Porto

slinga

Looking at a week in or around Porto as part of 3 weeks in Portugal and Spain.

Can cars be hired at Porto airport which allow driving in Spain??

Is it better to stay in Porto or are there any small villages on the coast north or south of Porto which are great places to stay??

pcg2001

Hi, if you're planning to visit during august I'd advise against trying to find a coastal place to stay as it is high season and most people head out to the beach. And most offers available for locals are apartments not really hotels.
never rented a car in Porto, but you're better off checking the T&C of each rental company regarding Spain. There should be no reason why you can't drive into spain, as this not as renting a car in italy and driving into slovenia (I know there are restrictions there)...

if you use Porto as a base you can travel in under 1 hour to Braga, Guimarães, Ponte de Lima. 2 hours to the spanish border. 2 hours to Coimbra.
If you like coastal charm, try Espinho, Povoa do Varzim, further south Figueira da Foz.

daveyjp

I have hired in Faro and it covered driving to Spain, but the breakdown and accident recovery did not extend across borders.

PompeyPete

pcg2001 wrote: »

If you use Porto as a base you can travel in under 1 hour to Braga, Guimarães, Ponte de Lima. 2 hours to the spanish border. 2 hours to Coimbra.
If you like coastal charm, try Espinho, Povoa do Varzim, further south Figueira da Foz.

Spot on, Northern Portugal is great, and hardly a British beer belly in sight.:beer:

We didn't hire a car, as it was just as easy to use the local buses and trains.

But like any holiday it takes a little bit of planning to make the most of it. You'll be rewarded!

slinga

Thanks for the replies.

Flying to Porto because UK - Barcelona - Madrid - Vigo appeared the only alternative.

Anyway from Porto will just drive to south of Vigo and look around that area.

Then back to Porto for a wekk to look around there.

Is there something similar to Tapas in Porto??

Hopefully sea food will be in abundance in bot areas.

Is it worth a drive up into the hinterland from both Vigo and Porto??

And finally where best to park for a few weeks in Birmingham airport?

slinga

Completed all the bookings now except the car.

Holiday autos will quote for a car to Spain from Porto airport but will not give the extra cost which they say has to be agreed with the car rental company they point you to, which makes things difficult.

Anyone else hired in Porto for visiting Spain and what was the extra cost over and above the hire.

richardw

Any direct flights to Santiago de Compostela that would suit you?

slinga

We couldn't find any flights there.
But the flight to Vigo had to go through Barcalona and Madrid.
Porto was direct.

But flights are booked.

It's a suggestion on rental cars for cross border travel I'm looking for.

Someone must have done it.:(

brodev

I do not know of any car hire company out of Porto that does cross border travel.

richardw

I booked a hertz car through hertz when I flew to Italy and drove to Croatia, but I did read the agreement small print. Many brokers wouldn't allow it.

slinga

brodev wrote: »

I do not know of any car hire company out of Porto that does cross border travel.

Just as a final update on this.

We used Europcar in the end.
Very helpful and full border crossing allowed from Porto to Spain, no problem. I got the impression that other car rentals also allowed these days.

Europcar also included a widget on the windscreen which made motorway car tolls easy in Portugal. They recorded the toll automatically and you pay the toll to the rental company. In Spain you have to stop and pay the toll by hand but in Portugal just drive straight through.
OK the widget hire was Euro 15 for however long the car hire. And we used nearly 10 quid on tolls but because the exchange rate moves between when we used it and 7 weeks later when they asked us to pay it only cost two quid!!!! Of course if the exchange rate had move in the opposite direction I would have been hopping mad:rotfl:

BTW POrto was great as was Santiago Di Compostella and all the places in between
We really enjoyed the Galicia region.