Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Smart travelers use the telephone to book or reconfirm rooms, get tourist information,
reserve restaurants, confirm tour times, or phone home. This section covers dialing
instructions, phone cards, and types of phones (for more in-depth information, see
How to Dial
Calling from the US to Europe, or vice versa, is simple—once you break the code. The
European calling chart later in this chapter will walk you through it.
Dialing Domestically Within Portugal
Portugal has a direct-dial phone system (no area codes). All phone numbers in Portugal
are nine digits that can be dialed direct throughout the country. For example, the number
of one of my recommended Lisbon hotels is 213-219-030. That's the number you dial
whether you're calling it from the Algarve or from across the street.
These instructions apply to dialing from a landline (such as a pay phone or your hotel-
room phone) or a Portuguese mobile phone.
If you're dialing within Portugal using your US mobile phone, you may need to dial as
if it's a domestic call, or you may need to dial as if you're calling from the US (see “Di-
aling Internationally,” next). Try it one way, and if it doesn't work, try it the other way.
Dialing Internationally to or from Portugal
If you want to make an international call, follow these steps:
• Dial the international access code (00 if you're calling from Portugal, 011 from the
US or Canada). If you're dialing from a mobile phone, you can replace the international
access code with +, which works regardless of where you're calling from. (On many mo-
bile phones, you can insert a + by pressing and holding the 0 key.)
• Dial the country code of the country you're calling (351 for Portugal, or 1 for the US
or Canada).
• Dial the local number. (The European calling chart lists specifics per country.)
Calling from the US to Portugal:
To call a Lisbon hotel from the US, dial 011
(US access code), 351 (Portugal's country code), then the hotel's nine-digit number (e.g.,
213-219-030).
Calling from any European country to the US:
To call my office in Edmonds,
Washington, from anywhere in Europe, I dial 00 (Europe's access code), 1 (US country
code), 425 (Edmonds' area code), and 771-8303.
