Portugal

Top destinations in Portugal

Porto Lisbon Faro Lagos See a full list of places

Portugal is a great little country to visit. They hate to be constantly compared to the Spanish, but let's face it, until they change their language and history, and preferably lift the country up and move it a few miles away from their larger neighbour, they haven't got much chance of avoiding it, certainly not here anyway, so here goes:

In short Portugal is like a well-organized minituare version of Spain which caters better to visitors. There. I said it. The climate, language, and to a large extent the outlook of the people are very much like Spain. The history is closely linked, and much of the landscape resembles parts of Spain. At the same time, the rail network is fairly competent, people are more likely to speak good English, and the whole place just seems more efficient.

Portugal has something to offer every kind of visitor, except those obsessed with winter sports. The south is overrun with resorts like Lagos and Faro dedicated to surfing, drinking and sunbathing. In the centre and north this gives way to beautiful landscapes, with excellent walking. Lisbon is a cosmopolitan modern city built on a historic foundation. And finally Porto is as good a city as any in the world for a conossieur of fine alcohol to wonder round looking at barrels of the stuff ageing and improving, and pretending to be interested in anything more than the tasting.

Climate and weather

Summer.

Portugal is hot and generally quite dry in the summer. Temperatures in the South regularly reach around 30 degrees celsius in the south, and are slightly cooler in the north. Night-time temperatures remain comfortably high. While the north is generally quite dry in summer, it is best not to bank on a complete absence of rain.

Winter.

Along the coasts there is little chance of ground frost or snow, although this is not unusual inland on higher ground. Rain is more common, and you should be prepared for a day of two of it during any stay. Temperatures are generally comfortably warm during the day, often touching 18 celsius. Night-time temperatures can dip below freezing in the north, and occasionally in the Algarve too, which is a pain since hostels and bars often have no heating to cope with this.

Landscape and scenery

Portugal is a pleasant enough place to look out at as you travel through the country. There are some relatively flat areas, though these are often forested, which prevents the view being too bleak. Much of the country is covered in hills which can appear particularly beautiful in the winter, when the higher rainfall makes the whole country much greener. Agriculture mainly seems to consist of growing orange and cork trees, and some sheep farming. The large ugly greenhouses which infest some areas of Spain are less in evidence, and there are no enormous flat arable fields. All in all, well worth a look.

Government

Portugal has been a stable democracy since 1974, when the unpopular dictatorship established by Salazar was over-thrown. Entry into the European Union occured in 1985. As a small country lacking in historically-powerful regions, Portugal is a fairly centralized government. Most industries are largely private. There is a public health service providing basic care for fairly reasonable fees.

Currency and money

The currency in Portugal is the Euro. One Euro breaks down into 100 cents. As a rule of thumb the exchange rates to the Euro are approximately:

• 0.70 Pounds Sterling
• 1.1 US Dollars
• 1.5 Canadian Dollars
• 1.5 Australian Dollars

The Euro is the second most common currency in the world after the US dollar, and the same banknotes are used in all the countries in the Euro-zone (each country issues different coins, but these differ only in the picture on the back, and can be used outside their country of issue). Even in the European countries which do not use the Euro as their official currency, it is still very common to find it accepted in larger shops and hotels (sometimes at a suprisingly reasonable rate of exchange). It should not be difficult to exchange into or out of Euros at currency exchanges worldwide.

Travellers Cheques.

It is impossible to emphasize enough what a waste of time travellers cheques generally are. If you want to carry some for security then feel free, but you will probably end up paying a horrible rate of exchange and comission if you actually use them anywhere.

ATM Machines.

On every corner a bank, and on every bank an ATM. You could probably go your whole life without using the same ATM twice in Portugal. Certainly if you are in a town centre, you will have no problems finding a machine. They all accept Mastercard, Visa, Plus and Maestro as well, which is nice.

Credit and Debit Cards.

All the major cards (Visa, Access, AmEx) are suprisingly widely accepted in Portugal. You might even find a use for a Diner's Club or Discover card. You can generally pay for accomodation and train tickets with a credit card, but the same doesn't apply to coach tickets, which can only be paid for with the local MB debit card.

Language

The official language of Portugal is Portuguese. This is also the language spoken natively by almost all the inhabitants. If you can speak Portuguese, even a North American variety, you should find you can get by just fine in Portugal.

English is spoken surprisingly widely and surprisingly well in Portugal. Certainly it is far easier to get by using English in Portugal than it is in Spain. Most establishments that deal with tourists on an even remotely regular basis will have an English speaker on the staff, and even people who do not speak it are likely to be familiar with at least a few words. It is worthwhile to learn a few words of Portuguese however, even if you just stick to Abrigado (thank you), or Abriga, which is the shorter version.

Spanish is a fairly similar language to Portuguese, although Portuguese is a little more complex. This means that good Spanish speakers will probably be understood in Portugal, although they are less likely to understand the reply. It is sometimes not particularly popular with the Portuguese to address them in Spanish, since it can appear to belittle their own language and culture, so it may be helpful to apologise for not knowing Portuguese.

Shop opening

Shops typically open at around 10am, and stay open til around 7 or later in the evening. It is pretty common to take a fairly long lunch break/siesta in the afternoon. Town centre shops are often open on Sundays, but smaller grocery stores and newsagents/tobacconists rarely do so. Post Offices and banks open only until 6, and not on Saturdays and Sundays.

Crime and punishment

Crime.

The crime rate is not particularly high in Portugal, but in certain areas of Lisbon and other cities, tourists are at some risk of being robbed. It is sensible to take a few precautions therefore, such as staying in groups, sticking to wider and busier streets, and carrying at least some money separately from your purse or wallet, since handing over a little cash will often prevent you from losing documents and cards. Should the worst happen, stay positive and try not to let it spoil your holiday.

Police.

The main police force is the Policia Judiciaria, who have a station in most towns. The police seem to keep a pretty low profile in Portugal - you will rarely see officers of any kind patrolling the streets on foot, and even car patrols are less common than in other countries.

Basic laws.

Drinking in public is not generally a problem in Portugal, so there is a very limited market for brown paper bags. The age of consent is 14 for heterosexuals (with some restrictions below the age of 16) and 16 for homosexuals. Drug use is largely decriminalized in Portugal, although selling drugs is still regarded as a serious offence. The main result of this is that it is impossible to get through a night out without being pestered by someone to buy whatever white powder they have to hand as "cocaine".

Arriving by Plane.

The main airport for scheduled flights in Portugal is Lisbon. This airport has flights from all over the world, particularly from other Portuguese-speaking countries. There are also a few internal flights, particularly to the islands. The Poruguese national airline TAP is the largest operator of these services.

A few budget and charter flights fly to Lisbon, but in the main these fly to Faro on the south coast of the country, and Porto in the north. There are no Portuguese budget operators worth mentioning, but budget and charter airlines based in several other European countries run flights here. Easyjet and Ryanair in particular run flights from various European hubs. It is certainly worth checking out Charter airlines such as Monarch when flying to major tourist centres such as the Algarve. Finally, it may also be reasonably cheap to fly into Madrid and catch the train to Lisbon (see below).

Arriving By Train.

A night train runs from Irun (near San Sebastien) on the Spanish-French border to Lisbon. This connects with TGV services to Paris and from there to destinations all over northern Europe. For connections to Southern Europe and most of Spain, a Tren Hotel service runs from Lisbon to Madrid. Other locations, particularly in the South and West of Spain can be accessed by regional trains, which run across the border at three points in the north and centre of the country, or by using the cross border bus service which connects the Spanish and Portuguese Algarve regions. Details are available on the website of CP,the Portuguese national rail company.

Arriving By Coach.

Eurolines run some coaches into Lisbon from Madrid and France. In addition, Internorte run services to Porto from France and Western Germany. Various buses run services over the border from Spain, most notable of which is the EVA service from Seville to Lisbon via Faro. See local areas for details of these services. Finally, a number of tour operators run in the summer from various locations in Europe.

Arriving By Ferry.

The only noteworthy ferry for getting to Portugal is the Portsmouth to Bilbao service run by P&O. Coach or train services can be used to get from Bilbao on the north coast of Spain into Portugal itself.

Getting around by public transport

Travelling by train.

Portugal is not a large country, and train travel is fairly quick and reasonably cheap - the second class fare from Faro to Porto (the whole length of the country) is less than 36 Euros (as at January 2006). There doesn't appear to be any particular benefit to booking in advance, apart from the guarantee of getting on a train, which may be an issue in busy periods.

All the trains are run by CP, the national operator. Services are split into three different brands - Alfa Pendualar are the top speed services, Intercity is the basic long distance service, and Regional is the remainder. The Intercity network is based around Lisbon, with Alfa Pendualar services running along the coast to Porto and Braga in the north, and Faro in the south. Intercity lines run inland to Regua, Guarda, Covilha, and Beja. Finally, a comprehensive network of Regional services run throughout the country.

Travelling by coach.

Coach travel in Portugal is fairly badly organized, with a large number of operators, often runnning from more than one station in a town and competing over different routes. The overall effect is a service which is significantly cheaper than the train, runs more frequently, and often doesn't take much longer to get there, but which is so confusing that people choose to take the train anyway. The following are the major operators:

• Rede Expressos is the largest operator, with long-distance routes covering the length of the country
• EVA is the main operator in the Algarve, running virtually all the buses in the Algarve, both long-distance and local, and with long-distance routes stretching up to Lisbon and Evora
• Internorte run mostly international services from Porto in the north to various destinations in Spain as well as France and Germany.
• RodoNorte run intercity and local services in the north of the country.

Travelling by plane.

A few internal flights run in Portugal, but in most cases it would be quicker to catch the next train or even coach than to wait around for a flight.

Post

Stamps can be bought from Post Offices, which also often have machines outside them. They can also be bought from many tobacconists - look out for the horse logo outside the shop, or just ask at the counter. Letters for any destination can be put into any red post box, although "azul" priority post should be placed in the blue post boxes if possible. Letters to foreign destinations will generally go by airmail even if they are sent economy, but they may be left in a depot and kicked around a bit prior to dispatch. As at January 2006, costs for a standard letter up to 20g are:

• 30 cents for standard delivery (within about 3 days) within Portugal.
• 45 cents for "azul" delivery (generally next day on the mainland) within Portugal.
• 56 cents for letters to Europe by economy post.
• 57 cents for letters to Europe by normal post.
• 67 cents for letters to all other destinations by economy post.
• 74 cents for letters to all other destinations by normal post.

Up to date prices, and full details are available from Correos (The Portuguese Post Office)

Phone

The country code for Portugal is 351.

Phone boxes are usually white. You will find an assortment of actual booths and telephones on sticks, all of which are owned by PT. Calls are charged in units called clicks. Each click costs 7 cents (6 cents if you are using a phone card). As at January 2006 a click will get you

• 39 seconds to Portuguese numbers at cheap rate (evenings)
• 30 seconds to local numbers, and 19 seconds to national numbers at normal rate.
• 12 seconds to mobiles at cheap rate, and 8 seconds at normal rate.
• 11 seconds at weekends to European destinations, and 8 seconds at other times
• 5.75 seconds at weekends to the rest of the world, and 3.68 seconds at other times.
• Calls to foreign mobile phones are charged at even higher rates. Basically, there has to be a better way to make the call.

There is a minimum charge of 2 clicks for domestic calls, and 3 clicks for international

Cheap phone cards are available from various kiosks and news stands, which will allow you to make cheap international calls. Certainly this will work out a lot cheaper than using a phone box. Keep an eye out for the best deals for your country.

Portugal has three mobile phone networks: TMN, Vodafone, and Optimus. It probably makes very little difference which of these you choose if you are using your home mobile to roam in Portugal. You can also buy a pay-as-you go SIM card for any of the Portuguese mobile operators. They cost around 25 euros, and usually come with 10 euros credit. It is sometimes possible to pick them up from newstands for 5 or 10 euros, although as usual you are taking a risk that you are buying a dud. The Portuguese typically top up their mobiles at ATMs but this is not possible without a Portuguese bank card. The alternative is to go to one of the network of stores dedicated to your network, or to go to supermarkets and certain other stores with bill-payment terminals. Topup cards cannot be easily bought in the same way as other countries.

Internet

Internet Cafes.

There are very few internet cafes in Portugal. Certainly you could walk for some time in many town centres without ever seeing one. Where they are to be found the going rate for access is around 1 euro for half an hour, which is not expensive by European standards. If you just want to check mail or look something up you are probably better using one of the sources of free internet listed below.

Free Internet.

Most train stations in Portugal have at least one free internet terminal. This will be a kiosk affair, with an awkward to use keyboard and trackball. The main problem with them, apart from the range of banned pages, is that pop-up windows cannot be opened, which makes access to quite a few sites impossible. Time on these is limited, and you will be thrown back to the home page after a few minutes of use. Public libraries also have free internet, although you will need to book it at the counter, and the terminals are still limited in terms of messaging applications. Finally the Instituto Portugues da Juventude, which has offices in most cities, usually located in the same place as the Pousadas Juvenil hostels, offers free internet access in its Movijovem areas. Again these must be booked at the counter, and many of the machines are kiosks. These computers at least have MSN messenger installed.

Keyboard Oddities.

The letters on Portuguese keyboards follow the normal English QWERTY layout. Many symbols are in different places however. The most important of these is the "@" symbol, which is on the 2 button (you hold down the "Alt Gr" button to the right of the space bar and press 2 to get it). The other useful symbol is the apostrophe, which is on the same button as the "?", to the right of the numbers.

Television

The Largest TV operator in Portugal is RTP, who have two terrestrial TV channels providing a mixture of news, entertainment and sport. There are also a couple of independant stations. Foreign language channels from many other countries are available on cable and satellite. As far as English is concerned, this is the usual mixture of CNN, Bloomberg and the insanely dull BBC World, as well as some of the programmes on Eurosport and MTV.

Newspapers

The main national newspapers are Correio da Manha, Diario de Noticias and Publico. All of these have at least a basic online edition on their websites. Major cities also have free newspapers, available on public transport, such as Metro and Destak. These provide basic news and entertainments listings.

It is fairly easy to get hold of British newspapers on the Algarve - in fact several of them are printed there for the benefit of the British tourists. Apart from this, international newspapers are not that easy to find in Portugal. Try looking in actual newsagents shops rather than on the stalls at street corners. Shops in airports and train stations also seem to stock them more often than other stores.

There are no national English language newspapers in Portugal, although there are a couple of freesheets covering the Algarve area - these are fairly easy to find scattered around in shops and tourist information offices.

Hostels

Rede Nacional de Turismo Juvenil are the local Hostelling International affiliate. They run a quite extensive network of hostels around the country. In general these are cheap, and have all the basic facilities. They do not seem to be quite as strict about things like curfews in Portugal as in other countries, and they are quite cheap. There is still little in the way of atmosphere here however, with the guests often being mainly school parties, families and pensioners. In peak season be sure to book ahead, either online on by calling the hostel.

There are very few independent backpackers hostels in Portugal - they are only located Lisbon and Lagos at the moment. The ones that there are are suprisingly expensive, although they typically include free internet, and are all quite comfortable and welcoming.

The alternative is to stay in a pensione. Single rooms are quite cheap (often not much more than a backpackers hostel), and twin rooms could work out even cheaper. A few places even have shared dorms, or space to sleep on the roof, although you should not expect any facilities beyond a place to sleep if you take up this option.

Drinks

Beer.

By European standards the beer is fairly cheap in supermarkets and pretty expensive in bars. In bars, it is typically served in measures of 0.2 litres, and one of these will typically set you back 1.50 euros, with prices as high as 2 euros not being unusual. In supermarkets and grocery stores the prices are a fraction of this. The beer itself is mostly one of Cristal, Super Bock, or Sagres. Super Bock tends to be a little sweet, with the other two being a touch more robust and northern European in style.

Wine

Portugal produces a good selection of wines, both red and white, and in young sparkling and traditional styles. There is bound to be something for everyone who likes wine, and the supermarket prices make it extremely tempting to try them until you find one to suit. Don't forget that Portugal is also the home of port wine, and an excellent place to try a few glasses of the stuff.

Coffee.

As in Spain, the coffee tends to be extremely good, with a robust flavour, and comes most often in pretty cheap shots. Expect to pay around 50 cents for a single shot. Various options are avaiable, including meia leite (like con leche in Spanish - basically a cappucino without the froth on), and galao (which is more like a latte). If you can describe anything else, such as iced coffee, most cafes will have a go at making it.

Cinema

Cinema listings are generally available in local newspapers, particularly the free papers available on public transport in most cities. VO in the description of a film indicates that the film is being shown in the original language, usually with Portuguese subtitles. Be aware of course that not all films were originally made in English. There do not appear to be any cinemas specialising in showing only English-language films as in some other countries. Three of the main cinema operators in Portugal are:

• Lusomondo
• UCI Cinemas
• Medeia Millenium Cinemas

Listings are available online - follow the links above.

Pubs and bars

During the daytime, the best place to drink is in cafes. Virtually all of these have at least one beer tap, including McDonalds. Pretty much everywhere that serves a sit down meal can also supply wine. Later on bars start to open, although they will not even start to get busy until after midnight on any day of the week. By northern European standards, bars in cities here are open late - a few will close through lack of custom at around 3am, but particularly on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights you should find it pretty easy to drink in a bar, rather than an out-and-out club until 5am. With a 10am start to the day and the option of a lunch/siesta and an early evening nap, the Portuguese don't seem inclined to catch an early night.