Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on May 12, 2008 - 08:36 AM ferries

The Portugal News reports that Portimão has spent €1.7 million dredging and improving its harbour with the aim of attracting the new, larger cruise ships used by companies like Royal Caribbean. This has also attracted ferry operators, and Canaries-based Naviera Armas will not only begin to operate a regular Portimão-Madeira route on June 15th, but will connect the Algarve with the Canary Islands, specifically Tenerife and Gran Canaria. More of this story.

Cruise ships - real cruise ships, as The Portugal News puts it - visiting Portimão have until recently been forced to anchor off-shore and transport their passengers to land by tender. The possibility of docking makes it more attractive as a cruise stop, some 40 liners are expected this year, and more should follow. Portimão expects to multiply its current 6,000 cruise visitors a year by ten.

The good news for independent travellers is the possibility of taking a car from the Algarve to Madeira, an island with much to offer those with wheels and an itch to explore. or to the Canary Islands, where the car-less visitor often feels at a serious disadvantage. The Portimão-Funchal crossing will take an estimated 21 and a half hours, and can be reserved on-line now, through the website of Naviera Armas, though The Portugal News reports that tickets are still not available through travel agents. The crossing to Tenerife or Gran Canaria takes forty-one and forty-seven hours, respectively, and can also be booked online now. And here is the really exciting novelty - in both cases, the journey is punctuated by a ten-hour stop in Funchal, so it is now possible to take in Madeira and the Canary Islands in one swoop.

More:
Naviera Armas
The Portugal News