I travelled through Portugal in the summer of 2025, as I toured the Iberian Peninsula.
You can read more about my adventures in the blog series “Siestas and Sunsets: Iberian Adventures (Part 1)“. I loved my time in Portugal so much that I am going back to do all the things I never got to do during that trip. Part 2 of the adventure is happening this summer (2026)!
Language
As always, I had endeavoured to learn some of the language before my trip. I would always recommend at least knowing how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in the language of the country you are in. Even if speaking to someone whose English is very good, a little effort goes a long way. However, I will admit that Portuguese kind of defeated me!
As we were not straying too far from the regular tourist routes, we were lucky to find some excellent English speakers. But I’m not sure how far off the beaten track that might extend. So as always I would recommend that if you don’t know the language too well, be sure to have Google translate to hand.
Driving
I really enjoyed driving through Portugal, aside from a few traffic issues around Braga. Many of the roads are long and straight and pretty deserted. So if you don’t hit traffic you can pretty much guarantee your times.
I did meet a few tolls, luckily my ‘Bip & Go‘ toll tag seemed to work ok in Portugal. I would 100% recommend getting yourself one of those!
Another thing to be wary of is the likelihood of forest fires as we did have a few diversions due to those.
I drove in the 2 main cities, Lisbon and Porto and found it easy enough. Although I did mess up my exit after crossing the Ponte Vasco de Gama in Lisbon. I ended up having to back track and cross again – and the bridge was huge so it is 15 minutes each way!!
As with other European countries, you’ll need to have your car kitted out with safety triangle, hi viz, spare bulbs, paperwork etc. And you’ll need to have either a UK marked numberplate or bumper sticker.
Public transport
I didn’t actually use any public transport while in Portugal, although I had researched prior to the trip and it seemed really good.
Timezone
A word of caution, if travelling from Portugal to Spain (or vice versa) remember that there is a time zone change. This almost caught me out, and I nearly missed the deadline for entering my overnight camping!
Posts about Portugal
The posts relating to my days in Portugal are linked below. My trip started off in Northern Spain. I then made my way down through Portugal, visiting Braga, Porto, Lisbon and Faro, and then went back into Southern Spain via Gibraltar.
