Sign in with FacebookTop Portugal hotels
Street crime Lisbon
50 Reviews This route is purely for tourist and passes Castelo Sao Jorge, skirts the narrow streets of Alfama, the high view point of the river Tejo and charming district of Graça and the historic district of...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
Danger places Porto
3 Reviews Porto is a lovely place and I had no problems in any areas. An amazing place where I felt safe and could explore all day. lovely people, infrastructure, food, all of it. My only word of caution is the...
See All 27 Warnings and Dangers in Porto
Hassles from people on the street Lisbon
27 Reviews We witnessed the following scam during our visit to Lisbon in December 2011: We were queueing to take a ride on Elevador de Santa Justa; a lift that connects Baixa at ground level with the square of...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
By night Porto
2 Reviews Had a fine weekend in Porto. We were squeezing so much into the couple of days we were there, we never really visited the cathedral. So, walking back from Ribeira (riverside) late one evening, I...
See All 27 Warnings and Dangers in Porto
Taxi rip-offs Lisbon
13 Reviews I would like to inform all of you that came to Lisbon. Lisbon Airport has to main taxi points. One is the down point and the other is the upper point. The better, is to pick up a taxi is from the...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
Metro Porto
3 Reviews I'd pay for each journey in cash if possible. But that's difficult on the Metro as many stations only have ticket MACHINES which are often all totally buggered. Andante card is confusing to buy and...
See All 27 Warnings and Dangers in Porto
Annoyances for tourists Lisbon
17 Reviews Unless you are studying Portuguese tiles, or visiting Madre de Deus church, or having plenty of time, I think you could skip this museum. It's interesting and well organized, but Lisbon is, for...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
Parking Porto
1 Review Traffic in Porto can be chaotic. Rush hours often prove to be stressful and moving around by car can take a lot of time. So if you are driving in Porto be careful with rush hours and take that into...
See All 27 Warnings and Dangers in Porto
Dangers to your health Lisbon
8 Reviews The area between Praca de Figueria and Martim Moniz is only 5 mins from the main square (Rossio) and is teeming with prostitutes standing at doorways and corners. It is done very openly, I was very...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
Drinks Porto
2 Reviews The wine of Porto is famous, it gives away a sweet taste at the lips and there is the danger not to stop drinking... So (even sometimes!) watch these nice boats where it is carried and have a break...
See All 27 Warnings and Dangers in Porto
Don't go to jail! Lisbon
6 Reviews Look at the pictures: It's centrally located. It's an outstanding building. It's not cheap... it's free. Guests use to stay for long periods. But... that's the last "hotel" I would recommend in...
See All 169 Warnings and Dangers in Lisbon
Sponsored Links
Be weary of the taxi drivers at Lisbon Airport. Two years ago a taxi driver charged me 25 euros to get from the airport to the train station ( a 10 minute drive). Fares for this route should not cost more than 10 euros. Some taxi drivers that do not have the counting meters in their cars might overcharge tourists, thinking they can earn a quick buck. Not all taxi drivers are dishonest, however. Just make sure you don't get "taken for a ride".
Maybe you are alerted to the risks of dishonest taxi drivers (If you weren't, you are now!), charging in excess. They exist, and specially when exiting from the airports you must be careful. However, if you set the fare before leaving, you will discover that the taxi driver is a nice and friendly guy, that, in the expectation of a small tip, will assist you far beyond his obligations. And remember, no one knows better the towns and their secrets than taxi drivers (well, in the villages without taxi drivers, you have the barbers). Anyway, the common advice applies: be careful!
tap water in the south of Portugal, especially in the villages, is not suited for drinking, got really sick after teeth brush with it. smells like pure chlor and tastes strange. be also aware buying of the known marks of the water in the bottles and take some antihistamines with you! got an intensively blue hematoma on my hip as an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite! you can really predict all these failures and save your vacation!best regards, Sophia
If you decide to drive in Portugal (and it uses to be a good idea, since everything is near and public transport is here and there inefficient), give a special attention to some details:1 - The roads are usually very good and often jammed or very bad. 2 - Most of the roads have no shoulders, so you may encounter a pedestrian, a cyclist or an animal in your way.3- Though improving their behaviour in the roads, the Portuguese are "nervous" and competitive in their cars. If you're Latin, it will be easy, but if you come from a calmer country you may feel uncomfortable.4- The road signs are acceptable in highways and the new roads, but absent or confusing in most of the old roads.5-To leave a car unattended uses to be safe in the small towns, but increasing the risk as the town grows, specially with goods seen through the windows.6- Don't hesitate to ask for help in any circumstance. Locals...
Fires are the worst nightmare of any Portuguese citizen living in the country. On summer, there are many fires all over the country. So, never make fire on a forest not even drop a cigarrete out. Altought it's danger is also a crime punished by the Portuguese law.Any information about a fire should be give to national fire number: 117.To know what regions are in high risk of fire for each day, visithttp://web.meteo.pt/previsao/risc_class_conc.html
I managed to get robbed 15 minutes after leaving the Airport in Lisbon on the public bus. His name is SANDOKAN* Some may say he is a magician. He has been making tourists money and wallets disappear for 20 years. I have seen the photos going back to his youth in police files. I even knew he was a pickpocket, that’s why I have 10 photos of him. He still got my wallet and money. 2 old guys (about 60 years old each) came on at another stop and blocked my view of him. I had even moved my wallet to a tighter pocket with a zip. This bastard has hands like a surgeon. When I went to the Tourist Police in Lisbon, they called in the undercover Transport Police. They knew him. So my whole first day of going to the VT Meeting in Cascais was spent with the Police in several locations making statements. Lots of them and signing them. He got about £35 from me, but cost me a whole day of sightseeing.How...
TAP tops lost baggage tablesTAP Air Portugal is the worst performing airline in Europe when it comes to baggage delays, with British Airways in second place, according to data from European airlines for 2007.Figures published by the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) revealed that the Portuguese airline had a delayed bags ratio of 27.8 for every 1,000 passengers using its services.Top that off with snobby staff, paper thin pillow, metal sticking out of the seat, terrible food.Search Internet for the worst airline and you will find TAP Portugal. Be warned, it doesnt pay for unforseen unexpected travel expenses to compensate for lost luggage.
Lagos is glutted with tourists in the summer, and the town becomes unbearably crowded in August. The street 'entertainment' has improved over the past four years: In addition to English dressed up in cowboy gear and affecting nasal American accents as they whine out U.S. pop folk ballads and dated protest music, there is now a variety of entertainers on the street with genuine talent -- and a far, far different repertoire of music. Tip them generously, please, and maybe those hideously untalented "cowboys" will starve to death. Central Lagos after midnight is given over to mobs of English, and now also American, young 'adults' in their twenties and thirties, getting snot-flying drunk and puking and urinating in the streets and leaving piles of plastic glasses outside the expat-run booze holes. Skip central Lagos at night June through August, it's a mess and definitely not the place for...
Footstool, my wallet was in my front left pocket. My GPS was in the front right pocket. I also carry a "man bag" when I travel. Usually, I don't use my GPS when I am on foot but we were lost so I pulled it out to get a fix of my position. I then slipped it into my front right pocket. I think the thief saw me put it in my pocket.When I entered the bus, the old man got ahead of me, between me and my wife. He gestured that I should go ahead to join my wife. As I did so, he pretended to stumble and grabbed a pole with both hands, wrapping them around me. I immediately pushed him away, aggressively. I checked my left pocket (wallet) and my bag and both seemed to be untouched. I noticed that he left the bus before the doors closed so it was obvious to me he was trying to rob me. I had a similar incident in the Paris subway which was thwarted by my wife pushing the guy away and screaming. I...
Portugal is quite a safe country to visit. I was fine during my visit there in 2003 as a solo female, traveling from the northern part of Porto all the way to Lisboa. I felt safe the whole time. As to "safety" and "danger," well, both are relative concepts after all. It depends on circumstances, who's telling the story, and who's depicting the narrative of a particular place. Danger will follow you no matter where you go in the world, whether it's Timbuktu, Antarctica, the boondocks or whichever corner it is. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy after awhile. Of course, it helps to be positive and keep an open mind, yet also have the "street smarts" and commonsense so as not to fall prey into the hands of dubious characters or be in less wholesome places at an inopportune time. Goodluck & Safe Travels!!!
Four Seasons Hotel The Ritz Lisbon Lisbon
4 Reviews and 283 Opinions The Ritz lives up to its name as one of Lisbon’s finest hotels offering fabulous views of the city....
Tiara Park Atlantic Porto Porto
2 Reviews and 188 Opinions The Meridien Park Atlantic is a very nice hotel, with all the comforts that you would expect for 5...
Hotel Calheta Beach Madeira Island
1 Review and 108 Opinions Calheta has a marvelous marina and have the only beach of yellow sand. It´s situated in the West...
More Regions in Portugal
see all Portugal member meetings
Sponsored Links
Comments