Is Portugal safe to travel?
Updated October 2026
🌐 Italiano · Français · Español
Is a guide mandatory in Portugal?
No, not needed for most trips
At a glance, if you go with your own vehicle
- Roads: 7.2 deaths per 100,000 people a year, similar to Italy (5.0); WHO Europe region 6.7, world 15.0 (WHO estimate for 2021). (World Health Organization — Global status report on road safety 2023)
- Vehicle, drones and permits Temporary import of your vehicle Vehicle insurance Drones what the official sources of the country say
Going with your own vehicle?
8 local guides on GuideMeet work in Portugal: they know the roads, the permits and the areas to avoid. You contact them directly, free and with no commission.
Richard Cook
Alcobaça, Portugal
Moto Travel Dude
London, UK
Aries Moto Tours
Málaga, Spagna
ACTIVE 4X4 ADVENTURES
United Kingdom
Trips with local guides
Safety
Our summary of the country advice published by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Viaggiare Sicuri) on 18 August 2026.
Wildfires
Forest fires are very frequent in the summer months, extremely dangerous and unpredictable, so be careful in wooded areas. Starting a wildfire is a criminal offence in Portugal even when it was not intentional. The meteorological institute publishes the fire-risk map and the civil protection authority the live fire situation; the emergency number is 112.
The Atlantic
There have been many accidents, some fatal, at bathing spots and in natural areas. Waves, rocks, tides and the seabed make some places dangerous and they are not always signposted. Follow any local instructions and remember the ocean is far stronger than the Mediterranean.
Pickpocket hot spots
In Lisbon the flagged areas are the main tourist quarters, Belém, Baixa, Alfama, Castelo, Bairro Alto and Chiado, plus the busiest public transport, metro, buses and trams, above all lines 28 and 15. In Porto they are the Dom Luís I bridge, Trindade metro station, Rua Santa Catarina, the tram line and Ribeira. In the Algarve it is the main resorts and towns during the summer.
Theft from vehicles
Pickpocketing, bag-snatching and thefts from cars and from apartments rented to tourists are frequent in the main tourist areas and are sometimes violent. Report any theft to the police: there is a tourist police station at Palácio Foz in Praça dos Restauradores in Lisbon and at Rua Clube Fenianos 11 in Porto, where you can be helped in your own language.
Before you rely on this
This is our summary of advice written by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Italian travellers, published on 18 August 2026. We summarise in good faith, but we cannot guarantee it is accurate, current or complete, and we take no responsibility for decisions made on the basis of it. Rules change without notice and are applied by officials at the border, not by websites. Always read the original source and the travel advice your own government publishes for Portugal before you travel. Where a guide's profile shows “Licence verified”, we found that licence in the official public register; otherwise GuideMeet has no way of checking whether an individual guide meets any standard mentioned here — ask them directly.
Source: Viaggiare Sicuri — Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, updated 18 August 2026. Last checked by GuideMeet on 7 October 2026.