Thursday 17 May 2007

Lisbon to Olhos d'Agua

Olhos d'Agua is a coastal resort situated approximately 8 km east of the well known central Algarve Town of Albufeira. It is located +- 265km south of Lisbon.

The Algarve is the southern most region of Portugal. In high summer (August) it is very hot and very full of tourists from all over Europe.

While a taxi would be do-able, it would cost in the order of +- Euro 300.

The main airport for the Algarve is Faro International Airport situated 40 km west of Olhos d'Agua.

You should note that there are 3 or 4 scheduled flights per day between Lisbon and Faro operated by the national airline TAP-Air Portugal. However, there is a long established complication of people missing connections to these flights to faro if their inbound to Lisbon is delayed. I generally therefore recommend people to fly direct to Faro if possible when visiting the Algarve or if they have to fly into Lisbon, use land transport.

Unfortunately, the Hotel and Olhos d'Agua is not well situated in terms of access to long-range transport hub. This will mean either having to get the hotel to pick you up from a transport hub.

Your transport options for Lisbon Airport to Olhos d'Agua are:

1) Hire a Rental Car.

There is a tollway practically all the way from Lisbon Airport to Albufeira. Then local roads for the last 10 kms or so.

Transit time would be about 3 hours. In summer allow 30 minutes more as it is very hot traversing the Alentejo region and traffic can be extreme.

2) Train

Take a taxi from Lisbon Airport to Gare Oriente Station (6 minutes) and then one of the 5 daily trains from there to Albufeira Station. You would then arrange for the hotel to have a car waiting for you there to take you the last 20kms.
This is a good way if you want to see South Rural Portugal

3) Long Distance Coach

This is also a good way to see the countryside but I do not recommend it during the day time in summer. Although the buses have good air conditioning the sun beating down through the glass can be uncomfortable.

Take a taxi from Lisbon Airport to Gare Oriente Bus Station (6 minutes) and then one regular RENEX line buses from there to Vale Paraiaso Bus terminus near Albufeira. You would then arrange for the hotel to have a car waiting for you there to take you the last 20kms.

Please note that Olhos d'Agua is situated on the extreme South Coast of Portugal. There is a lot of Portugal to see and if you want to do culture you should also be looking to visit the regions north of Lisbon including Obidos, Batalha, Coimbra, Serra da Estrela, Porto, Douro etc.

In the Algarve, places to visit include Lagos, Silves, Tavira and the Old town of Faro.

A good site with travel info:

http://www.solpraiaferias.com/index.php?content=cheg_en

Hope this helps.

F