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

I was cycling to Faro from Lagos and I managed to overtake about 15 cars.They were all staying behind a cop on a moped....True story

I was on my honeymoon in Portugal this past summer . Now first of all, I ahve never been to Portugal and I am from Canada where the drivers are pretty conservative for the most part, second, I normally drive a Mid size car in automatic. Thirdly my wife doesn't drive standard and some difficulty reading a map while the car is moving!!!

Anyway, I drove over 2000Km in Portugal while touring right from Porto to the Algarve then east to west along the N125( famous for being one of the most dangerous stretches of road for accidents) and then back up to Lisbon. From my experience, it takes about a day or two of driving to get into the groove, to understand the etiquette of Portugese driver's, that being, if you are going to drive in the passing lane you better be moving at approx 180K and keep your signal on. Now, you better speed up or move over to the right when someone comes up on you from behind. If you are on a two lane highway and some one comes up on you, if you know that he wants to pass and you are not willing to speed up you can put on your right indicator to let him know that you will let him pass without speeding up once he pulls out into the left lane to pass you.

If at all possible get a car with some power and opt for a manual transmission as it will help you in passing as you will have the ability to downshift in order to get immediate power if you need to pass someone on a two lane highway. Try not to pass very much on the two lane highways as they are obviously very dangerous. You may notice that large slow moving trucks and busses may put on their right indicators to inform you that they know that you want to pass, but just ensure the car is powerful enough for you to pass the full length of the vehicle before an oncoming car's headlights are in your face. Oh yeah, its also a good idea to keep the headlights on at all times.
The best roads to take are the toll highways, i.e A1. Although you will notice that people figure that if they are going to pay to use the highway then they can go as fast as they want. Avg Speed on those highways are 180-200 KM in the passing lane but at least there are 3 lanes and you are all travelling in the same direction.

I think that the key to driving in Portugal is to understand that drivers in Portugal are always in a rush but when they get where they are going the y move at a snails pace. They like to drive fast and somwhat reckless at times. You must be prepared to change your driving style and be a little aggressive. It will take you a couple of days to get a feel for the nuances, the signals and the ignorance of right of way. The only other piece of advice that I have is, avoid driving on the two lane highways at night and when visting Lisboa, time it to arrive during off-peak hours and park your car at the hotel. Take public transit (it's very good and accessible) and don't drive in the city!!!

I am sure that if you are alert and aware and take your time pull over to the right when required etc. you will be fine!

Safe driving!
Peace.

And one other thing, when you return home it takes a few days for you to re-integrate back into your former driving environment. I realized this as I was driving back from the airport when we returned.

I'm wondering where you got the idea of the "etiquette" of Portuguese drivers!?
I've read many things, such as Avg Speed on highways are 180-200 Km/h, and as I think that there is only one country called Portugal, I presume that you have lots of imagination.