Car transport
Car transport to Faro
Your car driven personally to Faro or the Algarve, the longest route I drive, with one dedicated driver and everything on the way arranged beforehand.
Netherlands → Faro
2,380 kilometres, and the last toll road works differently
For Dutch winter residents and golfers, the Algarve is Europe's south-western corner: Vilamoura, Quinta do Lago, Almancil, Lagos, Tavira, Carvoeiro. Sun in January, green fairways in February, and a coast that is pleasantly empty outside high season.
It is also the furthest destination I drive. 2,380 kilometres through France, northern Spain, Salamanca and Seville, two long driving days, and with an early or late collection sometimes a third. I would rather say that up front than have you discover it en route.
Then there is the A22, the motorway running the length of the Algarve. It has no toll booths: payment is entirely electronic, and a foreign car without registration simply cannot settle at the roadside. I arrange that in advance, so no penalty notice lands on your doormat three months later.
Your route
Netherlands → Faro
One direct drive from the Netherlands, your own car, one dedicated driver, from your door to the destination. Every other destination in Europe I drive just as readily.
direct route · 1 dedicated driver
Price indication — Faro
One-way
~ 2380 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 800
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.250
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 2.490
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.050 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 2380 km · ~ 4 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.500
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 2.330
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 4.640
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 3.830 excl. VAT
Prices may vary slightly due to variable costs such as hotel, fuel and tolls.
Who drives this route
Why cars go to the Algarve
This trip is almost never booked out of convenience, usually out of necessity.
Winter residents and golfers
From November to March the Algarve is the alternative to the Dutch winter. Anyone staying three to five months needs a car, and renting for that long costs more than the trip down and back.
Second homes around Vilamoura and Quinta do Lago
Almancil, Loulé, Quinta do Lago and Vilamoura are spread across an area where distances are long and public transport limited. A car kept at the house is practically indispensable.
Relocations and long stays
Anyone settling in Portugal would rather bring their own car than buy one at Portuguese prices. That trip is a one-off, and what counts then is that the car arrives in the state it left in.
The route
Netherlands → Faro in two driving days
The western corridor, but all the way through: France, the Basque country, the Meseta, Extremadura, Andalusia and only then the Portuguese border. ± 2,380 km.
- 01
Collection at your home
Your address · 30–45 min
360° condition report with photos, odometer and fuel recorded, transport agreement signed. This is also where we settle the A22 toll registration, so it is done before departure.
- 02
Netherlands → Bordeaux
Day 1 · ± 1,000 km
Via Antwerp and Paris or Reims to south-western France. The most toll-heavy stretch of the trip, and the fastest going.
- 03
Bordeaux → Burgos or Salamanca
Day 1/2 · ± 600 km
Over the border at Irún and up onto the Meseta. Overnight in an enclosed or guarded car park, with an update to you that evening.
- 04
Salamanca → Seville → Faro
Day 2/3 · ± 900 km
South through Extremadura to Seville, then west on the A-49 and across the Guadiana at Ayamonte into the Algarve. The final sixty kilometres run along the A22 to Faro.
- 05
Delivery in the Algarve
Your address in Portugal
Second 360° report on arrival, key handed over personally. Return flight from Faro, which has direct connections to the Netherlands year-round.
What matters on this route
Recurring events
Two moments when Faro is fuller than usual. The Concentração Internacional de Motos runs from 16 to 19 July in 2026 at Vale das Almas on the edge of the city: one of the largest motorcycle gatherings in Europe, with a parade straight through Faro. And the Feira de Santa Iria in October, the big traditional fair on the Largo de São Francisco just east of the walled old town. In both weeks the approach roads and the parking around the centre work differently from what the map suggests.
The A22 has no toll booths
The Via do Infante, the motorway through the Algarve, is tolled entirely electronically: there is no booth where you can pay. A foreign plate has to be registered beforehand or run a transponder, otherwise a penalty follows months later. I arrange it before departure and put the actual toll cost straight onto the invoice.
Two long days or three normal ones
2,380 kilometres is more than two comfortable driving days. Depending on collection time and your address within the Algarve, I plan either two long days or three calm ones. I don't pick the fastest option but the one where I am rested at the wheel, decided in the planning, not sprung on the invoice.
Portugal enforces speed strictly
Portuguese motorways are good and often empty, with many fixed cameras. I drive within the limit regardless; any fines are mine, not yours. That is written into the transport agreement.
Faro flies all year
Faro has direct connections to Amsterdam and Eindhoven in winter too, which keeps my return flight affordable and predictable. On a trip this long that is the difference between a one-way run and an expensive round trip.
Delivery across the whole Algarve
Faro, Almancil, Vilamoura, Quinta do Lago, Loulé, Albufeira, Carvoeiro, Lagos and Tavira all lie within an hour of the A22. Delivery to your own address, including inside a resort or gated urbanisation.
Compare your options
The same car from the Netherlands to Southern Europe, three ways, three price tags. With a trailer, watch which one you are comparing: riding along on a scheduled line from depot to depot is the cheapest there is, but a transporter making the run for your car alone charges per kilometre and bills the truck’s journey home as well. Between those two extremes sits a factor of five.
Trailer transport
€675 – 4,500 excl.
± 10 working days, or 2–3
- €675 – 850 if your car rides along on a scheduled line
- But then you take it to the depot yourself and collect it yourself on arrival, ten working days later
- If the transporter runs for your car alone, door to door, it goes per kilometre — open ± €0.95, enclosed ± €1.35 — and the truck’s journey home counts too. Utrecht–Marbella comes to ± €4,500
- Luggage in the car usually not allowed
Driving it yourself
± €0.25 per km + your time
± 2 – 3 days of your own
- You drive the whole route yourself
- Fuel and tolls come to roughly €0.25 per kilometre
- Plus a hotel night on the way and a flight back
- And two to three days of your own time
Monarch DriveDrive-it-Back
± €2,040 excl. for Utrecht–Marbella
± 3 days
- One dedicated driver drives your own car, door to door
- Half what a transporter charges to make that same run for your car alone
- On the day you choose, not the day the line departs
- Load the car with your own luggage
- 360° condition report + daily updates
Trailer prices, September 2026: the line prices from one large Dutch car transporter's own route pages, the door-to-door price from a Dutch specialist in exclusive car transport's own rate calculator. My figure is the indication from the calculator above for Utrecht–Marbella, one way. All amounts exclude VAT so they can be read side by side. Travel expenses are calculated up front and included in the fixed price, with no mark-up.
Frequently asked
About the route to Faro
Two long driving days, or three calm ones. The route is ± 2,380 kilometres, the furthest destination I drive. Which it becomes depends on collection time and where in the Algarve you are; we agree it beforehand so you have an arrival day rather than an estimate.
The A22 through the Algarve has no toll booths: tolls are charged electronically by number plate. An unregistered foreign car cannot pay on the spot, after which a penalty follows weeks or months later. I make sure the car is registered or running a transponder before departure, and put the tolls actually incurred onto your invoice one-to-one.
Yes. The whole Algarve falls within this trip, from Tavira and Faro in the east to Albufeira, Carvoeiro, Portimão and Lagos in the west, plus Almancil, Loulé, Vilamoura and Quinta do Lago. If your house is in a resort or behind a barrier, tell me how access works.
A fair question, and the answer depends on the car. For a car you are going to use down there, driving is usually faster, cheaper and less risky than a transporter that carries several cars the same way and only leaves once it is full. For a classic or a car you don't want kilometres added to, an enclosed trailer is the better choice, and I'll say so rather than sell the trip.
Yes, and at this distance it particularly pays off. Booking the outbound and return as one assignment — say, down in November and back in April — puts the price per kilometre clearly below two separate one-way trips.
About 2,380 one-way, almost entirely motorway. That is the honest downside of this route and I set it out in advance on purpose: it is less demanding than 2,380 kilometres of city traffic, but it isn't nothing. For anyone who doesn't want those kilometres, the trailer is the alternative.
How I safeguard your car
Clear about cover
Your own policy stays leading. Damage caused by me: I cover the excess up to €500. What I do not have is stated just as plainly.
Signed transport agreement
Every arrangement — excess, route, planning — recorded in writing beforehand.
360° condition report
Your car's condition fully documented with photos, before and on delivery.
Reply within 24 hours
A personal answer from one point of contact, not a call centre.
Further reading
Everything connected to this route, in one place.
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Faro?
Bringing your car back from Faro costs ± € 2.280. Going out is ± € 2.490, so the return works out cheaper: the last driving day ends at my own door, with no hotel night at the far end and no flight home. I fly out and drive it back to you.
Ready to have your car transported safely?
Request your indication with no obligation. Within 24 hours you will have a personal reply.