Tolls on Portuguese motorways

[Lavanda]

i had a few days in Portugal this month. Paying for the tolls was pretty easy; get a ticket on entering the toll zone and pay on leaving. However, there are additional weird automatic toll zones where a camera on a gantry clocks the car number on entering and then on leaving the zone. You can get prepaid tickets for these, but a driver is supposed to log on to ... somewhere ... and check if they owe any money. Does anyone have any idea how this works, please?

[olive]

Us too. Last year we were in Badajoz and contemplated a diversion into Portugal but decided against in case we inadvertently ended up on a motorway. We tend to be flexible on routes .

The stuff we googled was fine for say a trip from Spain to and back from say Faro airport.

Oh for the old days of throw the cash or flash the card. The Dartford crossing leaves much to be desired for foreigners. OK you can pay by internet but who prioritises that when on a long tiring journey………. Your 24 hour grace soon vanishes.

[Lavanda]

Agree. I liked the person in the box who told us how much to pay and we gave them lots of specially prepared coins. It worked fine.

It's really baffling. The only way I knew there was an additional toll is that a family member said something vague about it and now I have no idea how to find out if I owe money — or not. If I just leave t maybe someday in five years time I will get a bill for €3.52 plus interest and it will be €942.00. Who knows? It's a really stupid system.

[markwilding]

Most tolls in Spain either have an aitomatic ticket machine or the old fashiomed booths that you both crave. However, having it done auromatically must be highly convimient for drivers who have to pass through them on a daily basis at peak time. Public transport also benefits because drivers don't have to get involved as the accounts are settled by the HO.
BTW, Spain is little by litle getting rid of tolls.

[Lavanda]

Agree, Mark, but how do I find out if I owe any money? That’s the problem.

[Wicksey]

https://www.portugaltolls.com/en

Not sure if you have to register to check if you owe anything. Otherwise, a bit of googling came up with this
https://portal.ascendi.pt/en/pesquisa-por-matricula

We went to Portugal earlier this year and I had the same question. None of the roads on our route were electronic tolls. The A6 from Badajoz to Lisbon was toll but we paid as we exited (we went on the A6,A10, A13, A1 and A8). The main electronic one is the Algarve coastal one and there's a lot more in the north around Oporto. There is a map here
https://infraestruturas.maps.arcgis.com ... 7ca75d6118
the orange roads are electronic tolls.

[Wicksey]

Us too. Last year we were in Badajoz and contemplated a diversion into Portugal but decided against in case we inadvertently ended up on a motorway. We tend to be flexible on routes .

The A6 west from Badajoz is the traditional type of toll road. It was the main route we used to get to the west coast north of Lisbon and it was nice and empty.

[Enrique]

Hi Lavanda,

Look on this site.................

https://www.pagamentodeportagens.pt/PPP ... Claim.aspx

pop your registration and dates in.

[Lavanda]

Thank you, both.

The A6 is my kind of road. Empty.

[markwilding]

I think everyone can agree to that. That’s why I prefer the ´Via de la Plata´, toll free to travel from north to south of Spain or to use the toLl roads out of Madrid, which are almost car free and the new toll motorway around Malaga.
Googling, the advice is, if travelling to Portugal, research and prepare the journey before setting off. I would say that is excellent advice about anywhere that is not familiar

[Wicksey]

The A6 is my kind of road. Empty.

The only motorways that were much busier were the A8, the coastal one near where we stayed, and the A1 which is the main route north from Lisbon. Otherwise, once we'd passed Cordoba, it was pretty quiet and easy driving (although that was April and not the height of summer which I'm sure is different).

I agree Mark. I always spend some time Googling before going anywhere. I have a Tomtom and set it up with the help of Google maps to make sure it takes me the way I want to go! We like maps generally, and always like to know where we're going before we set off and to get the lay of the land.

[Lavanda]

Excellent links Wicksey. On the map, I could identify the exact road that we took that has the Electronic Toll. I plonked all my details into the form provided and ... so far ... nothing to pay. It did say that I had to wait up to 30 days for details to show up and that I should try again near the 30 day deadline which, now I know what I am doing, is simple enough.

Thank you, everyone.

PS I did calculate the entire journey on GoogleEarth and took street view photos of junctions so I would recognise the signs. It's a bit Heath Robinson but it works for me as I don't have a SatNav and feel I could probably carry on as I am and live without it.

[Wicksey]

I did calculate the entire journey on GoogleEarth and took street view photos of junctions so I would recognise the signs. It's a bit Heath Robinson but it works for me as I don't have a SatNav and feel I could probably carry on as I am and live without it.

Glad that works Ok for you.

My Tomtom isn't new and I know that most people use their phones these days, but I like the screen on the satnav as it's very clear. I also can preset places I'm going to as favourites and it's quick to set it up, although it seems to take an age to initially pick up the satellite signal which can be a pain. Plus I don't always have data on the phone, although I think you can download maps to use offline, but I just don't find the instructions as clear. I want to keep the portable one (as opposed to a built in one in the car) as I have free lifetime updates, plus I like to set the favourites in conjuction with Google maps on the laptop so it's easier to have it indoors.

Considering we did huge road trips in America in the 1990s with nothing more than a mapbook and a Best Western directory, we are getting soft in our old age Although the roads are generally a lot busier these days and when negotiating complicated motorway turns and lanes, I do find my Tomtom (she's called Doris ) very reassuring. If I do get lost she picks me up and gets me back on track.

[Lavanda]

That facility is very useful - getting back on track after going wrong. My system doesn’t have that option!!!

[markwilding]

If you have a smartpphne, you have Sat-Nav. What a lot of people do is to put a phone holder so they can see the directions easily. Newer cars have carplay or Andriod auto, which mirrors the phone screen onto the car's screen. It is also possible to do it with Tom Tom but it's quite expensive. I tend to use Google or Apple's versions and both have favourites. No matter where you are, if you ask for directions to home, it guides you out of unfamiliar towns.

Now I have unlimited data but when data was limited, the offline facilty was very useful.

[Lavanda]

I do have an iphone. I ought to investigate more of these apps it came with, obviously. Thanks, Mark.