Mittens 2014 Portugal - 19-26 July

[AGA]

I guess numbers are the main concern at this point.  Some places would be preferable, but obviously if there are 20+ of us we'll have to discount the smaller houses.

[Radiant]

Yes, but being far and/or hard to reach from Lisbon could be a dealbreaker for some people.

[AGA]

There are airports in Porto and Faro too of course.  Not idea how accessible they are from some countries, but still an option!

[Disco]

I agree that getting around and having close amenities is important, but proximity to Lisbon is less-so.

From wikiTravel:

The Alpha Pendular - a high-speed train, runs at least twice a day to and from Lisbon. About 2,5 hours, â,¬20 one way, â,¬25 on first class. The Inter City trains run more frequently but take a little longer, with more stops - about 3.5 to 4 hours.

This may prove worthwhile not only for a day trip activity but also if flying to Faro ends up more trouble for some people.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Algarve

It sounds like there might be a little more going on there than it looks like from satellite images. If we don't have an issue with cars, enjoying the rural while being not too far from civilisation seems possible here.


I just checked into flights to three different airports from London to get an idea (for at least some of us ) on return fares. These are what I found today for July 19 - 26. I mostly found Monarch and TAP airlines, along with a few easyJet, but those involved out-of-the-way airports.

Lisbon: 256 USD    155 GBP
Faro:    360 USD    218 GBP
Porto:  276 USD    167 GBP

[Snarky]

Yeah, but when I checked getting to Faro from various other European airports (Stockholm, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich, etc.), most of these flights were twice as expensive as to Lisbon, and often involved a stopover there. (If you're flying from Brussels you're good, though.)

[Grundislav]

I'm a maybe at this point. It all depends on my financial situation this summer, but I don't care where it is, although Portugal interests me more than Croatia.  I'm fine with either.

[miguel]

The favourite place I posted houses 16, which I thought was a fair estimate given the current interest (19 who would attend assuming it wasn't only taking place in their home countries...).  Maybe I'll post another poll later, and send out a message to all previous Mittens attendees to draw their attention.

miguel, how good is Vilamoura for access to other places (Lisbon or Faro, for instance) that may have more of interest?

Sorry, didn't see this post before.
From Faro Airport to Vilamoura is pretty close. You can even get a taxi if you're okay with money.
To Lisbon, there's the train like someone posted here and buses as well. It's a 3 hour journey more or less.
Like I said, Vilamoura is okay for the sun but Lisbon is completely different regarding things to see. I'd choose Lisbon (or Porto) always, but that's me who lives pretty near Vilamoura and know all the Algarve.

[DutchMarco]

I would love to go to Portugal- have heard wonderful things about it!
But please do take one with pool!
AS for the time - needn't be in the middle of ummer (hot + pricey) as I don't have any school going children I want to take with me. (or which I want leave at home, FTM)

[AGA]

The date isn't really up for discussion anymore.  And Mittens is always in the summer!

[Disco]

So villa #s 1, 3, and 9 seem like the most popular on the Doodle poll. 2 is up there too. 4-8 got a lot of "No" and "If need be" votes. Should we pare down the list a bit as a result?

#1 and #3 are slightly less than 7 km apart, so either location will involve flying to Faro or a train from Lisbon.

#9 is 50 km from Lisbon airport, so should hopefully not be too difficult to arrange mass transport.


I am still hoping for #3 It is the only one on the list with 100% approval, and it appears to genuinely accommodate 18 persons. #9 says "sleeps 18" on the sidebar, but the description says "up to 16".

[cat]

Looks like we have a winner! Everybody seems to be happy with villa 3.

If we go to villa 3, we should definitely go from 19th, since it's getting much more expensive afterwards (£2750 vs £3749).

[arj0n]

Looks like we have a winner! Everybody seems to be happy with villa 3.

One of my favorites of the doodle list.
Plus a nice pool with heating

[Disco]

I went ahead and emailed the owners of #3 and got a fast response. The property is available from July 19th to 26th at the rate of 2,750 GBP. It turns out that this is the ONLY week left this summer. We need to act fast.

I asked for an official rate including everything before posting back here. There are a few extras like internet (25 GBP) and air conditioning (250 GBP) and pool heating (250 GBP).

Pool heating seems unnecessary, but air conditioning may be a good option depending on what everyone's preferences are. I can't remember if we've had air conditioning in the past, besides Florida maybe? Should we opt for it? or live without?

33% of the total is required as a down payment, then the remainder 60 days ahead of check in (May 20th).

While I am waiting to hear back officially, based on the rate, deposit, and internet I came up with 3,275 GBP, which is 182 GBP each if we have 18. 27.77 is the individual damage deposit, so it works out to nearly 155 GBP after that is returned. If we decide to go with air conditioning, it will add almost 14 GBP each.

What does everyone think of the extras? Should we go for internet and/or air conditioning?

[AGA]

All fine by me.

[Disco]

Thank you for your reply and that is great news that you would like to proceed to book property ref: 1717265.

I will contact the owner to secure your dates and as I soon as I receive their confirmation (this may be tomorrow morning) I will forward you your booking confirmation invoice email complete with internet and A/C costs.

This link I was given has larger and more photos of the property than the Owner's Direct version, as well as a more up-to-date booking calendar:

http://www.travelopo.com/property/1717625

[Esseb]

Go for working Internet please. Air conditioning sounds like a necessity, but then I think anything more than 25C is too warm.

Google Maps satellite view: http://goo.gl/maps/7wsrk

Looks like there's an oddly shaped garden in the front of the house that's not in any of the pictures on www.ownersdirect.co.uk/portugal/P15306.htm.

Edit: Gotta love a rental house with that many CRT screens.

[AGA]

Bagsy a bed to myself!  And a room, if numbers allow!

More than 25c is indeed excessive, Esseb.

[arj0n]

Should we go for internet and/or air conditioning?

Internet & air conditioning sound good to us (me & tamara)

[Disco]

Yeah I looked at that front garden on Street View, and it looked like an incredibly inviting place to just hang out under the tree. It is blocked in by a little stone fence too. I am going to declare that area the Erana's Peace of this Mittens.

Bagsy a bed to myself!  And a room, if numbers allow!

I'm afraid that bagsying is most likely not an option this trip You are welcome to bagsy a single bed in a twin room though! What is your toilet routine like?

[cat]

Bagsy a room with a double bed

I'm all for internet and aircondition, though my preferred temperature would be more like 27° .

We can pay our full amount as soon as the villa is booked. Seems like you are going to do the organizing again, Disco? This would be very kind of you, you deserve the title Mittens Organizer!

Edit:
I did a bit of research on public transport. From the Lisbon Airport it's a 10 minute subway ride to Lisbon Oriente station, from where the southbound trains leave. There seem to be four trains a day to Boliqueime which seems to be the closest train station to the villa (about 3km). They all require changing to a local train at Albufeira-Ferreiras (alternatively we could take a taxi from there). The train to Albufeira takes about 3h and costs 20â,¬ oneway.
So I'd say it's fairly possible to go by public transport. However, we would need at least one car for going shopping and stuff.

Portugese railway: http://www.cp.pt/cp/homeTimetable.do
Lisbon metro: http://www.metrolisboa.pt/eng/