I am heading to Lisbon next week for the first time ever. I am wondering if I should be aware of before I leave the Uk. I am going via Madrid and hope be in Lisbon on Wednesday, any good parking spots nearby. What tolls exist in Portugal and how can you pay?
TIA
They accept multi bank cards on the tolls,like visa/mastercard,the locals go through “Via verde” green lane,with a pre paid box in the car or veiculo pesado(Truck).If you are feeling lucky,go through via verde for free,hope no GNR(Guard national de Republica)(BT Brigado de transtitoes) are around.Take it you will go via Badajoz,and not via Burgos/Valladolid/Salamanca/Villa formosa/IP5 to Lisbon.Park near the old “Expo” site,or further down town,access to Lisbon,if you have time off,visit the old castle and medieval district of “Alfama”,and take a train to Cascais,then a long 3mile walk to “Praia de Guincho”,world class surfing venue and good scenery.
Or rather than pay on the tolls,the national roads get busy with tractors and slower trucks.Lisbon to Porto takes forever on the national.Where will you be reloading back from?There is no specific truck stop for parking,in general in the outskirts of the city,it is a case of finding an industrial unit or some wasteground to park.If Lisboa,if you see the big cruise ships,there is large areas along the river for trucks.Keep the curtains drawn and leave the cab light on or radio,if leave the cab at night to give impression someone inside.Ask for a “tango” or cerveza co gruzella,it is beer with red syrup,very addictive.Super bock beer.Tripe and veal stew is the cuisine,and further north,it is cabbage soup with meat."Franchesina"is a half a foot tall mega sandwhich with steak/eggs/ham/salad/cheese topped with hot spicy gravy.Take CASH for the motorway in case cards get refused at the tolls,if this happens they give an invoice to pay in so many days,up to you if you send the money.Lower DRIVING standards in Portugal by truck and car drivers,they love strong expressos so are pumped up,and drive like loonies,and change character behind the wheel.Be carefull of drivers pulling out in front of you,so you have to stop quickly,with different right of ways and “unwritten laws”.Enjoy the scenery and the friendly people.
If you use the toll roads,you have to use your ticket within twelve hours, or they will charge you for the whole of the stretch of motorway you entered, even if you only came on one entrance before,so don’t park up on the services overnight for your break. hope this makes sense to you
Thats true for time limit on parking up,it`s written on very small print on the back of the toll ticket,bet many get caught out,if eastern european drivers,would assume ok to have a 45 weekly rest on a Portugal motorway.Think it is in French and English on the ticket.
As said above over 12 hours you pay for all the motorway and i,m sure theres a little fine added on top.Last one i had was roughly 100euros bill 1 exit dough…actually did it twice!! boss then banned all sleeping on portugal motorways…
Hi, if you are around Lisbon for a weekend you can get parked by the beach at Costa de Caparica just south of Lisbon before you cross the pont 25 de Abril (the big iron bridge). Visit Lisbon and Cascais (some British pubs there) and look for chicken piri piri a local spicey dish and cheep, public transport is very cheep as are taxi’s as long as you aren’t going to or from the airport. If you use any national roads watch your speed, the police do like to control you and will fine you given the chance, even though the local trucks go fast they don’t seem to get stopped as much.
I cannot think of many places to get showers in Portugal, not all services have them, when I am around Lisbon I sometimes go to AUTOEUROPA (VW factory) and get a shower there if I can’t get one where I am delivering to
most of all enjoy the place, it is a nice country with friendly people, you will always find someone who speaks English. There is only one truckstop in the whole country that I know of, but that is on the way to Porto
do you have to go via madrid? seems a long diversion when the route would be from burgos towards salamanca along the ruta de la plata. the potugueses always use that route never via madrid
Loads of room to park up,if weekended at Lisboa,quite correctly Caparica is truck friendly.Large beach area.Years ago a small boy got sucked in to a water outlet on a water park slide,they never found the body for a few days,the parents sued the company,was a big story in the 90`s.Not sure if the water park is still near Caparica,cheap buses all night to Lisboa from there.
On june 15th,i mentioned a boy that got sucked in to a water pump system at a water park in Portugal.It has happened again with a 14 year old boy in Thailand.