Driving in the Algarve: roads, tolls and tips for visitors (2026)

The Algarve runs east–west, and so do its two main roads, they run roughly parallel the length of the coast.

• A22 (Via do Infante), the motorway spine, fast and, since 1 January 2025, completely toll-free for cars. No Via Verde device, no EasyToll, no payment of any kind. This is your default for covering distance: Faro Airport to Lagos, or on to the Spanish border, with no toll to worry about.
• EN125, the old national road that threads through every town. It's slower, full of roundabouts and local traffic, and in summer it can crawl. Use it for short local hops and the scenic western stretch, not for long east–west runs.

As a rule: take the A22 for anything more than a few kilometres, and drop onto the EN125 only for the last stretch into a town or for a deliberately scenic drive.

Faro Airport (FAO) sits right on the A22, so getting to most resorts is quick and toll-free, around 30 minutes to Albufeira or Vilamoura, a bit more to Lagos in the west or Tavira in the east. Pick up your car, join the A22, and you're there before you've finished the playlist. If you're driving your own foreign-plated car rather than a hire car, remember the A22 needs no toll registration at all.

Outside July and August the Algarve's roads are relaxed. In peak summer, the pinch points aren't the A22, it flows well, but the town centres and the beach approaches. Small coastal roads down to popular beaches (and their car parks) fill up by mid-morning.

• Arrive at beaches early (before ~10:30) or late afternoon to find parking near the sand.
• In resort towns, use signed car parks rather than circling, narrow one-way streets and pedestrians make the centres slow.
• Avoid setting off at the exact changeover hours on Saturdays, when rental returns and arrivals peak around the airport.