is it better to organise or pre-book car hire before arriving at the resort or is car hire widely available and easy to book locally ?
i know it might be a bit late in the day but i will be travelling this week and staying for only one week !
any advice ?

All depends if you need a car from the airport or the resort.
We allways pre-book our car hire through the link on the home page of this site. Always had good cars, and seem to be very reasonable. We need to be able to drive from the airport and then returning the car to Faro at the end of our stay, always been good, clean cars I would reccomend them to anyone. For car hire in the resort I will have to leave that to the others on this Forum as I don't know.
Have a good time

It won't be a problem to hire a car in the village during your stay. It will be fine at Faro too but maybe cheaper to book in advance.

You can hire a car from Faro airport (for a week) for the same price as taking a taxi each way - please check prices at www.algarvedriver.com

thanks for the info. i am travelling in a large party ( 6 adults 3 children ) and since it is my first time in the country i will take private hire from and to the airport.
we will probably hire 2 small vehicles for a few days to explore a bit, so giving that we are travelling in a couple of days time, do you think it's best to hire locally ? its just the availability i'm worried about ! is the standard UK driving licence sufficient or are there other documents required ?

gj

gj - I have had no problem hiring cars to be delivered to the villa - there are any numbers of companies in the area but in fact I have used Steen's bunch with success. I do not think you will have any problem with avalability since you are not yet in high season.

Your driving license and passport is all that is required BUT if you have the new 'credit card' style license bear in mind that this is not a full driving license - they also need to see the paper part.

As a final caution - since the UK does not have photo ID cards it is a requirement that you have your passport with you when driving, and the local boys in blue have been known to make spot checks as a fund-raising exercise for their department (or themselves)

PS Another good reason for using Steen's guys is that they don't charge extra for child seats - this is an outrageous con by Hertz et al who knock you almost as much for the seats as they do the car!

Ouch that Hertz.

.........oh, and while i'm on the boys in blue or ideed those in green need to make a living too, and if you do nicked, then pay the man and ask for a receipt (recibo).

I've been driving in my car...