traveling from faro to caldas da rainha

Train is not an option! The last train to Lisbon leaves Faro at 17:00.

The last Renex Bus to Lisbon leaves Faro Bus Station at 20:00. He will need at least one hour to clear immigration, collect bags and get a taxi into Faro Bus/Train Station.

However, there is an overnight Rede Expressos Bus service leaving Faro Bus at 01:30 arriving Lisbon at 07:00 and connecting with a bus arriving in Caldas at 08:10.

For details goto to my blog:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right till you see a panel entitled

»»Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

In there you will find links to the relevant timetables including one entitled

"Rede-Expressos - National Bus Timetable - Updated"

This will take you to the Rede Expressos website. (Only in Portuguese)

I would not recommend driving as if you come by the A2 motorway you will also have to pay tolls both ways and at that time of year the weather can be the pits. If you take the old IC1 road, you will be restricted to 90kph. It will take as long as the bus.

Portugal - Murcia

Vale!

Que se ha encontrado un problema importante que se enfrenta a muchos viajeros que deseen viajar por todo el Pensnisula Ibérica.

Sólo hay dos trenes expresos por día entre Portugal y España. Estos son los Lusitania Express noche a la mañana, entre Lisboa y Madrid, y el Sud-Express desde Lisboa a París, que pasa por el norte de España. Para llegar a Murcia con tren, habría que ir a Madrid y desde allí a Murcia a través de Alicante.

No hay vuelos baratos directos de Lisboa o Porto a cualquier aeropuerto, cerca de Murcia.

De autobuses de larga distancia a través de Madrid o Sevilla podría ser una posibilidad, pero sería un viaje muy largo para los niños.

La única otra posibilidad, sería tomar un vuelo de bajo coste desde Oporto (Ryanair) de Madrid Barajas y después otro vuelo de bajo coste (Ryanair) de Madrid Barajas a Alicante. A continuación, puede alquilar un coche allí.

Desde Lisboa, puede ser capaz de conseguir vuelos de bajo coste a Madrid Barajas utilizando vueling.com o easyjet.com.

No hay vuelos de bajo coste desde Madrid a Murcia.

De lo contrario, me temo que el coche es la única opción.

Lisbon Airport - Figueira da Foz

The cheapest and probably most direct way by public transport is to take a Rede - Expressos ( http://www.rede-expressos.pt/ ) bus from Lisbon Sete Rios Coach Station to Figueira da Foz. To get there from Lisbon Airport take the following bus which leaves from outside the Arrivals hall:

(Aeroshuttle - Copy of note from current Lisbon Airport website.) Aeroshuttle (CARRIS Nº96) - Available everyday, every 30 minutes between 7am and 11pm, the aeroshuttle connects Gare Oriente - Airport - Entrecampos - Sete Rios Coach Station - Praça de Espanha.

Tickets (3,50€) can be purchased onboard and also in the Tourism Office at arrivals (public area).

Tel. +351 213 582 334)

Transit time about 20 minutes.

Horários
LISBOA Sete Rios FIGUEIRA FOZ
Bus Station (203 Kms)
Depart Arrive Frequency
08:30 11:15 Daily
12:00 14:30 Saturdays or (Fridays if public holiday)
14:45 17:15 Saturdays or (Fridays if public holiday)
15:45 18:30 Daily
18:30 21:30 Daily
20:00 22:30 Saturdays or (Fridays if public holiday)

Price - one way - € 12.50

You need to arrive at least 30 minutes before departure to buy a ticket.

Faro: from the bus station to the airport

See Cubsur's excellent site here for airport bus schedules:

http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/003.htm

Price from Airport to Faro Centre depending on time of day/week and bags will be € 10.00 to € 11.00.

Petition for Porto to Scotland Air Route

Rui Costa has started a Petition to Ryanair to consider starting an air route between Porto in the North of Portugal and Scotland.

If you would like to read and/or sign the petition visit:

http://www.petitiononline.com/so_ryan/petition.html

Thanks to Sergio Bastos - http://www.lowcostportugal.net
for the link

Ryanair - Faro - Porto - Passenger Loadings.

In a press report today, Ryanair have reported that their new service between Faro and Porto has been operating with 80% passenger loadings during its first three weeks of operation.

Press report here in Portuguese:

http://www.lowcostportugal.net/aeroportos/porto-%E2%80%93-faro-com-80-%E2%80%9Cload-factor%E2%80%9D-nas-primeiras-semanas/2009/11/

Barcelona to Faro

At present, there are no direct flights, trains or buses from Barcelona to Faro.

Ryanair tried a flight a couple of years ago but there was not enough trafiic.

There are routes that are relatively easy but it does require switching between airports and bus/train stations in either Seville or Lisbon.

If you have some one in Faro, you would be better off having them travelling to Seville or Lisbon airports and meeting the boys there.

The following airlines fly from Barcelona to Seville:

# SPANAIR

# VUELING AIRLINES

# IBERIA

The following airlines fly from Barcelona/Girona to Seville:

# Ryanair

The following airlines fly from Barcelona to Seville:

# Vueling

# TAP

One other option that may be quite pricey given the time of year is by airberlin.com via their hub at Palma da Mallorca. The current winter timetables shows through booking from Barcelona to Faro daily. However, I do know that in summer that this schedule can be reduced as there are more direct flights to Faro from Germany. Their summer schedule does not yet appear to be online.

Madeira News

Two local sources have confirned that Transavia will begin direct scheduled services between Porto and Madeira from March 2010.

See:(In Portuguese)

http://ultimahora.jornaldamadeira.pt/index.php?/pt/noticias/200911205444/noticias/economia/transavia-com-nova-ligacao-porto-funchal-em-marco.html

and

http://www.lowcostportugal.net/aeroportos/porto-funchal-via-transavia-marco-2010/2009/11/

I have also be apprised recently of two new commercial services offering car hire and transport services in Madeira.

Madeira Transfers

and

Funchal Car Hire

Lagos, Algarve - Beach Reclamation Project

A dredger arrived in Lagos, yesterday and, for the next two months, will be taking sand from Meia Praia to increase the size of Praia Dona beach.

Photo here. I only had my mobile with me so the resolution is not that good but the dredger is right centre.



Article (in Portuguese) here:

http://dn.sapo.pt/inicio/portugal/interior.aspx?content_id=1425633&seccao=Sul

Almancil - Algarve - Portugal - Man Stuck in Supermarket Wall

It's all over the web, thanks to an enterprising young Romanian who did not know his own waist size, and consequently ended up giving the Algarve and Almancil more publicity on the web than all the paid media advertising one could wish for!

For those who have not seen it...here is it again, courtesy of You Tube.