Motorhoming in Portugal: campsites, tolls and what we learned
Portugal is one of our favourite countries to tour, and we have now driven it properly twice: from the Algarve up to Bragança in 2021, and from Porto down the coast to the Algarve in summer 2026. Here is how we get there, where we stay, what it costs, and the things that caught us out.
The short answer
The quickest way to get a motorhome to Portugal is the ferry to Santander or Bilbao and a day across northern Spain, or by driving all the way through France. Once there, you stay on campsites and official aires: since 2021, overnighting anywhere else is against the law.
Get a toll tag before you go, take every speed bump slowly, and do not underestimate the summer heat. On our 2026 trip we paid between €5 and €87 a night, with most family campsites around €30 to €35.
We first toured Portugal with the kids about ten years ago. We went back in 2021 in our Swift Kon-Tiki, working up the country from the Algarve to Bragança in the far north-east, and again in summer 2026 in our new Dethleffs, this time from Porto down the Atlantic coast to Lisbon and the Algarve. Several stops we have now used more than once, which says a lot. This guide is built from those trips: real pins from our own map, the prices we actually paid, and the problems we actually had.
Getting there: through Spain
There is no direct ferry, so Spain comes first
There is no ferry from the UK to Portugal, so you are driving through Spain either way: all the way by road through France, or on the Brittany Ferries crossing to Santander or Bilbao and west from there. We take the ferry. In 2026 it was 21 hours from Plymouth to Santander, then a day or so across northern Spain and down into Porto. For the options, see our motorhome ferries to Europe guide, and for the paperwork, taking a motorhome to Europe.
In 2026 George's passport did not arrive in time, so Steve took the van over alone and Lyndsay and George flew into Porto later, a story we told in our split-up post. If anyone in your group is flying in, there is a barrier car park beside the Park Hotel at Porto airport, €7.50 a night when we used it, a short walk from arrivals. Just do not plan anything tight around the landing: passport control took them over two hours.
Tolls, speed bumps and cities
The three things that shape every drive
Most Portuguese motorways are tolled, and some have no booths at all: gantries read your number plate, with nowhere to pay at the roadside. The simple answer is a tag, either Portugal's own Via Verde or a cross-border one. Steve handled the tolls on his own at the start of the 2026 trip and said afterwards that a Bip&Go tag, which covers France, Spain and Portugal, would have been worth having. Expect to pay more than a car, as the class is set by height over the front axle. The good news is that several of the old electronic-only motorways, including the A22 along the Algarve, have been toll-free since January 2025.
Avoiding tolls costs you time and takes you through towns, and towns in Portugal mean speed bumps and raised crossings, lots of them, not all marked.
Crawl over every speed bump. Our Dethleffs has a long rear overhang, which Steve calls a seesaw, and skid wheels under the back. An unmarked bump on the way out of Lisbon bent them inwards and smashed a bottle in the fridge. Local metalworkers, found by our friend Walter, arrived at 8am and had them straightened and stiffened by 9:22. Their honest verdict: they will bend again, but they take the hit before the bodywork does. More in our broken down in Portugal post.
We do not take the van into Lisbon or Porto. The old centres are steep, narrow and cobbled. In Lisbon we stay at Lisboa Camping and go in by Uber, about half an hour and around a tenner. Near Porto we stay at Istas Garden in Gaia, about fifteen minutes' drive from the river. Two smaller things: diesel is usually dearer in Portugal than in Spain, so fill up before the border, and if you have a refillable LPG system, autogas (signed GPL) is easy to find.
Where you can stay overnight
Campsites, aires and private land
Portugal used to be famous for free beach park-ups. That changed in early 2021, when the highway code was updated to ban motorhomes from staying overnight anywhere not expressly set up for it, and from parking at all outside authorised spots in protected natural areas. It is enforced, particularly on the coast, so do not chance it.
That still leaves three good options. Campsites, of which there are plenty, many with excellent pools. Official aires, known as parques de autocaravanas, some of them free: in 2021 we used one on the beach north of Lisbon and another below the castle at Bragança. And private land where the owner is happy to have you, like Mó de Bakesa near Fonte da Telha. Our guide to motorhome aires and wild camping in Europe guide cover the wider picture.
We mostly do not book ahead, and in Portugal that has largely worked: we turned up at Lisboa Camping in August without a reservation and got a pitch. The exceptions are tiny sites like Istas Garden, and the Algarve, where in 2021 we tried several places before finding the then brand new motorhome park at Tavira. Not booking also leaves room for people to change your plans. Pedro and Claudia at Istas Garden rewrote our whole 2026 route within 48 hours, and it was the best thing that happened on the trip, as our Porto post explains.
A place you loved ten years ago may have changed. In 2026 our favourite old beach stop at Fonte da Telha was built up, busy with coaches and signed no caravans, which we only spotted once we were committed, and we turned round on a very tight roundabout. Check recent reviews before taking a big van down a dead-end beach road. And on the Atlantic coast, wind the awning in before bed: Portugal has given us more than one stormy night out in the dark pulling it back in.
Real stops and what we paid
Every one a pin we actually parked on
These are real stops from our 2021 and 2026 trips, listed north to south. Prices are what we paid or were quoted at the time, so treat them as a guide. For the bigger picture, see our motorhome touring costs guide.
- Bragança
A fantastic free aire built into the hillside below the castle, in the far north-east near the Spanish border. Our 2021 stay, and a beautiful place to wake up.
- Porto airport
A barrier car park beside the Park Hotel Porto Aeroporto, €7.50 a night in 2026. Safe, and a short walk to arrivals. If part of your crew is flying in, this is the easy place to meet them.
- Istas Garden
A tiny site on the coast at Vila Nova de Gaia, run by Pedro and Claudia, and our Porto base in 2021 and again in 2026. Free wine tasting twice a week, a free washer-dryer you book a slot for, and lovely showers. In 2026 it was €65 a night for the van, two people and electric, plus €15 per extra person. Book ahead: it is small and often full.
- Camping Tamanco
A quirky, peaceful site about an hour and a half south of Porto, run by Dave and Becky, who are British. Yurts, a pizza oven, and an honesty box selling wine at €5 a bottle. In 2026 it was €33 a night for the van and two people, plus €6.50 per extra adult and €4.50 per extra child.
- Beach aire
A free aire right on the beach on the Atlantic coast north of Lisbon, from our 2021 trip. Exactly the kind of official spot that makes Portugal easy now that overnighting on any old beach car park is off the table.
- Lisboa Camping
Our Lisbon base in 2021 and 2026, with a big pool and full services to the pitch. €87.10 a night for five adults in August 2026, so not cheap, but the city is a short Uber away. We turned up without a reservation and still got in.
- Mó de Bakesa
A beachside park-up near Fonte da Telha on the Costa da Caparica, with a bar overlooking the sea. The barrier lifted for us and the owner, Hugo, came round in the evening to collect €5 per motorhome. As good value as it gets.
- Zambujeira
Camping Villa Park Zambujeira on the Alentejo coast, a lovely campsite with a salt-water pool and an easy walk to a beautiful beach. We stayed in 2021.
- Turiscampo
A pristine family campsite near Lagos in the western Algarve, with a nice pool. Our 2021 stay.
- Mikki's Place
One of our favourite places in Portugal, visited in 2021 and 2026. The pool, the art, the rescue animals and the bar are the draw. We were quoted €25 a night without electric and €30 with it, children free; our larger shaded pitch came to €35 plus €5 for electric. Drive in, find an empty pitch, then check in.
- Albufeira
Camping Albufeira, a campsite we love so much we have stayed there twice.
- Tavira
Algarve Motorhome Park, brand new when we found it in 2021 after a long afternoon of trying places that did not work out. Proof that the Algarve is worth having a plan B for.
Every one of these is plotted on our map with the video from that trip, so you can see exactly where it is and what it looked like before you decide whether it suits you.
Heat, fridges and breakdowns
What went wrong, so it does not catch you out
Portugal in August is hot. Our three-way absorption fridge sat at 14°C in the afternoons and we threw away a pack of chicken, while the compressor fridge in the back coped fine. Fridge fans buy you a degree or two at most; the real fix is a 12V compressor fridge, and ours is going in. If you can, travel in spring or autumn. If you rely on Starlink, ask for an open pitch: our first one at Lisboa Camping was too shaded for a signal. The Lisbon post has the full story.
Then the van lost power on the hills between the Alentejo and the Algarve, with no warning lights and no fault codes, on a Friday afternoon. Our Fiat Camper Assist cover sent a recovery driver rather than a technician, the dealers were shut for the weekend, and the best offer was a tow into storage until Monday. We said no. A German leisure-electrics specialist at Mikki's Place sent us to a Ukrainian mechanic up the road, whose scanner found nothing on a van that new. Later the technician handling our case for Fiat's roadside assistance told us he had seen the same fault on three other new vans and suspected software. His workaround, 100 to 150 miles at a time with a rest in between, got us to Gibraltar.
Read the small print on your base-vehicle breakdown cover before you go, especially what it does at weekends. Ours could recover the van but not diagnose it. In practice, campsite owners, fellow motorhomers and local tradespeople got us further, faster, than the official route did.
None of that put us off. Portugal is easy with a family, with pools on almost every site and beaches everywhere; our motorhoming with kids guide covers the rest, and our guide to motorhoming in Spain covers the drive down.
Motorhoming in Portugal questions we get asked
Is wild camping legal in Portugal in a motorhome?
Not in the way it used to be. Since early 2021 the Portuguese highway code has banned motorhomes from staying overnight anywhere that is not expressly set up for it, and in protected natural areas you cannot even park outside authorised spots. Fines are real and the coast is where it is enforced. We use campsites, official aires and private land where the owner has said yes, and there are plenty of all three.
Do you need a toll tag for Portugal?
We would get one. Some Portuguese motorways have no toll booths at all and simply read your number plate, which is awkward to pay for without a tag. Portugal has its own Via Verde system, and cross-border tags such as Bip&Go also cover Portugal along with France and Spain. Several of the old electronic-only motorways, including the A22 across the Algarve, became toll-free in January 2025.
How do you get a motorhome to Portugal from the UK?
Either drive down through France and Spain, or take the Brittany Ferries crossing to Santander or Bilbao and drive west across northern Spain. We take the ferry. From Santander it is roughly a day of driving to Porto, which you can break up along the Galician coast.
Do you need to book campsites in Portugal?
Mostly not, in our experience. We turned up at Lisboa Camping in August without a reservation and got a pitch. The exceptions are the small, popular sites: Istas Garden near Porto has only a handful of pitches and often shows as full, so book that kind of place ahead. The Algarve is the other place we have struggled to find somewhere on the fly.
How much do campsites in Portugal cost?
On our 2026 trip we paid anything from €5 a night at a beachside park-up to €87.10 a night at Lisboa Camping for five adults. A typical family site was €30 to €35 a night for the van and two people, with extras per person and for electric. Smaller, special sites like Istas Garden near Porto were more, at €65 a night for two with electric.
When is the best time to motorhome in Portugal?
Spring and autumn are kindest. We have done it at the height of summer, and the heat was the hardest part of the trip: our three-way fridge could not keep food cold in the afternoons. The Algarve stays mild through the winter, which is why so many long-stay motorhomers spend the winter there.
Can you drive a motorhome into Lisbon or Porto?
You can, but we would not. The old centres are steep, narrow and cobbled, and parking a big van is hard. We stay on a campsite on the edge and go in by Uber: from Lisboa Camping it is about half an hour and around ten euros. Near Porto we stayed at Istas Garden in Gaia, about fifteen minutes from the river.
Written by Steve and Lyndsay Radford. Every stop named here is a real pin from our own trips through Portugal in 2021 and 2026, and every price is one we paid or were quoted at the time. Where our notes were thin we have kept things general rather than invent detail. Roaming Radfords is a trading name of Yowzer Limited.