevec176 - 2018-09-10 10:10 AMThanks for all that, think we've decided to go with the option of registering my credit card against the vehicle reg and then if we use the toll roads we'll only pay as we use them.Simples

I didn't mention that when you register your card they take a small amount (a few pence) as part of the registration process - I suppose as a sort of test purchase, to validate the card.  As long as you take the trouble to pull into the first lot of services you encounter, it's a pretty painless business registering to use their motorways.  The ANPR charges are made in relatively tiny bites compared with French systems, using gantries placed at frequent intervals, presumably to catch people making one or two junction hops along the motorway.  For a journey of any length your CC statement will show a succession of little charges, sometimes of less than 1€.

[Solwaybuggier]

stevec176 - 2018-09-10 10:10 AM

 

Thanks for all that, think we've decided to go with the option of registering my credit card against the vehicle reg and then if we use the toll roads we'll only pay as we use them.

Simples

I’ll defer StuartO’s apparently superior knowledge, but I think you will find that the “Welcome Points” to register your card against a vehicle (signposted “Foreigners”) are only at specified entry points:

A28 - Viana do Castelo;

 

A24 - Chaves;

 

A25 – Vilar Formoso;

 

A22 – Vila Real de Santo António

(according to the Portal de Portagems FAQ page.)

 

If that corresponds to your first point of entry onto Portuguese motorways, fine, and I’m sure it will work well, but there are plenty of other entry points into Portugal.

[Solwaybuggier]

StuartO - 2018-09-10 9:34 AM

Solwaybuggier - 2018-09-10 8:13 AM ...  I just wanted to point out to OP that StuartO’s post was misleading as not all Portuguese toll motorways operate with overhead cameras. The A1 certainly doesn’t.

The only thing that's special about Portugese motorways is the need to pre-register your credit card to use the ANPR-based system of charging which applies to most motorways - and it's expedient to do so at the first opportunity since the registration points are only provided at entry points into the motorway system. In a few places there might still be toll boths, but we all know how to cope with toll booths don't we - you simply stop at the booth and hand over some money or a credit card. I didn't think it worth mentioning those.

I suppose it is a personal thing that someone should feel the need to add unnecessary detail of that sort to someone else's post, and to remark that the omission was "misleading".  It takes all sorts.

Last year we were talking to a British couple who bought a toll card from the post office. Fine until they went on a portagem motorway, where they misunderstood and assumed the card covered them to drive through the Via Verde lane at the toll. The result was a nasty penalty charge. The reality is that the Portuguese motorway toll system can be confusing, with different systems - unless of course you only use the A22 in the Algarve. And unless you understand them you can come unstuck.Among the “few places” to still use toll booths is the A1 Porto-Lisbon - hardly a minor example, I’d have thought, and connecting 2 of the main tourist centres.Indeed it does take all sorts!

[StuartO]

Solwaybuggier - 2018-09-10 6:24 PM

StuartO - 2018-09-10 9:34 AM

Solwaybuggier - 2018-09-10 8:13 AM ...  I just wanted to point out to OP that StuartO’s post was misleading as not all Portuguese toll motorways operate with overhead cameras. The A1 certainly doesn’t.

The only thing that's special about Portugese motorways is the need to pre-register your credit card to use the ANPR-based system of charging which applies to most motorways - and it's expedient to do so at the first opportunity since the registration points are only provided at entry points into the motorway system. In a few places there might still be toll boths, but we all know how to cope with toll booths don't we - you simply stop at the booth and hand over some money or a credit card. I didn't think it worth mentioning those.

I suppose it is a personal thing that someone should feel the need to add unnecessary detail of that sort to someone else's post, and to remark that the omission was "misleading".  It takes all sorts.

Last year we were talking to a British couple who bought a toll card from the post office. Fine until they went on a portagem motorway, where they misunderstood and assumed the card covered them to drive through the Via Verde lane at the toll. The result was a nasty penalty charge. The reality is that the Portuguese motorway toll system can be confusing, with different systems - unless of course you only use the A22 in the Algarve. And unless you understand them you can come unstuck.Among the “few places” to still use toll booths is the A1 Porto-Lisbon - hardly a minor example, I’d have thought, and connecting 2 of the main tourist centres.Indeed it does take all sorts!

And since you failed to mention the possibility of making the mistake of driving through toll booths on non-ANPR motorways on the strength of your registration for the ANPR system in your first post, that first post presumably also qualified, by your standards, as "misleading".

I was perhaps being too subtle for you in my gentle reprimand - in future I suggest you concentrate on being constructive rather than incorporating gratuitous criticism of others.  In other words if you don't need to make yourself look like a pompous clever clogs, don't do it!

[Solwaybuggier]

The first post included a link to a definitive FAQ on tolls.

 

I wil l happily leave making oneself look a pompous “person” to you - you are effortlessly a winner at that, if at nothing else. Goodbye.

[StuartO]

Solwaybuggier - 2018-0w9-11 2:27 PMThe first post included a link to a definitive FAQ on tolls.I wil l happily leave making oneself look a pompous “person” to you - you are effortlessly a winner at that, if at nothing else. Goodbye.

Continuing interpersonal exchanges between people who are in conflict serve no real purpose and they are certainly likely to bore everyone else and kill off a thread which might otherwise still have some on-topic life left in it so I suggest we do not prolong this.  I merely note that while you are clearly prepared to post criticism, you seem to lack the insight, open-mindedness or humility necessary to take any.  If you can't take it, don't dish it out!

[Adiebt]

On a lighter note I’ve been on a wine / Port n food trip down the Douro today n am more than a little merry n hot !