God willing, we’ll be taking a RS tour of Portugal in early October 2021. Sine the tour does a nice job of covering the top half of the country, we thought it might be nice to stay 4or 5 days in the Algarve after. Interested in beautiful beaches, nice walkable village and food/wine. Any suggestions on where to headquarter?
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5513 posts
Do yourself a favor and do to Sevilla or somewhere in Andalucia instead.
The Algarve, in my experience, is full of ugly resorts and retired northern Europeans. Kind of the ugliest part of Europe I've ever seen. And I've seen just about all of it.
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1826 posts
While the Algarve is not my favorite part of Portugal, I’m not as negative as the previous poster. The beaches and rock formations are stunning. But, some areas are very much high rises, etc.
My favorite areas are Lagos and Tavira. I’ve spent a couple of weeks in the Lagos area so am more familiar with it. You do need a car pretty much anyplace in the area as the bus service is infrequent. Lagos has a walkable downtown with cute shops, a Mercado and restaurants but a car would enable you to visit the beaches more easily. Ponte da Piadade is spectacular but a bit out of town - not really walkable. And, the beaches around town have nice restaurants.
With a car, you can easily visit Sagres, Luz or go the other direction to the Portimao area (not my favorite but some nice beaches and rock formations).
The weather in October is generally good but there may be some rain. And, if the tourists have returned, there are fewer of them in October.
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
I have visited the Algarve many many times as that are Croatia are my default beach resorts. Yes, there has been too much development over the past 20 years, but the food and wine are good (and great value), the people are friendly and the beaches are great.
There is no point going to Seville if you want beaches, as it’s inland. The Spanish coast is mostly more developed than the Algarve coast. Communication between Spain and Portugal isn’t great, despite them being neighbours.
I prefer Tavira and surrounds to Lagos as it’s less developed plus in October, the western end of the Algarve can be too windy for sitting on a beach, unless you want to be sand blasted! A car is essential for exploring the Algarve as public transport is weak.
If your tour is in the north and you want beaches, you may want to consider the Silver Coast, rather than taking half a day plus each way to and from the Algarve.
I have found the weather in October to be generally good, but I have also had some very heavy rain.