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Albufeira or Lagos?

We want to spend 5 or 6 days in the Algarve in February 2020. What would be your recommendation of a place to call home base and do day trips from there?

Posted by
6113 posts

I wouldn’t even visit Albufeira on a day trip. It’s hideous.

The only places I would consider are Lagos or Tavira and my preference would be Tavira which has been less spoilt by over development and retains far more character. The eastern end of the Algarve tends to be significantly less windy and slightly warmer than the Lagos end. If you don’t mind staying in a more modern resort, Cabanas near Tavira is busy in the winter with snowbirds from Europe and Canada and increasing numbers of Americans. Some of the smaller Algarve resorts more or less shut up for the winter.

I have been to the Algarve in mid/late March a couple of times and the weather has been very mixed. It’s not warm enough for the beach and we have had lots of rain.

There are better areas of Portugal to visit in February. Presumably you are hiring a car, as public transport isn’t the Algarve’s best feature.

Posted by
847 posts

I stayed in Lagos in March a couple years ago. Also in Faro and visited Tavia as a day trip. The scenery around Lagos (to the west) is spectacular. Withe 5 or 6 days and wanting to sight see (as opposed to just chill out) I would do two bases and it would be a long day trip from one end of the Algarve to the other. We split our time 3 nights and 3 nights and were glad we did it that way. I did not stop in Alufeira as everything I read said it was a boring built up resort.

Posted by
5362 posts

I have visited the Algarve in February and stayed in Tavira as well as Lagos. Both were virtually shut down and not pleasant at all. Lots of empty condos and big shopping malls were the only places we could find open restaurants. The weather was cold and wet. We left several days early as it was such a disappointment. Please go somewhere else.

Posted by
1654 posts

I stayed in Lagos in 2016 for two weeks and found it pleasant, for the most part. There was rain a number of days but the sunny days were fairly warm and lovely. I didn’t find closed restaurants or shops, that I noticed.
That said, there are many better places to visit in Portugal than the Algarve - especially in winter.

Posted by
6113 posts

Lagos and Tavira are far from shut down in February - both have populations of around 25,000 locals! Neither Lagos or Tavira have shopping malls, so Emily must been mistaken for some other location.

Posted by
5362 posts

I think we drove a good ways to the mall. There was definitely a mall. I’m sure there is a year round population, but we didn’t see many locals. We stayed in some God awful condo hell full of mold.

Posted by
5 posts

Thanks to all who have taken the time to reply to my question. Some of you have mentioned that there are better places to visit, even in February. I would love to hear your suggestions. Let me give you a bit more information regarding our travel plans and what we want to seen and do.

We will be arriving in Lisbon in mid-February via cruise ship. We are doing a transatlantic crossing from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Lisbon. We plan to spend 5 days in Lisbon and will be joined by our daughter and her family who live in the UK. After saying goodbye to our daughter and grandchildren, we plan on renting a car, and heading to Evora for 2 nights (possibly 3 if you think it warrants it?). From there we plan on heading down to the Algarve and would like to stay there for a couple of days, choosing a location that would serve as a home base and do day trips from there. We would like to take in the Carnival activities in Loule on Feb 25. Loule would be about a 1 h drive from Lagos which we wouldn't mind doing. From the Algarve, we hope to head north to Nazarre where we are thinking f spending a couple of nights, then onto Coimbra (2 nights?) and then up to Porto (and possibly the Douro Valley) for 3 or 4 days. We will drive back to Lisbon on March 5 (1 night). We'll return the rental car and fly home on March 6.

I would appreciate any feedback on our proposed itinerary. What are some "must sees" or "must do-s"?

Any recommendations regarding accommodation would also be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Posted by
1654 posts

If the only real reason to go to the Algarve is to be close to Loulé for carnaval, you have other options. Since you plan to go to northern Portugal, Salamanca Spain is not that far. They have a very nice carnaval from what I’ve been told by a Spaniard friend.

I admit to not knowing much about the Loulé carnaval but Portugal is not big on carnaval celebrations.

The other portions of your trip seem good to me , with the possible exception of Nazaré. Unless the big waves are happening, I would suggest other places in the Silver Coast area than Nazaré. Tomar, Alcobaça and Batalha are other nice places to visit in central Portugal