Which motorways are toll-free now?

Since 1 January 2025, Law 37/2024 has removed tolls on seven former SCUT motorways — the roads that were built as free to use and started charging in 2010–2011:

  • A4 — Transmontana, and the Marão tunnel
  • A13 and A13-1 — Pinhal Interior
  • A22 — the Algarve motorway (the former Via do Infante)
  • A23 — Beira Interior
  • A24 — Interior Norte
  • A25 — since 1 January 2026 along its whole length, Costa da Prata included (State Budget Law 73-A/2025, article 258)
  • A28 — only between Esposende and Antas, and between Neiva and Darque

Everything else on the motorway network is still tolled — including the roads most visitors use: the A1 between Lisbon and Porto, the A2 from Lisbon to the Algarve, the A6 to Évora and the A8 north of Lisbon.

How do tolls work on the rest?

Portugal runs two systems side by side. On traditional motorways you take a ticket and pay at a booth, in cash or by card; lanes marked Via Verde are only for cars fitted with an electronic device. On electronic-only motorways there are no booths at all: gantries over the road read your device or photograph your number plate, and a panel next to each one shows the charge. The official PT Tolls map lists which stretches work this way — among them the A41 and A42 around Porto, the A28, the A33, the A16 and the A17/A29.

What does the rental company's toll device cost?

We read the rental conditions of all 23 suppliers DiscoverCars lists at Lisbon Airport. The pattern is almost uniform: every car carries a transponder, you pay a daily service fee for it, and the tolls themselves are charged to your card after the rental, on top of that fee.

  • 21 of 23 suppliers publish a daily fee, from €1.85 to €2.50 a day — the median is €2.15.
  • 19 of 23 cap that fee per rental, at between €18.50 and €24.60 — the median cap is €21.52.
  • 21 of 23 warn that you may have to leave an extra deposit for tolls.
  • Cheapest published fee: €1.85 a day (CRC, Rent-a-Star, RightCars — all capped at €18.50). Highest: €2.50 a day (Key'n Go, capped at €22.50).
  • Guerin works differently: prepaid tolls at €2.36 a day.

At the median, a one-week rental adds about €15 in device fees before a single toll is paid. Supplier figures as published on DiscoverCars, autumn 2026; always check the conditions attached to the exact offer you book.

Can you drive without the device?

Only if your supplier lets you decline it — several fit a transponder to every car and add the charge regardless. If you do drive without one, the rental has Portuguese plates, so the rules for Portuguese-registered cars apply: at booths you simply pay; on electronic-only stretches the passage is recorded by plate and can be paid at a CTT post office or Payshop agent, or by ATM reference, from 48 hours after passing and within 15 working days. Post-payment adds an administrative cost of €0.32 per trip, up to €2.56 per payment. You cannot use Via Verde lanes without a device.

Miss the 15 working days and the toll becomes an offence — and the rental company, which receives it, will pass it on with its own handling fee.

Which of our drives are tolled?

  • The Algarve: the A2 from Lisbon is tolled as far as the Algarve; the A22 along the coast is free. From Lagos to Sagres and Cabo de São Vicente you are on ordinary national roads.
  • The Douro: from Porto the A4 is tolled as far as Amarante. The Marão tunnel, the A4 beyond it and the A24 down to Peso da Régua have been free since 2025, and the N222 along the river never had tolls.
  • Évora: the A6 is tolled. Its 2026 exemption applies only to residents of the Alentejo, through a device registered to their own car — not to visitors in a rental.
  • Óbidos and the Silver Coast: the A8 north from Lisbon is tolled.
  • Lisbon to Porto: the A1 is tolled all the way.

So, take the device or not?

If your supplier makes it optional, the question is whether your route crosses electronic-only motorways. Around Porto and along the Silver Coast it almost certainly will, and the device — capped at around €20 per rental with most suppliers — spares you tracking down every passage at the post office. For an Algarve holiday that stays on the now-free A22 and the coast roads, you may never pass a gantry at all; the one toll you are sure to meet, the A2 from Lisbon, has booths. Use the official PT Tolls calculator to price your exact route before you choose.