Related to my immediately preceding ACP post, some thoughts around car rental.
When we ended up carless, and didn't want to head home, losing €265 of pre-paid accommodation, and a chance at some exploration, we looked for a rental.
I've already found that Europcar is most likely to have lower prices on basic cars and vans, outside of Lisbon and the Algarve, than the other providers.
They also have the lowest one-way rental fees in my experience, adding very little to the total cost of, say, a week's rental. In this recent case, Elvas (between Évora and the Spanish border) and Santarém - added around €20 in total.
Their prices are better in less obvious locations, but ones with just enough business to have cars sitting there. Like Elvas and Santarém!
The final revelation, though, was where to book this. The exact same rental, booked direct, was over €300 for a week.
Using Expedia, the European or UK sites, was around the €220-250 mark - still pushing it, to stave off a €265 loss of accommodation.
Using Expedia US - even when logged in using my account which has all my PT details - was the equivalent in USD of €188. Bingo!
Now, I don't think this means that Expedia's US site will always be cheaper. But it does mean: don't assume that using a PT or EU site will be the best offer. It may be. It may not be. And an hour of searching may or may not save you 30-40% on your rental.
(Expedia is, in Europe, now often better on prices than most of the other "scraper" sites, though - I have no affiliation, but for the last 3-5 years, I have spent lots of time researching, and for basic cars, they have always come up better than booking direct, and than other sites. Don't take my word for it - but they are worth looking at).
