Portugal motorway tips

Portuguese motorways: Practical tips

Portugal is a favourite tourist destination. The beautiful cities of Lisbon & Porto or the idyllic beaches of the Algarve make this a wonderful destination to visit.

Getting to Portugal is really easy as many Spanish and international airports have direct connections with the cities we mentioned before of Lisbon & Porto, Portuguese airport in which Centauro Rent a Car has a car hire office so that you can hire your own car and travel around this wonderful country.

Before you hit the road, we recommend you take a glance at some practical information we offer regarding the different methods of payment when using the Portuguese motorways and ways to avoid possible fines which in some cases can be more than ten times the toll amount.

How the Portuguese motorways work

Some Portuguese toll roads have numerous sections of manual tolls with access blocked by a barrier – similar to those on Spanish motorways- and the barrier is opened when you pay the corresponding amount. The most common however are the electronic tolls, which don’t offer any form of manual payment and this can cause a real headache for drivers.

If you are going to rent your car with Centauro Rent a Car then the easiest option is to add our Via Verde service either on our website or at any of our branches. This simple system allows you to associate your credit card with the registration plate of your rental car. This will then allow you to use any toll road and will charge your card automatically with the corresponding amount every time that you drive through a toll as the system detects the car registration number. This way you can enjoy your journey in Portugal without having to worry about any unexpected toll fines.

An alternative method is a prepaid card, which deducts the amount from the card each time you go through the toll. The disadvantage of this system is its lack of efficiency, as in many cases the toll detectors do not read the card properly and you then get a nasty surprise of receiving a fine when you get home from your holiday.

If you are thinking of travelling by car in Portugal, we recommend that you prepare yourself to use the toll roads by adding the Via Verde transponder device to your booking. The other alternative is to not use the toll roads and travel around Portugal using the secondary roads enjoying the scenary and visiting the many lovely villages along the way. This totally depends on the type of road trip you want to take. The choice is yours!