From 8th December 2011, a new toll on some of the motorways of Portugal was imposed. The A22 motorway, which is the main motorway stretching across the Algarve from east to west, is now a toll motorway.

As this is the most obvious road to take most of our customers to their Algarve villas and to easily travel across the Algarve, it is important that you are aware of this toll and the costs involved before you travel. Unlike many toll roads, there are no paypoints on the actual road for you to stop and pay at. The whole road is now a Via Verde route where cameras record all the cars that pass along it and send the details to computers. Your journeys on the road are recorded and you are to pay for the journey afterwards at a designated paypoint.

Below is a brief explanation of just how complicated and inconvenient it is to pay this toll, for both residents and tourists alike. For our car hire customers, we offer a service for €10 per car where you will not to phyisically go and pay for your journeys on the A22 (or any other Via Verde motorways in Portugal) but debited from your credit card and paid on your behalf. The cars are fitted with special boxes that allow us to track your journeys and pay for them in time, preventing any fines.

The reasons we recommend you take this service when hiring a car are as follows:

- Following your journey on a Via Verde motorway, you cannot go to pay within the first 2 working days as the data will not yet be on the paypoint computers.

- However, if you fail to pay within 5 working days of your journey, a fine 10 times the toll rate will be added.

- At the moment, it is not totally clear where you can pay the tolls, apart from in the major Post Offices in places like Tavira, Faro, Albufeira, Portimão and Lagos. Imagine the queues!

- Upon joining the A22, there are no warning signs alerting you to the fact that you are entering a toll road. If you go on it without realising, you will incur tolls and fines.

- If you use a hire car on the motorway and fail to tell the hire company or to pay in time, then all tolls and fines will be recouped by the car hire company.

As an Algarve resident, this particular member of the Travillas team chooses to avoid all these problems by boycotting the A22 and not using it at all. Most local Algarve residents are also doing the same meaning the motorway is clear for the tourists to use.

By paying €10 for our service you can enjoy using the virtualy empty A22, and other Via Verde motorways, safe in the knowledge that your payments will be made for you and you don't have to go anywhere apart from where you want to.