Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - Car Rental in Lisbon

My friend and I are headed to Lisbon this weekend and are interested in seeing Porto, Coimbra, and Pinhao. Any recommendations on how to get around? We wanted to rent a car, but neither of us drive manual... And those cars seem quite expensive. Any suggestions? Thanks!

1Konsultant

Not a very constructive answer but I used to live in Lisbon and car rental struck me as incredibly economical. A woman started a business there putting racks in the hotels with business cards / tiny flyers in them. The independent car rental companies with their cards in the racks have stunning rates. Or at least they used to. I used to get a little Fiat if I was bored at the weekends just because driving around the cobbled hills in Lisbon is hilarious fun. Don't know Pinhao but the roads to Coimbra and Porto are great quality

I am sure they could fix you up with an auto for a bit more.

In short, don't book online, book an indie company when you arrive from the little racks in the hotels

Thanks, Johnny! Fingers crossed there are still good rates for an automatic!

Since you're a local, any recs on places to eat or things to do? We're open and enjoy getting a feel for the local scene as opposed to touristy things. Obrigado!

I´m not a local, I´m an ex local but this restaurant is my favourite restaurant anywhere I have ever been. The ambience is perfect, the maitre D is always an elegant woman wearing purple velvet, it is imposing and of course has great food.

http://www.alcantaracafe.com/pt/asp/default.asp

Lisbon also has the worst restaurant I have ever been to
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189158-d1151321-Reviews-Galeto-Lisbon_Estremadura.html

I don't know how it gets 4 stars on trip advisor, the food smells putrid.

For nightlife then you need to cab it out of town to somewhere like Docas de Alcantara for clubs etc.

Actually last time I went was 2008 and that is not necessarily true, Bairro Alto was a deadly night out (we went for a stag do) lots of great indie bars, locals and cool restaurants offering honest and simple Portuguese fare.

My favourite thing about Lisbon is the excellent cafés, a short espresso is called uma bica and it is pure nectar, the best coffee I have ever had is there in Lisbon, must be the water. With uma bica the quality is inversely proportional to the price. Head into an off the beaten track place just away from the centre and it will cost 1€ and be delicious. Obviously you need to be drinking that with pastel de nata too.

A popular local snack is called a prego. A steak roll basically. Also cheap and good.

Have a great time, Lisbon is an absolutely precious city

We just returned from Portugal and decided to take the train up from Lisbon to Porto as that was quicker. Then we rented a car in Porto and drove back to Lisbon stopping in Conimbriga, Coimbra, Tomar, Alcobaca, Nazare, Batalha, and Obidos on the way back. Fortunately, we drive manual, but if you can't find an automatic rental, it's possible to take the train down from Porto to Coimbra and then back to Lisbon though there are some great sights along the way if you can work out a rental. Coimbra was great. Do not miss the library at the univerisity. The visit tickets are timed, so either book in advance on the web or stop by early to get your ticket.

My favourite thing about Lisbon is the excellent cafés, a short espresso is called uma bica and it is pure nectar, the best coffee I have ever had is there in Lisbon, must be the water. With uma bica the quality is inversely proportional to the price. Head into an off the beaten track place just away from the centre and it will cost 1€ and be delicious.

1€ is too expensive. Any place where it costs over 0.70€ is charging tourist prices ;)

And it's not water, it's the proper ratio of water to coffee.

A popular local snack is called a prego. A steak roll basically. Also cheap and good.
That goes extremely well at 3AM with an imperial -- beer from the tap. (In the north the term is fino (read: finoo).

As far as getting around, the train will take less time than driving to Coimbra or Porto and will cost about the same for 2 people, once you take into account prices for gas (1.7€/L for gasoline; converts to ~US$8/gallon; diesel is closer to 1.5-1.6€/L), tolls (about 20€ each way between Lisbon and Porto) and the price of the rental.

You do miss out on being able to see small towns along the way.

1€ is too expensive. Any place where it costs over 0.70€ is charging tourist prices ;)


Ha ha, when I lived there everything was in Escudos, I forget even what the escudo to euro fixed rate was. (300 Escudos for uma bica?)

I am sure you are right, I was in LIS the night the Euro launched and have been back a few times since and 1€ seemed to be the norm but I didn't go off the beaten track as much as when I lived there.

Another restaurant recommendation for lunch (I presume it is still there) is Clube dos empresarios on Av da Republica.

Actually it is sort of three restaurants rolled into one and has different menus and prices depending on where in the building you are. I recommend the bife a portuguesa if they have it on the menu. A typical Portuguese dish done real well.

For an evening there is also a place called "Pecado da gula" (The sin of greed) which if I remember rightly is on Rua da Misericórdia.

It is an antiques shop and all of the tables and chairs and lamps etc are for sale, maybe even to salt shakers, I don't remember.

They at least used to have a completely random menu, the scallops alight doesn't work as it tastes of paraffin but the pheasant with a dipping chocolate was absolutely mindblowing

For an evening there is also a place called "Pecado da gula" (The sin of greed) which if I remember rightly is on Rua da Misericórdia.

Johny,

I'm Brazilian, not Portuguese, so I frequently have some of the same surprises as American and British people have when they compare their languages.

In Brazilian Portuguese, gula means gluttony, not greed.

Is it different in Portugal? Or was it a translation lapse (perhaps a mix of two favorite sins :))?

I'm Brazilian, not Portuguese, so I frequently have some of the same surprises as American and British people have when they compare their languages.

In Brazilian Portuguese, gula means gluttony, not greed.

Is it different in Portugal? Or was it a translation lapse (perhaps a mix of two favorite sins :))?

It's probably a translation lapse into English. Gula is close to its latin root, and concerns the very act of eating in an intemperate way: that's gluttony in English. Greed also describes excess, but is more concened with desire and acquisition. Food is but a subset target of greed - in this case describing the desire for food and its acquistion rather than the way it is consumed.

I'm not trying to teach granny to suck eggs! Just pointing out that while there is a clear distinction between the two sins in English, UK users of the language tend to conflate the notions of gluttony and greed in everyday usage. This conflation can manifest itself in the way translations from other languages are handled.

In a similar way, English users generally fail to distinguish, in language terms, between jealousy and envy - a distinction quite clear to most native speakers of Portuguese.

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Dragging this post back on track - if anyone is fortunate in locating a reasonably priced automatic car in the fleet of a lisbon-based car hire company, please post the information here.

Dragging this post back on track - if anyone is fortunate in locating a reasonably priced automatic car in the fleet of a lisbon-based car hire company, please post the information here.

I rented a car this summer [1week rental, renting from LIS dropping off the car up North with Avis] through this consolidater site
http://www.portugal-auto-rentals.com/.
Worked pretty well, and the cheapest I could find. No need to pre-pay or send CC details. You book and get a voucher/confirmation by email.

They have an automatic car category (see 22,23,24,25 under car type). They have at least 15 car rental companies in their database.

GBM

They have an automatic car category (see 22,23,24,25 under car type). They have at least 15 car rental companies in their database.

GBM


Thanks for that!

Three days for EUR 64 instead of the AVIS/Budget etc at EUR240+....