Visiting all the various interesting spots around Porto and Lisbon does certainly call for a hired car. If you don’t mind limiting yourself to the centres of these cities, though, you can get away with sticking with public transport or taxis and Ubers. Today, we’ll cover the latter. How much does Uber cost in Portugal?
It should come as no surprise that Uber does work in Portugal. You can catch a ride in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve, Braga or Guimaraes. In total, Uber can be used in 19 places, cities and towns, in Portugal. You can check out the list of all the places covered by Uber’s services here.
If you’re not too familiar, using Uber is exactly the same wherever you’ll find yourself. You’ll need the Uber app, enter the pick-up location and the destination you want to get to. During the drive, you can track your current position via the app, see which routes your driver is taking and whether they’re efficient. This is to prevent the old school taxi driver scam of amping the price a lot at the end if the tourist hasn’t negotiated it properly prior or taking roundabout routes for no reason.
Uber prices in Portugal
Uber is also, wherever you may look, a bit cheaper than taxis. Here, unlike in some other countries, the difference isn’t all that massive though. It is still cheaper, but it’s not cheap per se. Still, the advantage of Uber being a safer transport option for when you don’t know the city very well is very valuable. You also don’t need to know the language to get an Uber because the order is made via the app alone, no phone calls necessary.
For an example of the price estimates, a ride in Lisbon from the popular Belem Tower to Praca do Comercio will cost you €8,40 for the basic variant, €7,41 for economics, for about 5 miles. In Porto, a ride from the Sheraton Hotel to the famous Luis I Bridge will similarly cost you about €7,27, a route of about 3,3 miles. The prices may fluctuate because, for instance, there’s more traffic in the area at the moment or the driver had to wait for you for an extra amount of time. You can check price estimates at: https://www.uber.com/global/en/price-estimate/?uclick_id=1ec520f6-99fd-4f8e-bd34-598357fdf25a.
Uber in the Lisbon airport
Getting to the centre from an airport with Uber is also an option. On the screenshot above, you can see how much it cost us to get to the centre of Lisbon.
Uber in Portugal – summary
Uber is a great way to get around Portugal even for the sole reason that you don’t need to have much of a clue about the city you’re visiting. There are alternatives to Uber as well, like Cabify, Bolt and MyTaxi. If you feel like it and have the spare time, you can compare the available services for the routes you want to take, because sometimes the prices can vary quite a bit and you can save lots this way. Still, if you don’t mind the possibility of being a tiny bit inefficient, Uber will do just fine for any and all transport needs. Well, unless you crave that vintage taxi vibe. Nothing can replace that.
