Bloopers and Blunders from Driving in Portugal

This is a continuation of my Portugal trip report. See Back from Portugal! Some Thoughts, Review: TAP Air Portugal Business Class ORD to LIS, Review: Iberia Premium Economy MAD to DFW, 48 hours in Lisbon, Review: My Story Hotel Augusta, 4 nights in Nazaré  Visiting Leiria, Obidos and Sintra

On my family’s recent trip to Portugal, we did something we usually don’t do on vacations (and especially in Europe): We rented a car. Normally, we rely on public transportation. It’s so much more relaxing! But for this trip, we wanted to go a few places that weren’t convenient by bus or train. We experienced a few blunders with our rental car, which we can now laugh about.

Mixing up our rental car name/year

I used Autoslash to find the best rate for a small SUV, which ended up being $142 for 4 days through Priceline with Enterprise. We received a Peugeot SUV with a “2008” metal plate on the hood. We were puzzled why we received such an “old” rental car and wondered how it was in such good shape for being 16 years old. Later, we discovered that 2008 is the name of the model, not the year of the model.

Getting used to stick shift

After our two days in Lisbon (without a car), we rode an Uber back to the airport to rent a car for the next 4 days. Most rental cars are standard transmission (stick shift). I don’t know how to drive one, but my husband does. Or at least he used to know, but he hadn’t driven one in about 20 years. But it’s just like riding a bike, right? You never forget?

While we were still in the car rental parking garage, we turned the wrong direction and had to back up. My husband couldn’t figure out how to get the car in reverse because it was different than the stick shift cars he’d driven before. We idled in the parking lot for a few minutes while we figured it out. Thankfully, my husband soon got the hang of the different gears.

Roundabout befuddlement

Europe loves roundabouts, and Portugal is no exception. Now in my town, we have a few roundabouts, and we know the rules of driving in them. However, most of our local roundabouts are just two streets intersecting. It’s pretty clear where to get on and off the roundabout. However, in Portugal, the roundabouts were more complex. Many had 5-6 exits, so we really had to pay attention to the map.

Every time we entered a roundabout, it was game on! It was a bit stressful. We did take the wrong exit of a roundabout once and the GPS couldn’t re-route us back to the main road. So, we took the long way home.

Driving in the wrong lane

Portugal has a tollway that runs north to south that is relatively new and quiet. It has 3 lanes each direction (at least in the parts where we were driving). At one point, we were driving in the middle lane and a man honked at us and had some hand wild gestures. Later, we asked our local friends about it, and they told us that driving in any lane but the right lane is illegal unless you are passing. They really take this seriously in Portugal. Oops!

Running out the parking meter clock

We knew that having a car in Lisbon would be a hindrance due to narrow streets and lack of parking. But, we had the same issue in the other towns we visited. When we visited Sintra, we had to park at the train station and walk/Uber due to lack of parking. I guess when they constructed those castles hundreds of years ago, they didn’t think to build parking lots for all these tourists. 😂

We had to pay for parking at a meter back at the train station, and the machine would only take exact change. So, our time was a bit shorter than we wanted. We ended up returning almost an hour past our allotted time and I was worried the car would be towed. Thankfully, it was not. Whew!

Is renting a car necessary in Portugal?

It really depends on where you want to go. You can take a short train ride from Lisbon to Sintra. And from Lisbon, you can take FlixBus to Nazare. However, Portugal’s bus and train routes didn’t seem as extensive as we’ve seen in other countries like France, Italy and Switzerland.

From our home base in Nazare, there were no direct buses to Leiria and Obidos. So, the car was necessary. Also, the car was handy to have for trips to the grocery store.

Why I’d rather skip the rental car next time

I’d rather not rent a car in Portugal again due to the time and stress of having a rental car. Picking up and dropping off the car in Lisbon took more time than I had planned. And I think I have PTSD from those roundabouts, and I wasn’t even the one driving! But, it’s all part of the adventure of travel.

Back in 2018, we rented a car and drove around New Zealand. Compared to that (driving on the left side of the road and on some steep mountain passes), driving around Portugal was a piece of cake. Drivers weren’t as crazy as I’ve seen in other European countries (I’m talking about you, Russia!). So overall, despite our blunders, we did ok with the car. But, I’d still rather take the train.

Have you rented a car in Europe? What has been your experience?