Travel:
Getting from the UK to Carvoeiro and around the Algarve.
Motorway Tolls
In December 2011, Tolls were introduced on the Motorway from Faro to Carvoeiro.
The actual cost is really not that onerous - its only a couple of Euros or so.
BUT, if you are renting a car, its the way you are expected to pay that is a total and utter shambles.
There are no toll booths, it is all
electronic and automatic. This would be fine if there were any way to pay, but the current situation requires you to
visit a local Post Office (CTT) between 2 and 5 days after your trip and pay over the counter. All you need is your
car registration number and oodles of patience to stand in queues in the Post Office.
Of course, this is impossible on your return journey to Faro Airport and we have no idea how this will be handled.
January 2012: The Car Rental companies are in discussion with the authorities to find a better solution,
so watch this space for more info. Our best advice is to ask the Car Rental company rep at the time you take delivery of the car.
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Flying from the UK to the Algarve
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| Faro is the main (and only) airport in
the Algarve. There are direct flights to Faro from many UK
airports. We have tried a number of different ways of getting there. Since we
live close to Heathrow and Gatwick, and because our family
has grown up, our choices are inevitably biased.
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Hunting for Flights
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Once on board, there is little to differentiate
one airline from another. The flight is only 2.5 hours each way, so you need
to put into perspective the importance of any differences vs
the price for the flight. We think that total cost is the most
important consideration when selecting flights, followed closely by the jungle of ground
based issues (airport check-in, luggage etc. all of which is discussed
in more detail below). |
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Price
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The basic cost of your flight will vary depending on
- Time of year you want to travel
- Day of week that you travel
- How far in advance you book
- Flexibility of time and day
- Which UK airport you select (taxes and surcharges vary!)
We have found over that past 2-3 years that the flight cost
is now less than half of the total cost of getting there.
So, depending on airline and airport, you also may need to consider:
- Cost of getting to and/or parking at chosen UK airport
- Any costs for checked baggage
- Optional add-on costs for pre-boarding or allocated seats
- Optional add-on costs for extra legroom or similar
- Additional costs on board for food and drink
Armed now with the list of considerations, you can now set
about hunting for available flights. A great start point is to
use the many new competing Flight Search Engines appearing on
the Internet. These will each search many different airlines to
find best deals for your chosen dates.
These search engines do differ in the way they operate, they
differ in the list of airlines that they search, and naturally
they differ in usability and features, so we advise trying at
least three different searches to get the best coverage and
options. Once you have found the best flight on the search,
its usually one click to take you to the actual airline booking
system and you then book directly with the airline.
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Hint: When hunting around for flights, many airlines
are happy to quote and carry you one-way only.
Occasionally some worthwhile savings can be made by flying out with one airline
and returning with another.
But do ensure that if you
have left your car at the airport, the returning flight
comes back to the same airport ! A mistake we've made
once with really tortuous consequences. |
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Here's our top 3 Flight Search Engines - Click
on their logo to try
them: |
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Which Airline ?
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Travelling as we do predominantly
from London Gatwick, the choice of carrier may be quite
different from other UK airports and while we cannot offer too
much help on those other airlines, perhaps some of the following
may help.
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There's little to fault the service
and convenience of BA, so whenever the flight price is close to
that of easyJet, this would be our first choice. Unfortunately,
competitive as they try to be, they rarely get close to the no
frills pricing, so we very rarely fly with BA these days.
Why we fly with British Airways:
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The BA website is lovely to use; their prices are
all quoted up front inclusive of all taxes and
surcharges. |
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If you only have hand baggage (as we do most of the
time), you can check in and get seat assignments
on-line, but see final point below. |
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Even if you have checked baggage, you can either
check-in and get seat assignments on-line or at one of
the many touch-screen kiosks in the airport and then go
to the "fast bag drop" counters. Note: with the
popularity of on-line check-in, the queues for "fast bag
drop" sometimes seem very long, but each party checking
in takes much less time, so these queues move quite
smartly. |
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BA usually get the cream of the arrival and
departure gates at Gatwick, which may mean shorter
walks. |
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If we must find fault with BA, they only allow you to check-in on-line within 24 hours of flying time
- or 12 hours if you are not a member of their frequent
flyer program. We've never
understood this constraint - particularly as other
airlines (notably easyJet) manage to do it. |
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No frills airlines sometimes get bad
press and alarmist coverage on TV, but we do understand that they
operate under different conditions from the main flag carriers,
and while their prices are substantially lower we continue to
give them our business.
We've flown over 40 legs with easyJet
between London and Faro in the last few years, and have yet to experience any problems
that were not shared by all other airlines, notably delays due
to fog in London or early morning at Faro, and of course the ever threatening strikes by French Air Traffic
Controllers.
We like to fly with easyJet and take advantage of their very
competitive prices:
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Although we do approve of travel insurance as a
necessity, we hate the way easyJet.com automatically
adds in their own insurance at a late stage of the
booking process on-line. You have to explicitly remove
it, but that's easy to miss, and changing it after you
have booked leads to punitive penalties. |
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Note that since we originally wrote this page, the easyJect booking process has improved
beyond all recognition, and automatic inclusion of travel insurance is no longer an issue. |
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But, on the other hand, their charges for the use of Debit cards remains inexcusable and thier charges for Credit
cards are outrageous. Still, the total price is nonetheless competitive - its just the way it done. |
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Ironically easyJet's policy for changing tickets if
your plans go awry are somewhat more adult than the main
flag carrier airlines. EasyJet will change any leg (one
way ticket) for a nominal fee plus the difference
between what you paid for that leg and the prevailing
cost of the new flight. Cheap flights with British
Airways do not allow any change at all, and tickets have
to be thrown away and new ones bought at the prevailing
rate. |
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New for 2009: At Faro airport, most airlines have to
park on the apron and bus passengers to the terminal.
For some reason, most of easyJet flights now dock at the
jetways directly into the terminal. Its only a small
point, but saves us a few minutes as we rarely have
checked baggage that we need to wait for. |
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When flights at reasonable prices
are not available with either of the above two airlines, we've
been known to fly with Monarch Scheduled services (not Charter).
One can book on-line, check in and get seat allocations on-line
and the on-board service is as good as one can expect on British
Airways or other major carriers. |
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Driving Instructions
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| From Faro Airport to Carvoeiro Town |
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When you book a rental with us, we
will send very detailed joining instructions and map to find our
property. In the meantime, we invite you to download our
legendary driving
instructions from Faro. Driving time is approximately 45
minutes from leaving the airport to arriving at your destination
in Carvoeiro.
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About this Travel Page
We visit Carvoeiro about 5 or 6 times each year, and we have
experienced
quite a wide range of travel options. This is simply a resource that
chronicles our own views, and we hope that it helps you find the
best and most appropriate deals wherever you are travelling from.
Please note: we neither take, nor get paid for any advertising.
From Airport to Carvoeiro
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| Both our properties
are exceptionally well positioned for walking into Carvoeiro town,
where there are many bars, restaurants and the town beach, but
you'll barely do the Algarve any justice unless you have a car for
at least part of the time, and we tend to prefer it all of the time.
By the time you've
taken the costs of Taxis to and from Faro airport plus short term
car hire as you need it, you may well find that hiring a car for
the entire holiday including travel to and from the Airport is a
good deal.
With the arrival of the new Motorway, and our excellent
instructions, driving to and from Faro airport is really quite
painless. When you book with us, we will send more detailed
instructions on how to find the exact property location.
Carvalho Beach - 10 mins drive East.
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Car Hire
Since car hire in the Algarve is extremely popular, it also
means that there are many firms competing for your business, and we
have tried a number of them. They seem to fall into 2 categories.
There's the big name Hertz, Avis and the like, and then there's a
plethora of local firms who are typically a lot cheaper, but may
have slightly older cars and often somewhat damaged cars (CHECK this
carefully before driving away).
The price difference between these two groups can be quite large, so
do shop around.
Practically all the companies will meet you at the airport. Most of
them will actually have the car at the airport itself and there's no
bussing. However, do check where you return the car to. Some return
to the airport car parks (very convenient), while others are off
airport and will bus you to the airport (very short distance, but
adds 10-15 minutes to the whole experience).
We check the market annually for price, service
and reliability, and we're still happy to recommend this
company:
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| AlgarveDriver will meet you at the airport with a car
waiting in the on-site car park and you return the car back to
the airport itself. No bussing, no fussing. You can book
on-line with no deposit to pay and sort it all out when you
arrive at Faro airport.
They will also offer the best price and if you find it
cheaper elsewhere, just contact us here at
OurCarvoeiro and we'll probably
get them to match your price. |
Taxi/Transfer service
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| If you would prefer not to drive from the airport, you could
just hail a taxi outside the airport building and a metered run
in a licensed taxi to Carvoeiro should cost around €55-€65
Our suggestion would be to book a private transfer service
and an English speaking driver will meet you at the airport and
take you right to your door. They are fully insured and although
we haven't used this ourselves, we have numerous recommendations
from people who have.
FaroTransfer.com are owned by the same folks who run Algarve
driver, so you can even book a hybrid service where they can
transport you and all your luggage from airport to Carvoeiro,
and deliver a car right to your door at no extra charge.
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Arriving at Faro Airport
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After you have queued for the pedantic Portuguese
immigration officials to examine everybody's passport,
you'll find yourself in the baggage hall. Faro baggage
handlings is relatively efficient, and partly as a result of
the long bus journey, long immigration queue, and partly due
to good spacing of incoming flights, you should not usually
have long to wait for the luggage.
On exiting the baggage hall through customs which is very
low key, you'll then be confronted by the horde of meeters
and greeters. There are the standard big name Car Rental
desks to the right, but as you move to the left, running the
gauntlet of holiday company signs and chauffeurs with
private names, you can carry on down the long narrow hall to
find YOR car Rental (a.k.a. Algarve Driver) positioned at
the meeting point further down on the left.
You will also have passed at least two ATM cash machines
which will accept most UK credit cards and debit cards, and
will display all the instructions in English (or whatever
language your credit card is based in).
To the right is the exit to outdoors, to the sun, to the
taxi ranks and the car parks.
Its all very civilized and the staff, police and
franchise holders are all very polite.
You've arrived in Portugal and the holiday begins.
ENJOY ! |
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