h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just had a wonderfull holiday in Portugal (4th aug 2002 - 14th) with a fly-and-drive formula.

Beforehand I read some advisements on this forum, but that was unnecessary. Driving is almost exactly the same as in France or in my country, Belgium. Aggressively ? no !

Portugal has excellent roads (I never drove at nights, so I dont know about roadlights). The people are courteous, I had no problems inserting in a cue. Take car to stop if pedestrians want to cross the road. They expect you to stop !

The highways are almost deserted (you have to pay for them) and a real joy to ride on.

Portugal has excellent indications for cities and important places. Finding your destination isn't very difficult.

One thing to get used to are their round points. If you enter the circle and stay on the lane the most to your right, people expect you to go off at the first exit.
If you want to get off at the second ('dead ahead'), you better ride in a straight line from the first lane to the second and take the second exit.
If not, they will honk

My only bad experience in Portugal was that they broke into our rented Peugot 206 by simply forcing the door (in Estoril). Nothing was stolen,because nothing valuable was in there. Apparently people can recognise rented cars by the fact that they are mostly new, small cars often with the antenna and weelcaps removed. So take care not to leave anything valuable in the car.

A wonderful country (we visited middle Portugal), nice temperature (an airconditioned car is advisable, like we did) and nice people. One of our best holidays ever.

Sorry to butt in on your conversation, but if
Researcher "200771"
would go back to there own page and then click on the "EDIT PAGE" button and then write a little something about your self, as this will activate your page and then a ACE can come and welcome you there properly
Sorry for interrupting your conversation

Manda

I have just got back from a 10-day trip to Portugal. I came to check this entry to see if it needed updating, but I agree with all of the above: the motorways are well-signposted, and very clear, the toll system is simple, if expensive, and people are so laid-back. I do not recognise the conditions described in the entry at all.

Basically I was amazed at how the Portuguese are cheerful and friendly about everything and don't even seem to bear a grudge against the Spaniards.

The road surfaces were not as good as in France (on the toll roads) but the traffic was not heavy and it was easy to keep to the 120 kmh limit.

In towns, there was a cameraderie between pedestrians and drivers that we certainly never see in Germany.

I'm not sure I am qualified to re-work the entry, as we literally only drove from Lisbon to the Algarve and back, with a couple of day trips to local towns once we were there. Within Lisbon, we relied on public transport. In the Algarve, probably 50% of the other motorists we encountered were, like us, holidaymakers in hired cars.

However, I am happy to incorporate the post above with the entry, if necessary, because there seem to be two Portugals that people have seen here, and both may be correct.