How on earth do you pay "2 or 3 Euros for a can of pop"?

Did you actually leave the hotel grounds? There is large supermarket 100 yards away with 1.5 litre bottle of Coca Cola etc for less than 1 Euro.

All inclusive here offers usually only local drinks brands and stops at 11pm.

Your reply comes across as a little bit rude. I can understand why not as many people bother posting if they get these sort of replies.

I did pay that amount because in the heat it is so hot. Yes it was at the hotel and the beach and the hotel shop. Did go to supermarket to get crisps/water etc but to be fair don't go on holiday to shop in supermarkets also its deemed inapproprate to use your own drinks by the pool.

Cocktails were £6 to £8 euros so a lot of the prices were expensive but I guess whilst the euro is not as good.

I did venture out the hotel everyday walked to strip and old town also went to Lisbon so I did leave the hotel.

Wasn't rude, just as shocked as me I suppose. I take your point about drinks around the pool, I know some places get a bit touchy about taking them in from the supermarket but on the beach it's different. You are right about the collapse of the pound making things even dearer, that's probably added 10% since last year. Just think how bad it would be if the euro wasn't in trouble as well!!!!

Were you able to compare prices in Lisbon or other bars in Albuferia?

Just one picky point, Portugal does have more than one airport! Presumably you were at Faro. Last time I was there it was nothing to write about, just the airport tax free shop so they must have had a refurb. - it certainly needed it!

I did find it rude I guess thats the problem when people don't have a friendly tone and wording can be interputed this way. I'm not the first one to mention this.

Anyway moving on I only went to the beach once as didn't want to keep paying 15 euros for sunbeds. I was only there for a week.

Bars I didn't drink pop I usually drink wine which was reasonable and beer was reasonable cocktails were dear but was same everywhere. Meals were reasonable about 40 euros for 2 starters 2 courses and bottle of wine I also like to tip everywhere I have enjoyed.

Lisbon was about the same to be honest but was nice to 'get out' and sample a bit more of Portugal.

I didn't know there was more than one airport sorry yes had a few shops mainly suited for young women really liked it time flew and I've been to a few places infact the only gripe was checkin queues for all flights so you would be mixed in your queue of what flight you were on which did cause issues for some.

All in all I did budget for my holiday and money isn't a problem I just think for fmailies etc I can understand why they go all inclusive.

I'm going all inclusive to Mexico in 8 weeks so will definately consider it for all holidays going forward.

Sorry if I came across as rude, but I was amazed that people are prepared to pay these extortionate amounts even if they are a captive audience at a pool bar.

And the comments above about the exchange rate are quite correct. The £ is now at its lowest against the Euro for over a year. Throw in two recent VAT rises and other one imminent, gas and electricity soon to go up by huge amounts, petrol and tobacco taxes going up of course with yet more to come and Portugal is going to feel a lot more expensive this summer than last year. But so is Greece etc.

It is difficult when you are abroad. We all kind of know that it is going to be cheaper in the supermarkets, but if you are only on holiday for a week who wants to keep trouping round them, I would have done the same as mari and paid 2 or 3 Euros for convienence. OK if a couple, but if you have 3 kids it's a different matter nearly 10 quid for 3 soft drinks.

Most hotels and apartment blocks don't let you turn up round pools with a load of supermarket stuff, I guess it's how they make their money.

What does annoy me though (in many Countrys not just Portugal) if locals are staying in hotels and apartments, they seem to turn a blind eye to them turning up a pools with full blow picnics but Brits are frowned upon for doing it. Double standards, there should be one rule for all.

Thank you

When it's so hot its hard to keep traipsing round when you are dying for a cool drink us brits aren't used to such heat :). I definately agree with kids all inclusive would be a must.

Yes definately but I do sort of agree if you take your own drinks etc that is how the hotel make their money so I can understand why they don't like it.

Just a note in Portugal in restaurants etc there was no extras shots when pay bill fruit etc you always get that in most places in greece. There didn't seem to be any of that in Portugal the service lacked that.

There didn't seem to be any of that in Portugal the service lacked that.

Just as there isn't here in the UK - different countries have different 'systems'' in their restaurants re what is and isn't included for 'free'. Most people in the UK are used to not being charged separately when a basket of bread is put on the table in a restaurant and are disconcerted at first when they realise that a 'cover' charge has been added to their bill in Portugal. But the bread isn't free here either - it's just that the cost is incorporated into the menu prices and it's the same in Greece. You are in effect paying for that shot or plate of grapes in the prices charged for the other components of the order.

I've found on La Gomera in the Canaries, most of the traditional locally run restaurants always send a round of 'free' shots to the table at the end of the meal with the bill. But they are also always the ones where the bill is usually more expensive compared to those that don't. It's a nice touch but it's not free!

I suppose it's rather like the difference between being quoted an inclusive but overall higher price by a scheduled airline compared to the drip feed of costs as per the Ryanair model which turns out not to be as cheap as you expected by the end of the process.

SM

I can kind of cope with the fact that there are not any freebie extras. What I don't like is the 'cover' of 3 euros per person, for the bread, sardine paste & a few olives x however many in your party.

With 4 of us to be charged for 12 Euros of stuff we haven't requested which at current rates is about £10 is not on.
First time visitors would be unaware of this you get to know to refuse it after you have been a few times.

It may be a custom but it's also a can also be a c o n. Few places in the world do you get something that is chargeable brough to you without requesting it. I assume it dates back to the days when these items cost an Escoudo and now things are so expensive they should stop doing it.

I've always found the individual cover item prices are shown in the menu and you can wave them away when they bring them, in which case they don't charge. I would normally keep the bread and butter and so no to the paste and olives, no one ever objected. A few places had little handmade cheeses as well, they would be expensive as an unwanted cover item but if you weren't in the mood for a heavy meal then nibbling the bread and cheese was as good as a starter. It's true that first timers to any country can get surprises - I wonder what Portuguese visitors to London restaurants make of the 15-20% service charge automatically added to the bill!

Service charges are always detailed on menus in the UK (those that do this), although I eat out a fair bit and would say 80% or restaurants do not levy a service charge, service is always discretionary. If you get a service charge it means that you do not have to leave a 10% tip - or whatever percentage people leave.

My understanding is that if you have any part of the couvert they will charge you for it, so you don't have the option of saying that you just want the bread & be charge 1.5 Euros, you either have it or you don't. So you can end up paying £10 for bread. I have never been charged that for bread in the UK and we have one of the highest costs of living in Europe - ergo for me it's a rip off.

You need to check the menus, €1.50 for bread and butter is a base but the other stuff is usually priced seperately and can be refused. Never seen one in Tavira, Lisbon or Porto where everything was in one big fat charge. Obviously if it shows a price for bread and butter you can't say you don't want the butter (well you can but the price won't alter). I once saw an item in Lisbon of special cured ham priced at €7.00 - they didn't bring that, it had to be ordered so "covers" might be a poor translation. The stuff that gets brought without being ordered is a tradition that needs to be watched - I'm sure I've posted a warning about this before.

oh dear looks like i've opened up a can of worms.

I didn't mean honest!

Just was saying I'm back lol

LOL No worrys Mari just glad you had a good holiday.

Its worth having these conversations, as Steve says it kind of warns first timers what to look out for, we haveprobably discussed it before, but info falls on to the next page after a while.

Liike Steve, I cannot recall ever not seeing the 'couvert' price listed on the menu but if you don't know it's there then perhaps it doesn't occur to people to look. Hopefully, people will read this and be forewarned. I wonder whether we British tended to translate it as 'cover' because we assumed that it was comparable to the 'cover charge' we were used to seeing on some menus here? And consequently that we couldn't refuse it? Perhaps it's better to think of them as 'sides' - the sort of thing that wine bars that offer a 'light' menu tend to provide for those that want something to nibble on but not a full meal?

What I see as more of a c o n is the increasing tendency I've noticed in the pricier restaurants up here in Scotland to NOT include vegetables in the price of a main course. They then have to be ordered separately as a 'side' and can push up the price of the main course by 50% or more. I've now learnt to ask what comes with a main course but not everybody does and I really felt for a couple at an adjoining table recently who said no, they didn't want any side orders when the waitress asked (she could definitely have been clearer about what she really meant) and were then made to feel small when they called her back to their table and asked where the vegetables where after they'd sat looking at their plates with literally just a piece of meat on them. I don't know about them but after that little display of not just poor service but bad manners on the part of the waitress, I haven't been back there.

Sorry Mods I know but just has to get that off my chest!

SM

I've remembered the Italian word. Think of Portuguese Couvert as similar to Italian Antipasto but not as grand, it's nibbles at the start of a meal not the cover charge.