Looking for some advice. We are planning on spending part of our winter (3months) in Portugal. We are looking at the Algave area . We enjoy walking on the beach, biking, and hiking. We understand that the weather will be to cold for swimming. We are open for suggestions and would like to travel around Portugal also. We usually rent a car for a month. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
The sea is too cold for me there even in July!
Lagos is a good base, although the public transport in the winter isn’t great, there is plenty going on there. Tavira is smaller and I think more interesting, but the beach is out on the barrier island, reached by a small water taxi. It has a better rail service than Lagos.
I have spent the last couple of Marches in Cabanas, which has a large British and increasingly Canadian/American long term winter clientele. It lacks character, but it’s a good location with walks around the salt pans. Car hire in the winter is cheap, so you could hire a car for the duration.
Salema closes up for the winter, as do many of the smaller resorts.
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1663 posts
There are a number of people who winter here every year. If you are staying for three months, I encourage you to visit the Lisbon area at some point. The temperatures are quite nice for winter and pretty much nothing closes up. Long lunches on the beach are common. There are many hikes and places to bike in the Cascais/Sintra área.
Posted by
Guernsey
734 posts
depends what you are used to re swimming, I swim all year round off the north coast of France and according the internet the sea temp in Portugal is about 13 degrees in the winter, its 15 degrees here at the moment and swimming is heaven, so I would definitely be in that water having a ball!
Posted by
57 posts
My wife and I spent a happy week in Winter in the lovely town of Tavira. This is at the Eastern end of the Algarve, away from the more crowded tourist end of the coast. We stayed at the Pousada, which is in the centre of the town and has been converted from an ancient monastery. This is a good four-star hotel with an excellent restaurant. Tavira has a large beach, reached by a small ferry, and there is an interesting nature reserve to the West of the town. See: https://tavira.algarvetouristguide.com/. We drove to the border with Spain and up the valley of the River Guadiana to the riverside town of Alcoutim. From there, we drove West across the deserted hills bordering on the Alentejo. A more ambitious drive would be to go over the border to Spain and down the coast to the vast nature reserve of the Donana.