Algarve car hire and Praia da Rocha

PaulKK

Hi all, heading to the Algarve end of May/start of June for 10 nights with our daughter who will be 7 months old then.

I have booked flights to faro and provisionally booked a hotel facing the beach in Praia da Rocha which has been highly recommended.

The only problem I'm seeing at the moment is getting to praia da Rocha from faro airport. I don't fancy getting a shuttle bus with the baby and all associated luggage.
Due to this I am considering hiring a car with the added bonus of being able to do some exploring.

From researching it looks like Cael or sixt may be the best of a bad bunch of car hire companies? Would anyone have any recommendations in that regard that don't cost the earth for 10 days?

Also would anyone know what the parking situation is like in praia da Rocha or any other general advice on the area.

Its my first time in Portugal so would like to get some advice if possible!

Dricmeister

I drive over there all the time - It's grand. I'd recommend bringing your own car seat. It's ridiculously expensive to rent them. I'd also make sure your rental company is actually in the airport. Some aren't but pupport to be. It can be a pain to get to their premises, especially with a child. Try Argus Car Hire but avoid the offsite providers.

PaulKK

Cheers, I think AL allow the car seat checked on for free so will definitely bring it.

Are there any of the companies that you would avoid in particular?

Would you be familiar with Praia da Rocha? The hotel website mentions something about 15e a day parking which seems pretty steep, are there any free places to leave the car?

Would there be any places in particular worth exploring for a day trip etc?

Dricmeister

We used Auto Europe last year who were the cheapest on Argus. There was no issue with the car, but the whole bus to their premises thing was a pain. The brand names are all actually at the airport...Hertz, Avis, etc. In prior years we've used them or companies based in a hut thing in one of the carparks (P4 or P5 from memory). I'm not familar with Praia de Rocha...sorry

dudara

There's not a lot of parking near the beach. You might find something further back. We've stayed in the Algarve Casino Hotel several times, always with a car, and we use the underground car park. It is about €15/night IIRC.

Another option is to arrange for a cab to collect you from the airport and shuttle you to the hotel. My parents in law do this as they don't want to drive. It's much better than taking the package shuttle as that stops at multiple hotels on the way.

Personally, I tend to use Hertz. I've always gotten good service with them.

ger664

yellowfish transfer will do private hotel transfers at a more reasonable rate then a taxi.

EDit

Try zitauto car hire. Used them loads of times...cheaper than most, you can pay in cash, and cars are usually slightly scuffed and worn (they don't even check them when you return them) so there is no worrying about being fleeced because you got sand in the foot wells or the kids dropped ice cream on the seats.

PaulKK

dudara wrote: »

There's not a lot of parking near the beach. You might find something further back. We've stayed in the Algarve Casino Hotel several times, always with a car, and we use the underground car park. It is about €15/night IIRC.

Thanks, I actually considered that hotel but went with the Jupiter up the road on recommendation.

I'll look in to the taxi thing too, maybe it'd work out easier overall but I wouldn't mind the option of exploring a small bit.

Just read about zitauto and drive 4 fun. They all sound dodgey but reviews are all positive!

Edit: Yellowfish are coming in at 108 return which is a lot cheaper than a car. I may just go with that.

dudara

The Jupiter is quite nice, usually some live music etc, plus only 1 minute walk to the beach.

TBH, having a hire car is a bit of overkill. We have it so we can get out of Praia da Rocha occasionally. Perhaps head to the shopping centre, go for lunch in Portimão or visit a different beach. We have driven out to Sagres or inland to the castle in Silves too.

happyoutscan

LuzCar are the best by a mile! Baby seats are free, comes with a quarter tank so just return it roughly the same. The cars may have some mileage on them but that's not really an issue.

Book through www.economycarhire.com. Just be sure when you've entered your dates and are selecting a car make sure it's from LuzCar (you'll figure it out). Pay by cc and take the extra insurance too, think it's an extra €35.

When collecting the car you can finalise payment by cash, just needing license and passport. They will not ask for your credit card at all unless you are hiring a high end vehicle!

You can also do a search for LuzCar on the TripAdvisor forums for more info.

Best I've ever dealt with. Enjoy the trip, hope this helps.

Seamu$

Have driven over there a few times & it's fine, shouldn't be any hassle. Very handy for exploring along the coastline (Ponte de Piedade is nice), gives you great freedom while there, although based on your childs age you don't need to do Zoomarine, Splash & Slide etc yet! The last time I booked with Guerin (who have an office at the rental village at the airport) through Argus - €262 for 7 days for a Renault Captur (had booked VW Polo or similar). Had no issues & they sorted the toll charges which was handy.

Have used Auto Jardim & Hertz there in the past also, again without issue.

Expect to pay approx €300+ for 10 days. That probably seems expensive, but you're getting a car for €30 a day which isn't bad. Yellowfish return transfer for 2 adults + a child would be €108. So you would have a car for 3 days for that. You could look at finding a hire company that have a depot in Praia da Rocha, hire for 2 or 3 days when you get there & then hire again from there for a day or 2 at the end if you need to keep cost down. I don't think there is an additional charge for returning to a different location, but that would need to be checked.

And as already suggested, definitely take the car seat with you if you can, should be free to take on the plane & will save a fortune. We paid €53 for a 'child toddler' seat for 7 days, had a booster with us.

PaulKK

Thanks for all the advice.

I emailed drive4fun who have insurance etc all included and got a quote of 200 for a small estate (clio/seat ibiza) and 250 for a large one (megane/focus) for the 10 days. Including the tyre cover, airport tax and motorway it works out around 250/300 for the 10 days which seems pretty fair.

I also seem to have found a free car park that opens in praia da rocha during the summer here.

I'll mull it over but it might be nice to be able to visit some of the other beaches or towns.

Tigerandahalf

Hey OP

We are in similar situation to yourself.
Debating whether renting is worth it and the hassle of it with extra hidden charges.
We are getting a quote of 320eur for 14 days with the excess reduced to zero (cost an extra 80eur to do this) with holidayautos.co.uk.

If you are renting make sure it is at the airport for easy pickup, check the fuel policy and always get the excess reduced to zero. Means you can return the car without getting it checked. It may be a small thing but with a baby it is well worth it.

I am still not sure what I will do. A private shuttle is tempting but others above are quoting over 100eur for it. I can see ourselves just relaxing a lot of the days and the car may not be used except for 3 or 4 day trips.
Then there is the issue of tolls and companies not being upfront with everything.
It would definitely be nice to have the freedom to travel for a few days and getting taxis/shuttles would quickly add up plus you would be dragging a car seat with you.

Tigerandahalf

OP I checked out another couple of rentals via argus car hire.
An Opel Corsa 5 door is coming up at 226eur incl reducing the excess to zero.
The previous quote was 320 for a VW Polo 5 door. Not much difference in those cars.
The cheaper quote is with Discovery while the dearer one is with Cael rentacar.
Cael have a very high rating on argus while Discovery has a poor enough one .. 6.1 compared to 9.1.
I don't know if they are both right in the airport or not.
Holidayautos does seem to have free cancellation. Not sure about argus.

PaulKK

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Hey OP

We are in similar situation to yourself.
Debating whether renting is worth it and the hassle of it with extra hidden charges.
We are getting a quote of 320eur for 14 days with the excess reduced to zero (cost an extra 80eur to do this) with holidayautos.co.uk.
...

I am still not sure what I will do. A private shuttle is tempting but others above are quoting over 100eur for it. I can see ourselves just relaxing a lot of the days and the car may not be used except for 3 or 4 day trips.
Then there is the issue of tolls and companies not being upfront with everything.
It would definitely be nice to have the freedom to travel for a few days and getting taxis/shuttles would quickly add up plus you would be dragging a car seat with you.

This is exactly what I am thinking too. I don't want to get a private transfer then kick myself that we didn't have the car after. It seems pricey enough to rent one for a couple of days in praia da Rocha itself too.

Then as you say there are tolls and hidden charges too. I think I'd be looking at approx 320 for a megane estate with zero excess, tyre lock and windscreen cover and 15e motorway credit but excluding fuel costs.

I think its madness that they tolled the motorway there in such a strange way. If you don't have a tag you pay at the post office after 48 hours.. Very off putting tbh.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

OP I checked out another couple of rentals via argus car hire.
An Opel Corsa 5 door is coming up at 226eur incl reducing the excess to zero.
The previous quote was 320 for a VW Polo 5 door. Not much difference in those cars.
The cheaper quote is with Discovery while the dearer one is with Cael rentacar.
Cael have a very high rating on argus while Discovery has a poor enough one .. 6.1 compared to 9.1.

Thanks for doing this research but I'd say we would need an estate. We'd have 2 large bags and a buggy and probably a cabin bag too.

Holidays were a lot more straightforward without kids

Tigerandahalf

We would have the same baggage as yourself. The buggy in the boot and the 2 bags could be belted into the passenger seat. It would be tight though.
The motorways in Spain are a bit of a farce as well as high toll charges have meant people don't use them.

I haven't seen anything about tolls or tyre cover when booking. Where did you see that?
I have a satnav with lifetime european maps so I could use the option of avoid tolls if they were very expensive.
To be honest I can't understand why companies don't just give a complete quote that covers everything.
I drove in Spain before and I think I used one of the bigger companies. Had no hassle once the excess was reduced to zero and just had to return the car full of fuel.
A lot of the smaller companies can appear cheaper but they catch you out on the small details.

PaulKK

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

We would have the same baggage as yourself. The buggy in the boot and the 2 bags could be belted into the passenger seat. It would be tight though.
The motorways in Spain are a bit of a farce as well as high toll charges have meant people don't use them.

I haven't seen anything about tolls or tyre cover when booking. Where did you see that?
I have a satnav with lifetime european maps so I could use the option of avoid tolls if they were very expensive.
To be honest I can't understand why companies don't just give a complete quote that covers everything.
I drove in Spain before and I think I used one of the bigger companies. Had no hassle once the excess was reduced to zero and just had to return the car full of fuel.
A lot of the smaller companies can appear cheaper but they catch you out on the small details.

Well I got a quote of 200 for a seat Ibiza estate but adding on 30 for the tyre, glass and key cover and 20 for toll then its about 250. I got the quote from drive 4 fun which seems well reviewed.

I'm still not convinced that the seat Ibiza would be big enough. I have a 3 series here and I can barely get all the stuff in sometimes!

I read about the tolls on trip advisor etc. I think it's the A22 that has electronic toll cameras. Some companies do not provide a toll tag at all, some do. You can only pay the toll after 48 hours in a post office if you do not have the tag. The old road is a possibility but apparently it adds at least 20 mins to the journey for us each way.

It seems that none of the companies include this tyre cover etc and and its advisable to get it. Drive 4 fun are one of the few that have zero excess for collision insurance though.

For example I saw sixt have a Renault captur for about 270 for the 10 days but their insurance cover is something like 20 quid a day or risk the excess of 1200!

When I rent I usually like not to have to worry about that stuff.

I have a sat nav myself but last time I was in Spain I just used Google maps with a data add on on my phone.. You can download the area in advance also, very handy.

Trip advisor link on tyre cover:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g189116-i1083-k4719929-Car_hire_from_Faro_Airport-Faro_Faro_District_Algarve.html

Toll info:

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Travel-g189111-c173877/Algarve:Portugal:Algarve.Toll.Road.html

What town are you staying in?

Tigerandahalf

I checked out airport transfers with yellowfish. For Praia de Rocha it was 108eur return. We might stay in Albufeira which would be only 60eur return. Not sure why there is such a difference.
I might check out drive4fun. It does seem cheap but hopefully a good service.
I wouldn't mind renting out a bike and doing a sightseeing trip some day and I think that might relieve the cabin fever of being stuck in the one place if I don't rent a car.
I am hoping there are enough things to do there.

Just gave a look on drive4fun site. You can't seem to book online. You have to email them?
The holidayautos site allows free cancellation which is handy to have.

I got a quote through email from drive4fun. By the time you add up everything it is about 300 for the 14 days.
You still have to have a credit card authorised to the value of 300eur however they are glad to take cash off of you for the rental itself. Bit dodgy to me. It seems like a small operation.

I am also not sure whether they cover you if you bump the car. They say on the site that they will only cover for damage to the car on receipt of a police report. What would happen if some lad rammed you while you had the car parked up?

I might hold off booking for the time being.

ger664

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I checked out airport transfers with yellowfish. For Praia de Rocha it was 108eur return. We might stay in Albufeira which would be only 60eur return. Not sure why there is such a difference.

Albuferia is 30 minutes from the airport where as Praia Da Rocha is close to an hour. They use the motorway as well so the Extra Toll would account for this.

Also watch the date 10th of June and 15th of August are public holidays. And higher rates will apply especially for taxis.

PaulKK

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I wouldn't mind renting out a bike and doing a sightseeing trip some day and I think that might relieve the cabin fever of being stuck in the one place if I don't rent a car.
I am hoping there are enough things to do there.

Just gave a look on drive4fun site. You can't seem to book online. You have to email them?
The holidayautos site allows free cancellation which is handy to have.

I got a quote through email from drive4fun. By the time you add up everything it is about 300 for the 14 days.
You still have to have a credit card authorised to the value of 300eur however they are glad to take cash off of you for the rental itself. Bit dodgy to me. It seems like a small operation.

I am also not sure whether they cover you if you bump the car. They say on the site that they will only cover for damage to the car on receipt of a police report. What would happen if some lad rammed you while you had the car parked up?

Yea I thought it was a bit dodgey too but the reviews are all good in fairness. Going to mull it over myself for a while too. Few months to think about it yet!