Renting a Car in Portugal: Everything You Need to Know 2026

Last Updated on September 29, 2026

Living just across the border in Spain for 7 years, we’ve driven in Portugal many times. Here’s everything we know about renting a car in Portugal. 

Portugal is a country that opens up completely when you have a set of wheels. It’s small enough to cross in a day, yet packed with the kind of places no train will ever drop you at — surf beaches down dirt tracks, terraced vineyards above the Douro, medieval villages perched on hilltops with barely a bus a day. So much of what makes Portugal worth visiting sits between the cities.

We’ve done many road trips in Portugal, usually crossing over from Spain, where my husband is from. That westward drive has taken us from the Alentejo’s endless cork oaks down to the Algarve’s coastline, and up north for the switchbacks along the Douro Valley. It’s not always effortless: the electronic toll system is quite pricey, Lisbon’s cobbled hills demand a lot from a clutch, and squeezing a rental down a village lane built for donkey carts can be nerve-wrecking. 

I’ve compiled this guide to share everything we’ve learned about renting a car in Portugal and driving here — tolls, insurance, road rules, and the mistakes worth skipping. Whether you’re planning a few days in Lisbon or a slow loop around the whole country, you’ll head off knowing exactly what you’re in for.

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Renting a Car in Portugal

1. Should You Rent a Car in Portugal?

Yes, renting a car in Portugal is worth considering, and if you plan to get out of the cities,  it becomes less of a choice and more of a practical necessity. A car is the easiest way to add real value to time in Portugal, and the cost rarely justifies talking yourself out of it. Basic rentals often run under €50 a week outside peak summer, cheap enough that budget isn’t really the deciding factor.

What matters more is what you want to see. Trains and buses cover the big cities well, but that coverage thins out fast the moment you head into the Alentejo, the Douro Valley, or the coastal towns west of Lagos. Beyond that point, a car is simply what gets you there.We stayed at Craveiral Farmhouse in the Alentejo on one trip, tucked away with no bus route anywhere near it, and that’s exactly the point. 

Road quality makes the decision easier too. Motorways connecting Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve are smooth and clearly signed, and even smaller roads through the Alentejo or near Peneda-Gerês are manageable without much stress. We’ve never found ourselves white-knuckling it the way you sometimes do on mountain roads elsewhere.

If you’re planning a trip around Portugal, check out my Portugal road trip itinerary for ideas and inspiration.

When You Don’t Need to Rent a Car in Portugal

If your trip is mostly Lisbon, Porto, and Faro, skip the rental. The Alfa Pendular train connects all three quickly, and none of these cities benefit from driving, old town centers predate cars, so parking is tight and often more stress than it’s worth. Buses like Rede Expressos and Vamus Algarve fill in the remaining gaps affordably.

A single city trip is another easy case. If Porto is your only stop, foot, metro, and tram are plenty for a typical 3-day visit. The historic center is compact enough to walk between major sights, and even a day trip to Vila Nova de Gaia for port wine tasting is just a walk across the bridge. Save the rental for when you’re actually leaving the city behind.

Following an itinerary like the one in my Portugal with kids guide (Faro, Olhão, Lagos, Lisbon, Porto)? Rent a car for the Algarve and Alentejo legs, but hop the Alfa Pendular between Lisbon and Porto instead, freedom where you need it, no parking headaches where you don’t.

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2. Renting a Car in Portugal: Step-by-Step

• Sort your licence out first. EU licences will suffice. Coming from the US or another non-EU country? You’re fine too, as long as your visit stays under 185 days, though if your licence isn’t printed in Latin script, pack an International Driving Permit alongside it. Nobody may ask to see it, but the law says you need one regardless.
• Compare before you commit. We always run our dates through DiscoverCars first. Seeing fuel policy, deposit size, and insurance tiers laid out side by side makes a bad deal obvious long before you’ve handed over a single euro.
• Bring the right documents to the counter. a physical driver’s licence, your passport, and a credit card in the main driver’s name, that’s the bare minimum most counters expect. Some places will take a debit card, but expect a bigger hold and stricter terms.
• Ask about the Via Verde transponder the moment you arrive. Nearly every car in Portugal comes fitted with one now for electronic tolls, so find out how those charges get billed back to you.
• Circle the car before you go anywhere. Photograph every existing scratch, dent, or scuff, and note where the fuel gauge sits.
• Read the fine print on mileage and fuel before you sign. Check the mileage and fuel terms before you sign — you want unlimited mileage and full-to-full fuel.

Search for car rentals in Portugal here! 🚗

Car Rental Companies in Portugal

All the big international names show up here, Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Sixt, Enterprise, and their rates run higher than local alternatives, especially once summer hits. Guerin is worth knowing too, Portugal’s own homegrown brand, sitting comfortably between the majors and the budget operators.

Then there’s the budget tier: Goldcar, Record Go, Drivalia, OK Mobility, all offering lower base rates that sound great until you’re at the counter getting upsold on everything they can think of. Running your options through DiscoverCars first lets you line up fuel policy, deposits, and insurance side by side, making those upsell traps easier to spot before you’ve committed any money.

How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Car in Portugal?

The cost of renting a car in Portugal swings more by season than most people expect. Book early and travel off-season, and an economy car can run as low as €10–25 a day. Wait until July or August, and that same car can climb past €50, depending heavily on the airport and how far out you booked. If there’s one lesson here, it’s book early.

Deposits shift by company and car class too. Europcar, for example, holds around €300 for a standard car, jumping to as much as €3,000 for premium or luxury categories unless you add extra protection. Faro tends to be the cheapest of the three main airports, thanks to competition among Algarve suppliers, so if your dates are flexible, book through there.

Hidden Costs and Extra Charges

Young driver fees catch anyone under 25 off guard, usually €6–20 a day depending on the company. One-way rentals are another one to watch, pick up in Faro and drop off in Lisbon, and you could see €50–150 extra tacked on. Check this before you book, not after.

Insurance upsells are where the “cheap advertised rate” falls apart. That friendly €5-a-day headline has a way of creeping toward €40–60 once everything’s added on, and it’s easy to feel pressured into saying yes at the counter with a line behind you. Even your Via Verde toll device isn’t free, it carries its own small daily fee, and unpaid tolls billed after the fact tend to come with a handling charge too.

Best Time to Book a Rental Car in Portugal

Demand hits hardest in July and August, plus around Easter, when rates can run double what you’d pay heading into winter. A few weeks’ notice is plenty outside those windows, but push it out to a month or two if you’re traveling peak summer or need an automatic.

Waiting until the last minute during high season is the costliest mistake you can make. Automatics and larger vehicles go first, and prices only climb the closer you get to your travel dates. If your trip mixes city stays and rural driving, here’s what we do: rent only for the road trip stretch and skip the car on city days. Parking in Lisbon or Porto adds up fast enough that it’s rarely worth paying for a car you’re not using.

Wherever your travels take you, find affordable rental cars in Portugal. Compare the latest prices, reserve your ideal vehicle, and begin planning your perfect getaway today:

• Car rental in Lisbon
• Car rental in Porto
• Car rental in Madeira
• Car rental in Faro
• Car rental in Funchal
• Car rental in Albufeira
• Car rental in Portimao
• Car rental in Coimbra
• Car rental in Cascais
• Car rental in Aveiro
• Car rental in Braga

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3. Car Rental Requirements and Documentation in Portugal

More visitors trip up over paperwork than anything else about renting here, and most of it is avoidable once you know what to expect. Here’s what actually matters before you’re standing at the counter.

Required Documents

If you’re coming from the EU, your licence works as is, no extra steps. Visitors from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia are covered too, driving on their home licence for up to 185 days under Portugal’s rules for tourists.

Most companies want a credit card in the main driver’s name to cover the deposit. Debit cards work with some providers, but expect a bigger hold and stricter terms than with a credit card.

One thing that’s easy to miss: if your licence isn’t printed in Latin script, Portuguese law requires an International Driving Permit alongside it. That’s not a preference, it’s the law, no matter who you book with.

Legal Driving Requirements

Seatbelts are non-negotiable here, everyone buckled in, front or back, no exceptions the police will accept. Kids under 12 and shorter than 135 cm need an approved restraint too, and skipping it isn’t a small risk, fines run €120–600 per child.

Blood alcohol limits sit at 0.05%, lower than a lot of visitors expect, worth remembering if a Douro Valley wine stop is on your itinerary. Newer drivers (licence held less than three years) or professional drivers face a stricter limit: 0.02%.

The law also requires a reflective vest and warning triangle in the car at all times, for breakdowns. Rental companies almost always include both as standard, but we still check the trunk at pickup just to be sure.

Do Americans Need an International Driving Permit in Portugal?

Americans can legally drive in Portugal with just a valid U.S. driver’s license for stays up to 185 days. Portuguese law recognizes U.S. licenses outright, so an International Driving Permit isn’t a strict legal requirement on paper.

In practice, though, I wouldn’t show up without one. Most rental counters ask to see it anyway, and if you get pulled over, having your license details already translated into Portuguese makes the interaction go smoother. Planning to cross into Spain? Then the IDP stops being optional, Spain won’t accept a U.S. license on its own.

Getting one takes almost no effort. AAA or AATA will issue it for about €18, good for a year, one of the cheapest ways to avoid a headache at the rental counter, or worse, at a border you weren’t expecting to need paperwork for. Overall, renting a car in Portugal as an American is straightforward as long as you carry both documents together.

Minimum Age & Payment Requirements

Portugal’s legal driving age is 18, but rental companies set their own bar higher, usually 21, sometimes 25 for pricier vehicle categories. Drivers under 25 should expect a young driver surcharge, typically €6–20 per day.

Deposits scale with the car. Standard vehicles sit around €300, held on a credit card in the main driver’s name. Premium or luxury categories can run as high as €3,000, though extra damage protection often brings that closer to €1,000.

A few companies also require your licence to have been held for a minimum of one year, occasionally two. Without a credit card meeting these terms, most Portuguese rental desks won’t complete the booking.

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4. Car Rental Tips for Driving in Portugal 

Picking up car hire in Portugal a handful of times now, across different airports and companies, has taught us a few habits that stuck. None of them are complicated, but they’re the difference between a smooth pickup and a frustrating one.

Choosing the Best Pick-Up and Drop-Off Locations in Portugal 

Airports cost more than city center offices, but there’s a reason we almost always still choose them: more companies competing for your business means more cars to pick from, and once you compare rates side by side, that surcharge tends to shrink fast.

If your trip spans more than one region, say Faro to Lisbon, chase down the one-way fee before you book, not after. We’ve seen these fees vary wildly between providers, enough to double what looked like a bargain rental at first glance.

Driving Across the Spain-Portugal Border

Crossing into Spain feels almost anticlimactic: no checkpoint, no border stop, just a line on the map you’d miss if you blinked. But your rental contract needs to say you’re allowed to make that crossing, spelled out clearly, before you leave the lot. Skip that step and your insurance can become worthless the moment something goes wrong on the other side.

Call ahead. Get the cross-border permission written into the contract itself, not just a nod from the counter. Some companies charge a small fee for it, some don’t, and a few will ask for a separate insurance certificate. Confirm this from home, not from a gas station near the border.

Do a Car Walk-Around Before You Drive Off

Walk the whole car before you leave the lot, every time, no matter how long the line is. Photograph every scratch, dent, or scuff, along with the fuel gauge, and get the agent to acknowledge it with you before you drive off.

It takes five minutes, and it’s the easiest way to protect yourself later. Anything not noted on the paperwork at pickup has a way of becoming your responsibility at return.

Returning Your Rental Car With a Full Tank in Portugal 

Full to full is the standard fuel arrangement, pick the car up with a full tank, hand it back the same way. Skip this and the company fills it for you, at a price per liter that’s rarely in your favor.

Time your last drive so a gas station sits on the way to drop-off, not after. Most airport return points have one within a couple of minutes, so there’s little excuse for arriving short and paying the difference.

Avoiding Extra Charges and Mileage Limits

Most surprise fees trace back to the contract, not the car. Young driver surcharges, one-way costs, and insurance add-ons all show up in writing beforehand if you read the terms before signing.

Late returns are another common trap. Many companies bill a full extra day for being even an hour late, so build in a buffer, especially with a flight waiting on the other end. Unlimited mileage comes standard with most rentals here, but it’s not universal, particularly among smaller local operators working tighter margins than the big chains.

A short city trip rarely needs to worry about mileage caps. But a loop through the Alentejo and up toward the Douro Valley can rack up real distance fast, and that’s when a limit starts costing money. If you’d rather skip the Douro driving altogether, a Six Bridges Cruise from Porto covers the same scenery without touching your mileage.

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5. Car Options and Rental Insurance in Portugal

Choosing the car and sorting the insurance always feels like paperwork until you’re behind the wheel. The car decides how easily you handle Lisbon’s steep, narrow streets or a long stretch through the Alentejo, while the insurance decides how relaxed you feel when something unexpected happens.

Manual vs. Automatic Cars in Portugal 

Manual is still the default here, and automatics come at a real premium while selling out fast, especially through summer. If a stick shift doesn’t bother you, sticking with manual gets you more choice and a better price overall.

If you need an automatic, book well ahead rather than assuming one will be waiting. Smaller local operators often carry only a handful, and once summer demand kicks in, those go first, leaving manual as the only option left.

Best Type of Car to Rent in Portugal

Lisbon and Porto both have old quarters built centuries before cars existed, Alfama and Ribeira especially, where a small car is the only sensible option. Anything larger and you’ll spend your first day white-knuckling through alleys built for horse carts.

Sintra is a funny exception, close enough to Lisbon that you’d assume you don’t need a car, but you do. Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira both sit outside the town center, and parking near either fills up fast if you’re not there early.

Head into the Algarve, the Alentejo, or up through the Douro Valley, though, and priorities flip. More size and engine power make the longer distances and hillier terrain far more comfortable, and the extra trunk space is a relief once you’re hauling luggage for a full road trip.

An electric rental is worth a look too. On our last Portugal road trip, we rented a Tesla mostly out of curiosity, quiet, comfortable, and easier to drive than we expected. With no fixed route to stick to, we ended up circling back through the Douro more than once and landing in towns we’d never planned to see.

Charging is still thinner on the ground in rural areas, though the network is catching up fast. In practice, that means an EV works well for a route between Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, while remote Alentejo is easier to cover with petrol or diesel.

Car Rental Insurance Coverage in Portugal

Basic liability comes included by law on every rental, but don’t let that give you a false sense of security. The CDW that comes standard still leaves a real gap, the excess you’re on the hook for can run into the thousands of euros, shifting a lot from one company to the next.

Standard coverage almost never touches glass, tires, or undercarriage damage, easy to forget until you’ve hit a pothole in the Alentejo. Buying an excess waiver ahead of time is almost always cheaper than whatever gets pushed on you at the counter, though check your own credit card first, coverage varies card to card, and some exclude Portugal entirely. 

Separate from that, we never travel without SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance, it covers the trip itself, medical emergencies, delays, things a rental policy was never designed to touch. It won’t replace your excess waiver, but it’s the layer we always want underneath everything else. Check out my guide to the best travel insurance to find the coverage that best suits your needs.

Winter Driving and Snow Tires in Portugal 

Snow is rare here, limited almost entirely to Serra da Estrela, the country’s highest mountain range. When conditions do call for it, signage makes snow chains legally mandatory on certain routes, and police actually enforce it, real fines included if you’re caught without them.

Standard rental cars won’t come with chains as default equipment, so don’t assume they’re in the trunk. If Serra da Estrela is part of your winter plans, ask your rental company about chains well in advance, or plan to pick up a set locally in a town like Covilhã before heading up into the mountains.

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6. Driving in Portugal

Once you’re actually behind the wheel, a handful of practical details make the difference between a relaxed drive and a frustrating one. Here’s what’s worth knowing about speed limits, tolls, emissions zones, fuel, parking, and what to do if something goes wrong.

Speed Limits

Speed limits in Portugal follow a simple pattern: 50 km/h in towns, 90 km/h on rural roads, 100 km/h on major undivided highways, and 120 km/h on motorways. City centers increasingly layer 30 km/h zones on top of the standard 50, so watch for those signs specifically.

Speed cameras are everywhere, fixed and mobile both, and the fines scale sharply with how far over you’re going, anywhere from around €60 for a small excess to €2,500 for serious violations. The signed limit always overrides the general default, so it really does pay to watch the actual signage rather than assume.

Toll Roads in Portugal – How They Work and How to Pay

Most motorways here charge tolls, and Portugal splits into two systems. Traditional booths on roads like the A1 and A2 take cash or card the old-fashioned way, while other stretches run fully electronic, cameras and gantries only, no barrier, no stopping, easy to drive straight through without realizing you owe anything.

Worth knowing: several former SCUT motorways, including the A22 across the Algarve, A23, A24, and A28’s Esposende to Antas section, are now permanently free by law. The A25 followed not long after and is fully free too.

Those roads still run the same gantry system, just charging zero instead of a toll. The A1 and A2, though, are still fully tolled, Lisbon to Porto runs around €20–25, Lisbon to the Algarve around €21–23. We’ve paid €20–23 on that stretch ourselves, depending on the exact route, so budget toward the higher end to be safe.

For anything still tolled, a Via Verde transponder is by far the easiest way through, and most rental cars now come fitted with one. Without it, EASYToll registration at airports or border crossings has you covered, or you can settle up at a post office within five days, just don’t let it slip past that window.

Low Emission Zones (ZER) in Portugal

Lisbon runs the country’s only reduced emission zone, called a ZER, covering Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa, and the historic center. It’s split into two areas with different rules, both enforced weekdays from 7am to 9pm, easy to miss if you’re not watching the signage.

The inner zone wants Euro 3 petrol (post-2000) or Euro 4 diesel (post-2006). The outer zone is a bit more forgiving, accepting Euro 2 petrol (post-1996) and Euro 3 diesel (post-2000). Rental cars almost always clear both without issue, one less thing to worry about. I’d still recommend reading up on Portugal’s low emission zones before you set off, just so you know exactly what to expect.

This is simpler than what you’ll run into across the border. Spain requires every city over 50,000 people to run its own zone, with a windscreen sticker system that doesn’t always extend cleanly to foreign or rental cars. If Spain’s part of your trip too, our guide to renting a car in Spain covers how those zones work.

Fuel Types and Gas Prices in Portugal

Petrol is sold as gasolina, usually 95 octane, and diesel as gasóleo. Most rental cars run on one or the other, so check your paperwork rather than guessing from pump colors, they’re not standardized here the way you might expect, and getting it wrong is an expensive mistake.

Prices tend to hover around €1.95–2.05 per liter for petrol 95 and €1.90–2.10 for diesel, shifting week to week along with the wider fuel market. Portugal runs a bit higher than the EU average, and noticeably higher than Spain just across the border.

If your route takes you anywhere near Spain, fill up there first, it saves real money. The gap often runs €0.20–0.40 cheaper per liter on the Spanish side, and that adds up fast over a full tank. Before you fill up, check the latest prices on the official fuel price websites for Portugal and Spain.

Parking Tips for Portugal

Lisbon runs its street parking through EMEL, split into color-coded zones, green, yellow, red, and a pricier brown tier for the most congested spots. Green runs cheapest at around €0.80 an hour, climbing to roughly €1.60 in red zones near the big attractions.

Meters work fine, but apps like ePark and Telpark are easier, letting you start or extend a session without walking back to the car. Porto and other cities run their own version of this system, so don’t assume Lisbon’s rules travel with you.

Underground garages are our go-to in busy centers. They cost more, but not thinking about a ticking clock is worth the extra euro during peak season in Lisbon or Porto.

What to Do After a Car Accident in Portugal

Accidents happen, and staying level-headed matters more than anything else you do next. Turn on your hazards, set the warning triangle out behind the car, and call 112 if anyone’s hurt or the other driver starts making things difficult. Portuguese law requires you to stay at the scene until police arrive whenever there’s an injury involved.

If nobody’s hurt and things are calm, exchange details with the other driver and fill out the Declaração Amigável together, it’s the standard accident form used across Europe. Take photos of everything first, the damage, where the cars ended up, the wider scene, before anything gets moved or cleared away. Then call your rental company sooner rather than later, ideally the same day, not once you’re back at the hotel unwinding.

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7. Road Safety in Portugal

Staying safe on Portugal’s roads is about more than driving carefully. It’s also about the small habits, where you park, what you leave visible, how you handle mountain roads, that make the difference between an easy trip and an unlucky one.

Protecting Your Rental Car From Theft in Portugal

Rental cars tend to stick out more than they should, company stickers or branding give them away instantly, and thieves know exactly what they’re looking for. We’re most careful around beaches, viewpoints, and busy attraction parking in places like the Algarve, Sintra, and Cascais, and by now we never leave anything visible on the seats or in the trunk, not even for a second.

Honestly, it’s just become second nature at this point. We look for well-lit, busier spots whenever we can, and we lock up every single time, even for a two-minute stop.

Driving on Portugal’s Highways and Mountain Roads

Motorways here are modern and about as easy as driving gets, wide lanes, clear signage, no real surprises to worry about. Rural roads tell a different story though, especially through the Douro Valley or Peneda-Gerês, where the pavement narrows fast and the curves arrive without much warning. Peneda-Gerês especially, don’t be shocked if you round a bend and find cattle just wandering across the road like they own it, because out there, they kind of do.

Winter brings its own layer to think about, mainly around Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s one real high-altitude stretch. Fog rolls in fast up there, and roads can ice over even when it doesn’t look that way from inside the car, so we always check conditions before heading up rather than just assuming it’ll be fine.

Child Car Seat Laws in Portugal

Kids under 12 and shorter than 135 cm need an approved restraint in the back seat, full stop, no exceptions worth risking. And here’s the part that catches people off guard: it’s the driver held responsible if a child isn’t properly seated, not the parent. Fines run from €120 to €600 per child.

If you’re visiting Portugal with kids, sort the seat out before you land, it makes pickup so much smoother than dealing with it at the counter. Most rental companies rent them for around €6 to €10 a day, though quality and availability can be hit or miss once peak season kicks in. Bringing your own from home is an option too, just double-check it meets EU standards first, plenty of North American seats aren’t approved here.

Family travel always goes easier when you feel a step ahead of it. For more on how we approach this with our own daughter, I’ve written a full guide on how we keep our child safe while traveling.

Planning to Rent a Car in Portugal?

Renting a car in Portugal has led to some of our favorite travel memories, the kind you stumble into rather than plan for. We found Costa Nova’s stripe houses purely by chance on a drive up to Porto, wandering between the candy striped facades with our daughter before we even knew the town had a name. 

Walking the old city walls in Óbidos turned into one of the most memorable stretches of an entire trip too, though we kept a tight grip on her hand the whole way since one side has no railing at all.

Before you book, compare a few options through DiscoverCars so you know exactly what you’re getting on price, insurance, and conditions. It only takes a few minutes, and it means you get to spend the rest of your trip doing what matters most, following the road wherever it leads.

Search for car rental in Portugal here! 🚗

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Further Reading on Portugal 

Thank you for reading this far! I hope Portugal treats you to an unforgettable road trip.

Where’s your route taking you, and what made you decide to rent a car in Portugal for this one? Drop it in the comments below, I genuinely enjoy hearing about people’s plans and I’m always happy to help if questions come up along the way.

I’ve done a full Portugal road trip myself, and after seven years living just across the border in Spain, I’ve put together plenty of other guides on both countries. So if your plans stretch beyond this trip, check them out to help you plan:

• My 7-Day Portugal Road Trip
• Weekend in Porto
• My Portugal Family Travel Guide
• Renting a Car in Spain
• Living in Spain
• 2-Week Spain Road Trip
• Spain with Kids
• 20 Things to Do in Málaga
• Weekend in Madrid
• Las Alpujarras Travel Guide
• My Packing List for the Camino de Santiago
• Things to Do in Mallorca
• 10 Best Things to Do in Granada
• Best Wine & Tapas in Barcelona
• Weekend in Malaga
• How to Walk the Camino de Santiago
• Highlights of the Spanish Pyrenees
• Caminito del Rey
• Is Granada the Best Place to Live in Spain

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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