We three 60 something females are making our first trip to Spain and Portugal in September. So far we plan to fly from Vancouver Canada to Malaga. We want to explore the Costa del Sol and the white villages for 3 weeks and then head for Portugal for another 2 weeks. We liked the look of Albufeira until we bought your book Rick. On page 132 you show the Albufeira portion of the Algarve as the worstbut you don`t explain why. HELP!!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Carol, we are not RS staff here, so you might try contacting the office staff by using the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page. Hopefully, they can answer your question.
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
Probably because it is overun with tourists including us Brits! Very popular with package holidaymakers.
Posted by
Gaston, Oregon, USA
931 posts
...and the same goes for much of the Costa del Sol beaches in Spain. Follow Rick's suggestions and you will have great chance of having a good time on your first trip to that area. Though the crowds will have thinned out in Sept, and you can go to most places. We enjoyed Gibralter, loved Ronda!, stayed in Seville (wonderful) and did day trips to the horse show in Jerez and the hill town of Arcos. In the Algarve we stayed in Tavira (loved it) and spent a few days in Lisbon (great town to use as a base to explore the area). We also have found that the Lonely Planet guidebooks do a fairly good job covering the areas. We used a rental car to explore the local areas, and found driving to be easy; if you carried your GPS and Michelin map.
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1548 posts
You might also check Quarteira in the Algarve. It's located on the sea between Albufeira and Tavira (also a nice town). Quarteira has a great beach, good restaurants and hotels but is not as busy or as crowded as Albufeira. We have stayed there many times and have always enjoyed it. You can find many ocean front hotels at a reasonable price, and if you're driving it's a good base for the Algarve.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
It is not a capital sin to visit a place TD actively discourage from going, and the Helpline is not a sect that will ban you if, God forbids, you actually feel attracted to those places :S I'm joking (partially). I figure out RS has a criteria (which he's more than entitled to) of bashing places that feel "too much Anglophonized outside UK". Heidelberg, Stuttgart, parts of Costa del Sol, Bruxelles all get bashed and not recommended. It is like the sheer presence of Brits, OZies or Americans and English-more-than-local-language towns were something to be avoided. Once again: I think RS is totally on his right to set whatever criteria he deems fit to recommend or not a place. But that doesn't mean his recommendations are gospel :)
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
In this example I think it is a bit more than numbers of visitors, more the fact that tiny places have been more or less obliterated by new building so that there is little more than modern (1960 onward) hotels/restos and beaches. Which is great for the "sea,sun and sangria" brigade looking for some downtime on their annual holidays but not so much for people looking to visit a foreign country for its history, culture, scenery etc.