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Beach with great food/wine

Posted by on

We are a honeymooning couple in our early 30's, and really wanted to go to Mexico for a beach vacation, but because of the Zika virus danger (we are trying to get pregnant soon) we thought we should put that trip off until after a baby.

For that reason, we thought that Portugal could offer a great alternative: great beaches, good food and wine, and great value!

Normally, we opt for B&B's or other small hotels, but since this is our honeymoon and we won't be travelling with friends, we'd actually like a bit more action in a hotel and more luxury than usual.

We would like to find a home-base with good restaurants, ideally within walking distance from a hotel that offers lots of amenities (big pool, plush rooms, air conditioning). We would like to drive to different beaches during the day (ideally coves and small beaches, rather than the huge long beaches) and walk to dinner and drinks at night. This is likely to be a 4 day stretch of a 2 week vacation in Portugal. We plan to visit Lisbon, Porto and the Duoro Valley also.

Salema seems too quiet, and I can't seem to find the perfect hotel in Lagos or Tavira.

Any ideas for a beachy home-base that might cover the above, or a hotel in Lagos or Tavira? Thanks!

Posted by
6113 posts

When would you be travelling?

Most of the accommodation in the Algarve is villas and apartments rather than hotels. I presume you have already looked at booking.com etc and not found anything that suits? What is your budget in Euros?

The beaches around Tavira are out on the barrier island, accessed by boat and are very long, not coves.

Salema has been ruined by over development and only has one, rather basic hotel. There are smaller cove beaches such as Furnas, Zavial and Figueira to the west of Salema, but these can be too windy to sit on the beach at times. Sagres is one of the windiest spots in Europe, so I would avoid there too.

Most of the more upmarket boutique hotels are in rural locations, avoiding the over developed coast, but this wouldn't fit with your criteria of being within walking distance of restaurants.

Joandso.com have a small range of boutique hotels. I always rent apartments, so I haven't got any personal recommendations.

The area around Comporta (very nice, but not the Algarve) has some great accommodation, but most of the beaches along this coast are long. It's a more relaxed place than the Algarve and closer to Lisbon, so you wouldn't lose a day in transfer time.

Posted by
567 posts

Have you looked at the Pousada's? Some of them have pools and a romantic feel. A quick look shows a few in the Algarve area.

There are lovely beaches running from north of lisbon past Nazare. I can't think of any hotels in Nazare that would meet your criteria, but I wonder if you could find something you would like in Obidos and then drive to various beaches. Obidos is a very pretty town.

My other thought was Estoril. Although close to Lisbon, I wonder if you would find some fancier hotels.

Posted by
1826 posts

There are some fancy hotels in the Estoril and Cascais área. The beaches around here are smaller, also. And, there are many restaurants within walking distance in both Cascais and Estoril. Since it sounds as if you will have a car, you can drive up to the Sintra area and north to find smaller beaches that are very picturesque.
Staying in this area would also save you traveling all the way to the Algarve.

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