hello, we are flying to Lisbon and hiring a car in May. We wish to drive to CVO. Are the toll roads expensive. would it be wise to avoid them. routes and costs would be appreciated

What, with your back? I think MC is the expert on this route.

hiya LB, booked and paid for the flights,car and places to stay before back went iffy. trust me

we did the lisbon to algarve route at Christmas with Michaels route plan. It was so easy - the motorway being a short distance from the airport and it took us just over two hours with very little traffic. The tolls cost us approximately 17 euros. We would certainly do this again as it saved us a considerable amount of money on the cost of the flights.

Hi Sallyjane, hope all is going ok at the moment with your back. Hope you have a great trip in May, the motorway is a great trip, easy and fairly quick, as charliegil says, takes about 2 hours, the tolls are not that bad when you think you have a lovely safe clear road to drive. You do get to see some of the flatter countryside in the trip down, mainly agricultural land.

Take care

Hi LJ,its very slowly getting better but still have to be carried to bed and lifted to the loo. W e hope things will improve soon. CAB coming out to arrange home help, too much for Richard.
Looking forward to the drive to CVO, IT ALL MAKES A CHANGE

charliegill11 wrote: The tolls cost us approximately 17 euros.

You obviously went through the right barrier on the motorway. When going back to Santander last March we left CVO in the pouring rain, drove through a toll gate on the motorway which didn't have a facility for taking a ticket. When we came off the motorway near Beja we were charged 60 euros because we couldn't produce a ticket.

Last year we drove down to Messines via the motorway but went back via the IC1 both took about 2 hours but the drive was much more less tiring on the IC1. Liz

Did a similar trick to dennisg last year heading to Vila Real from Porto. The toll should have been under 6 euros but it cost about 28.

DaveK wrote:Did a similar trick to dennisg last year heading to Vila Real from Porto. The toll should have been under 6 euros but it cost about 28.

I also found the tolls a bit confusing. We have paid different prices each time we've used them

If you keep away from the lanes with a big green V above (the Via Verde lanes) then you will be able to get a ticket. These lanes read boxes fitted in the front of the car (similar to the Dart Tags used on the Dartford Crossings in the UK) to automatically pay the tolls.

From the BRISA website

Via Verde Portugal — The automatic-toll system called Via Verde, created by Brisa in the 90s, is now a national toll-collection system, installed on all operators’ roadway infrastructure.

We got fined 40 euros going from Lisbon towards Ericeira. We'd only just arrived, were tired etc and tagged along behind another vehicle and got fined at the next toll station so beware.

bica wrote:If you keep away from the lanes with a big green V above (the Via Verde lanes) then you will be able to get a ticket. These lanes read boxes fitted in the front of the car (similar to the Dart Tags used on the Dartford Crossings in the UK) to automatically pay the tolls.

From the BRISA website

Via Verde Portugal — The automatic-toll system called Via Verde, created by Brisa in the 90s, is now a national toll-collection system, installed on all operators’ roadway infrastructure.

I will add this onto to FAQ this afternoon. Thanks for the info.