Portugal South

I would suggest you buy the RS Portugal book for an overview. Julie Dawn Fox has a great blog about all areas of Portugal with lots of good recommendations. Lonely Planet is also good.

Until you have an idea of what you want to see, it’s hard to give recommendations.

The Algarve has three kinds of beaches - all sandy. The first is found to the west, small coves backed by cliffs, sometimes with level access and others such as Dona Ana in Lagos involve clambering up and down 200 steps. You need a car to access the beaches west of Lagos unless you just want to visit the village beach where you are staying.

The second type of beach can be found around Tavira and Cabanas, where the beach is on the barrier island so you need to take the short 5 minute boat ride over to the island. At Barril near Tavira, you can walk out to the beach, which takes 10-15 minutes or take the small dotty train. The beaches here are miles long.

Beyond Altura heading to the Spanish border, the beaches are flat and have easy access. The sea everywhere is cold, as it’s the Atlantic not the Med, but as it’s more sheltered, it’s slightly warmer at the eastern end of the Algarve.

The beaches up the western side of the Algarve are much quieter, as they are further away from the busy tourist resorts of the south coast and you definitely need a car, but they are stunning, miles long, backed by tall cliffs near Carrapateira.

I don’t care for the middle section of the Algarve. The beaches aren’t as good IMO and I would avoid Vilamoura (a soulless marina resort), Praia da Rocha (too many high rise tower blocks of no architectural merit) and Albufeira (some nice parts, but too many stag and hen parties as it is cheap).

Most of the Algarve has been developed over the past 50 years and there is little character in many places, as they are just tourist resorts. Lagos, Tavira, Silves, Loule and Aljezur have retained the most character, but haven’t been spared from development.

I used to stay in Salema, west of Lagos, but it has doubled/trebled in size in the past decade and its character has changed (not for the better). I don’t like beaches with row upon row of beach umbrellas and sun beds where you could be anywhere in the world, so I have never sunbathed on this beach, preferring to drive to the more unspoilt Zavial, Carrapateira or Furnas beaches or walk to Figueira beach. I last stayed in Figueira, just inland from Salema, which has a few cafes and restaurants and an old centre.

At the eastern end, I would stay in Tavira or the resorts nearby, such as Cabanas (little character but a good base with lots of accommodation and a railway station) or Santa Luzia.

The western end is very windy and you can get blown off the beach by mid afternoon in September, which is why we head to a variety of beaches as noted above with different orientations to try to find some shelter. In Salema, we have had metal cutlery blow off a table.

Sorry, but I don’t care for the RS advice on the Algarve, so would seek out YouTube videos for current advice. Many guide books aren’t going to have been updated to reflect closures due to Covid, so all will be out of date.

Carvoeiro is a great little beach town and a nice base to use.