Kerfos Posted May 8, 2023 #1 Share Posted May 8, 2023 We dockin Parimao on the Sirena for the day....trying to find a tour to Sagres and Lagos. Any suggestions?? Do you think we could just grap a cab and have them do a small tour for us? Thanks Kerfos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted May 27, 2023 #2 Share Posted May 27, 2023 On 5/8/2023 at 4:53 PM, Kerfos said: We dockin Parimao on the Sirena for the day....trying to find a tour to Sagres and Lagos. Any suggestions?? Do you think we could just grap a cab and have them do a small tour for us? Thanks Kerfos Hi. Hopefully you haven't left yet, as I just saw this. We were on Sirena in Portimao last month. My spouse has a cousin who lives outside Lagos, so we hooked up with her in Portimao and she and her boyfriend drove us to Lagos and around. There isn't much in the port at Portimao. There was a free shuttle offered that took us to what was described as "Avenida Guanare in town." Shuttle ran every 30 minutes starting a half hour after our arrival time, which was 8. Our cousin told us to meet her at the train station in Portimao. We had no idea where the shuttle was, or the train station, but said OK. We took the shuttle, but then had no clue where to go. From what I could tell, on a map it was around the waterfront area called Largo do Dique. There wasn't much around, but we walked around a little, asked the few people we could find who spoke any English, and managed to find a cab stand. If we had loaded Bolt or Uber before getting to Portugal, things would have likely been easier. But we made it to Portimao's small train station (still with a cigarette machine inside!) and met our cousin. Lagos is definitely not far from Portimao (maybe 30 minute drive?), but I'm not sure how often a train or bus may go there. I had originally planned to rent a car in Portimao at one of the car rental places in Praia da Rocha, which is the beach just south of Portimao. But I ended up just forgetting my plans for seeing some places both east and west of Poritmao. Our cousin took us to Lagos, her place, and Ponte da Piedade, where there are cliffs and a lighthouse. If you want to do some exploring on your own outside of the city (i.e., no Oceania excursion) I would definitely arrange something before you arrive in Portimao. It's not exactly a city that seems to be well set up for promoting tourism, or at least not for tourism that takes people OUT of the city! You may want to check Viator, Get Your Guide, shorexcursions, and that kind of site for excursions. For car rental, I think I was looking at Auto Rent, which has a good website and is also very responsive to questions. But of course car rental is not for everyone. The cousin thought I was crazy to consider it. But we've done it in other countries before with no issues, so I was game. I wanted to see the Benegil Cave for one thing; Oceania had an excursion but it was a whole half day and I didn't want to spend that much time. If you happen to be going to Porto or Lisbon or Gijon or Bilbao or up that way in Spain, or Bordeaux, I may have useful info. Our cruise was fabulous. I loved that part of the world, and loved Sirena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topcat76 Posted July 23 #3 Share Posted July 23 On 5/26/2023 at 7:26 PM, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said: Hi. Hopefully you haven't left yet, as I just saw this. We were on Sirena in Portimao last month. My spouse has a cousin who lives outside Lagos, so we hooked up with her in Portimao and she and her boyfriend drove us to Lagos and around. There isn't much in the port at Portimao. There was a free shuttle offered that took us to what was described as "Avenida Guanare in town." Shuttle ran every 30 minutes starting a half hour after our arrival time, which was 8. Our cousin told us to meet her at the train station in Portimao. We had no idea where the shuttle was, or the train station, but said OK. We took the shuttle, but then had no clue where to go. From what I could tell, on a map it was around the waterfront area called Largo do Dique. There wasn't much around, but we walked around a little, asked the few people we could find who spoke any English, and managed to find a cab stand. If we had loaded Bolt or Uber before getting to Portugal, things would have likely been easier. But we made it to Portimao's small train station (still with a cigarette machine inside!) and met our cousin. Lagos is definitely not far from Portimao (maybe 30 minute drive?), but I'm not sure how often a train or bus may go there. I had originally planned to rent a car in Portimao at one of the car rental places in Praia da Rocha, which is the beach just south of Portimao. But I ended up just forgetting my plans for seeing some places both east and west of Poritmao. Our cousin took us to Lagos, her place, and Ponte da Piedade, where there are cliffs and a lighthouse. If you want to do some exploring on your own outside of the city (i.e., no Oceania excursion) I would definitely arrange something before you arrive in Portimao. It's not exactly a city that seems to be well set up for promoting tourism, or at least not for tourism that takes people OUT of the city! You may want to check Viator, Get Your Guide, shorexcursions, and that kind of site for excursions. For car rental, I think I was looking at Auto Rent, which has a good website and is also very responsive to questions. But of course car rental is not for everyone. The cousin thought I was crazy to consider it. But we've done it in other countries before with no issues, so I was game. I wanted to see the Benegil Cave for one thing; Oceania had an excursion but it was a whole half day and I didn't want to spend that much time. If you happen to be going to Porto or Lisbon or Gijon or Bilbao or up that way in Spain, or Bordeaux, I may have useful info. Our cruise was fabulous. I loved that part of the world, and loved Sirena. I would like information on Lisbon, Bilboa, etc as we are doing the Barcelona to Dublin cruise on Sirena next year. Any info that you can provide on the ports would be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 24 #4 Share Posted July 24 Not answering the OP's question, but when we think of Portamao (been there twice) the first-thing that comes to mind are the wonderful fresh grilled sardines we had for lunch. There are a few restaurants (indoor/outdoor) on the far side of town, from the port, that grill these fresh little fish that truly come right off the boat. We once took a boat tour (just booked in town) along the coast which got us a good look up at the cliffs that are home to many birds. If one really wants to go to Lagos, there are some trains (should not cost more than a few Euros) and regional buses. Hank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinburgher Posted July 25 #5 Share Posted July 25 On 5/8/2023 at 9:53 PM, Kerfos said: Do you think we could just grap a cab and have them do a small tour for us? A different suggestion. ALVOR only around a 15 minute taxi ride from the dock. A lovely historic fishing village which is still relatively unspoiled despite the number of visitors. Small and colourful with an entire street of fish restaurants and a boardwalk through the nature reserve. our ship included it in a shorex to traditional fishing villages of the Algarve. Many images and info about Alvor can be found online to help you decide. We thought Portimao itself very uninteresting and somewhat boring unless you like a good beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted July 29 #6 Share Posted July 29 (edited) On 7/23/2024 at 2:01 PM, topcat76 said: I would like information on Lisbon, Bilboa, etc as we are doing the Barcelona to Dublin cruise on Sirena next year. Any info that you can provide on the ports would be helpful. Probably the best way I can provide info is to post links to my photos, which should contain some helpful narrative. But we're mostly DIY-type folks (as in sometimes just go off on our own, not on an O or private excursion), so I can't guarantee the photos/narrative will be 100% helpful. Couple notes: Bilbao is wonderful, but keep in mind the port is a bit away from the city, and the taxi availability was limited when we were there. But Lisbon is pretty easy; Barcelona too. Also, in BCN, Oceania ships are usually assigned to dock at the closest dock area to the city (not the long the very long pier) which is great. I just walked into the city. Here are links to photos for Bilbao, Lisbon (2 links) and Barcelona. I also have photos for Porto, Portimao, Gijon, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Cadiz and Bordeaux -- same site, possibly you can find them by hitting the back button a bit. But I'm not sure which ports you visit. We went BCN to Bilbao on Sirena. Excellent itinerary. Loved Sirena too (first time on her). https://pbase.com/roothy123/bilbao_spain_for_24_hours_in_early_may&page=all https://pbase.com/roothy123/lisbon_april_2023_&page=all https://pbase.com/roothy123/lisbon_more&page=all https://pbase.com/roothy123/barcelona_on_sirena_april_1920_2023&page=all Edited July 29 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinburgher Posted July 29 #7 Share Posted July 29 On 7/25/2024 at 4:45 PM, edinburgher said: Do you think we could just grap a cab and have them do a small tour for us? i should have said that we visited Alvor independently using public transport but a taxi would have been easier and possibly faster. We saw the ship shorex coach arrive into Alvor as we were leaving. Very few past threads for Portimao but you may find info or suggestions on some of them https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=portimao&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=465 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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