Rally Portugal 2016

[MIBA Belgium]

Hello,

I am a new member here. I know it's a little early to discuss about Portugal yet, but I have already a few questions for this rally.

We went last year to rally Portugal, but we only saw 4 stages in the whole weekend.

Can some of the Portuguese guys here on the forum give me some tips, so that we can see more stages during the weekend?

Where can I find good maps?

Thanks for your answer.

[Andre Oliveira]

Same stages and layout of last year. Only added a street stage in Porto and 2x Vieira do Minho in Sunday

[Rally Power]

It's easy to see at least 8 ss's over the rally. The stages scheme is: 1 super ss on Thursday; 3 stages running twice on Friday plus the new Porto street ss; 3x2 again on Saturday and 2x2 on Sunday.

For those coming only for the weekend it deserves trying to get at Porto on Friday's evening (19.00h local) because this super ss right at the city heart is going to be be amazing! The only problem will probably be the bar parties following this street stage...it'll be hard to get into Sat morning stages! Lots of cheap hostels and bnb rentals. Metro direct from Airport.

The magnificent scenery for Friday street stage:

[Rally Power]

So, no wow reactions to that amazing photo of my hometown...time for the overwhelming russian video!
https://youtu.be/jCI5JeL8rSc?t=60

Bibó Porto carago e Bibó WRC!

Btw, Rally Guide 1, itinerary and maps from RP already online:
http://uk.rallydeportugal.pt/content.aspx?menuid=160

[JUF]

So, no wow reactions to that amazing photo of my hometown...time for the overwhelming russian video!

You´re absolutely right. Porto is a really magnifiscient city. I love it and wish to be at the rally. But I don´t get vacation for this period of time .

[Rally Power]

Thanks for the compliment! It's great to see tourists discovering and enjoying Porto (and Portugal)! To you and all the others that cannot be here during WRC there's always our public TV (RTP), that uses to make live special stages broadcast. Porto will be one of them, for sure.

[Duvel]

So, whe just booked our flights! First time rally Portugal, looking forward to it!
We wil be there from Friday morning untill Monday.
We are looking for nice hotels, any tips are welkom. Also stage tips are very welkom, which to avoid, which we have to see etc.

[Rally Power]

My tip it’s not about any particular hotel but on the best location to stay, having Rallye de Portugal in mind.

Matosinhos (Porto’s north neighborhood) is close to RP headquarters (Exponor) and has a fast direct Metro connection with Porto downtown (called Baixa), useful for Friday evening street stages. Also, it can be easier to enter into the highways towards the north and east countryside SS’s from Matosinhos than from Baixa. Matosinhos center looks to be the perfect base for the RP weekend but (there’s always one!) there’re few Hotels there and they should be all booked by now (if you try you should take a look into Google Earth to see the ones that are close to Metro stations).

For those who want to be in Porto’s downtown and profit rally days to discover the city, the hotel range it’s huge, from cheap local guest houses and hostels to expensive 5 star international hotels. You can even get to see the super SS from some hotels balconies (the photo above was certainly taken from the InterContinental, but there’re others located at Avenida dos Aliados boulevard). The only (small) problem is to get into Friday’s Porto SS area, because huge traffic is expected and surely we’ll have to leave the car outside the center limits (taking the Metro at…Matosinhos!).

Finally, there’s a third option to those that doesn’t want to get into Porto (limited) confusion and stay closer to the real SS’s. Viana do Castelo it’s the best choice to be before first leg SS’s. For second leg Amarante looks to be the better one and for the final day Guimarães or Braga are the ones to choose. Each one of these smaller cities is only 50 to 70kms away from Porto and all have reasonable hotel choices.

Btw, all SS’s, even Porto’s one, are free (more money left for wine and beer…) but we’re supposed to stand only on spectators areas (called ZE’s). Last year there were plenty of them in all SS’s, and some more may be announced soon.

[TheFlyingTuga]

I've got a friend that has two apartments for daily renting on Oporto downtown. They are close to Aliados (600 m from the house to the city center). They're very nice and cheap. Contacts by pm if you want.

In another news, we can make a meet up for forumers on Friday night on downtown Oporto as well. A nice rally stage followed by a nice pint of the awesome Oporto's very own Super Bock beer ! Perfect day in the makig ahahaha

[Rally Power]

Yep! Bibó Porto, Bibó WRC e Bibá Super Bock!