The Algarve trip to Portugal had long been pinned on my list of ontheroad itineraries to do. The ocean, the slow living, the giant beaches overlooking the cold, immense waters that also bathe the “new world,” several thousand miles to the west.
The Portugal is a destination I particularly love. I was surprised in front of the beautiful Porto (or Porto) on one of my first weekends in Europe; subsequent confirmations were then the extraordinary Lisbon (read also: What to see in Lisbon) and that trip to Nazaré in search of the so-called big waves.
In short, Portugal is a certainty that always knows how to amaze (forgive me the semi-oxymoron); theAlgarve, that stretch of its coastline that turns southward, follows in the footsteps of its own country: a particularly beautiful, fascinating destination, full of places to discover, even if you simply move inland a little bit.
In this article I want to give you an overview of this beautiful part of Portugal by giving general information and also retracing my 10-day Algarve itinerary. All this information can serve as a comprehensive guide to help you plan your trip to the Algarve.
You may find this article useful -> What to see in the Algarve (the most comprehensive list!)
How to get to the Algarve?
Obviously somehow in the Algarve you have to get there. The beauty of this area of southern Portugal is that it can be reached in so many different ways. Some easy, some a little less so, but the bottom line is that you can manage your trip to the Algarve by associating it with other countries or destinations in Portugal.
From Italy to the Algarve?
Assuming that yours is a single trip to the Algarve starting from Italy, you should know that there is only a direct flight from Milan, or rather Bergamo (BGY). The flight duration is about 2 1/2 hours; be careful to always look at times as “local time.” In Portugal you have to remember that there is 1 hour less.
If you are departing from other Italian airports you need to make a stopover, in most cases over Lisbon. In fact, this may even be a good thing. Leave room for the next paragraphs. From Lisbon and Seville it is very easy to get to the Algarve.
From Lisbon to the Algarve?
Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, a city that really amazed me and that I highly recommend you visit. From my point of view one of the most beautiful European capitals, if you want to learn more I recommend reading the article on “what to see in Lisbon” and the one on “tips for a trip to Lisbon“.
Okay, in hindsight of this self-advertising parenthesis on the previous articles (read them they really give you several insights), let’s move on to how to get to the Algarve from Lisbon and why, before visiting southern Portugal it would be interesting to visit this city.
Why: There are considerably more flights to Lisbon than to Faro. So you can find better schedules and more affordable prices (depends on the period, I would exclude July and August from this reasoning).
Why No. 2: The Algarve and southern Portugal are very well connected with Lisbon and you could reach it by public transportation such as the train with Lisbon-Faro route (about 4 hours travel time) or by bus.
Which one to choose? It depends on the type of journey you will be making. The bus stops much closer to the centers, while the railways might be far away. If yours is going to be a trip by public transportation, then perhaps better to move from Lisbon to the Algarve by bus. If, on the other hand, you will simply have to get to Faro and then rent a car, then it is indifferent, evaluate by cost and schedule. Alternatively, there are internal flights, but perhaps the price is not worth it.
Seville to the Algarve?
Everything I have just described to you for Lisbon also applies to Seville, the extraordinary Andalusian town just a few kilometers from the border. Plenty of direct flights from Italy land on the Spanish city of Seville, making it an ideal base for reaching southern Portugal.
Brief self-celebrating moment: also for Seville I recommend you read the articles on “what to see in Seville” and again the “curiosities about Seville“. Forgive me this additional publicity moment, but as another city I particularly adore, I want you to be able to find all the information you need to visit it.
“Combined” Algarve trip
What do I mean by combined? Well, very simple: since there are so many possibilities for travel within and to/from Italy, in case you had more days you could also think about flying to Lisbon, reaching the Algarve and then departing from Seville, interesting isn’t it?
With one caution: avoid the rental with drop-off international; for more information read the section on highways and car rental.
How to get around the Algarve?
Rather than an overview, I want to give you one piece of advice to best enjoy a full Algarve tour: arrange for a rental car.
Okay, you are in a blog that is purely about ontheroad travel, it would be strange to recommend something different. Actually, from my point of view it is really necessary.
It allows you to expand the horizons of your Algarve itinerary, to reach places and beaches far from the masses and inland villages that you could hardly visit unless you spent a lot of time waiting for public transportation.
If this is the first time you are hearing about rental cars, I suggest you elaborate in these two articles:
Highways and car rental in the Algarve
Let’s get to the crux of an Algarve tour: okay, Emanuele, I took your advice and will rent a car…now what?
Fair question. Apart from all the classic and bureaucratic components of a car rental (which I recommend you read about in the above articles), each country has its own organization regarding highways.
In Portugal, highways are toll-free, but not like in Italy. Mind you, there are no toll booths or highway stickers as in Slovenia. No, in Portugal there are simply “look-alike tutors” (if I can call them that way to compare them to the Italian ones) installed on the entire road arc. When you pass under the tutors, payment occurs at a predetermined amount and signaled a few dozen meters beforehand.
So, when you rent your car, remember to ask for the device (it is like a telepass) for toll payment. It will cost about 1.5 euros/day per day. In my Algarve itinerary, I rented the car for 9 days total and the expense was around 18 euros (not highways, but telepass rental).
If you are entering the Algarve and thus Portugal with a car of your own, either have the European Telepass or follow the information that the Portuguese tourism website has extensively described in this article.
Why NOT to rent a car in Spain and travel to Portugal
While organizing this tour of the Algarve, in the spasmodic search for the right compromise between flight cost and schedule, the idea of renting the car in Spain (given also the lower rental costs) had occurred to me.
So I tried to inquire without finding much information about it.
The question was: can I rent the car in Spain and head to Portugal.
The answers were mixed. The right answer is: theoretically yes, against payment of a daily fee (with a minimum of about 90 € that depend from rental company to rental company) that covers possible insurance issues in Portuguese territory (coming from a Spanish rental).
On balance, between costs, travel time, possible bureaucratic issues, the game is not worth the candle. Better to arrange with the Omio site mentioned earlier and rent the car directly in the Algarve, presumably at Faro airport.
I advise against both the international drop-off, i.e., dropping off the car in another country than where you started renting, and the domestic drop-off. The first, in addition to exorbitant costs, also for obvious reasons explained above. The second because if your destination and purpose is only the Algarve and then southern Portugal, much better to rent in Faro and drop off in Faro.
It would only make sense if you would start from the Algarve and then continue with an itinerary throughout Portugal and perhaps depart from Porto or vice versa.
Costs in the Algarve?
Cheap trip to the Algarve? Not really, I would say.
Post-covid Portugal is no different from Italy in terms of cost. Hotels and restaurants in the main towns cost quite a bit, and the quality, especially of food, is just on the decent side. They have probably calibrated themselves to the mass of northern European travelers, mostly British, with dubious culinary tastes.
Of course I am referring to costs in season, that is, from June onward; in the remaining months of the year accommodations are cheaper. Gasoline also cost more during my trip to the Algarve. The price was close to 2 €/liter (July 2022), even slightly above the cost of gasoline in Italy.
What I noticed is that there is a big discrepancy between costs in tourist places and those in more remote locations. All in the norm you would say, and indeed it is, except that the difference is tens of euros.
We stopped at a bar along a road between Albufeira and Lagos. For a Hamburger, a plate of fries, a water and two beers of which one was medium, we paid a total of 10 euros. If we had gotten the same things in Albufeira city, only 3 km earlier, the prices would have been at least three times as much. Too much difference.
Climate in the Algarve? And is the ocean cold?
The Algarve and southern Portugal are famous for having a mild climate throughout the year.
This means that even in July and August the temperatures will be pleasant. So much so that you may need an evening sweater. That’s right, I said sweater. For as many as 4/5 days of our Algarve tour I was cold in the evenings with temperatures around 18 degrees. They were probably an exception, but in order to avoid being unprepared (I had to buy a sweatshirt locally) bring something to cover you in the evening should it get cold. On the positive side, there is little precipitation between May and September, which means often completely sunny days.
During the other months of the year, the Algarve does not experience extreme temperatures. Even in winter, the temperature hovers around 16 to 18 degrees, making the Algarve ideal even as an off-season destination.
Is theocean cold? Darn, yes it is cold, but not everywhere.
There are beaches in the Algarve, especially those that turn south, that have quite pleasant temperatures. An example is Tavira beach. Whereas if you go to the lovely beaches of the Costa Vicentina north of Sagres, there the sea water is really cold and you’d better have a wetsuit.
Let’s say that if there will also be children on your Algarve tour, best to take them swimming on the beaches around Albufeira, Lagos and Faro.
How to manage the itinerary in southern Portugal?
The Algarve itinerary you will find explained at the end of this article is a somewhat atypical one. Usually an ontheroad is structured in stages along a route from A to B sometimes circular. In the case of an ontheroad in the Algarve, the distances are quite short and the things to see in the Algarve are definitely close together. It would not make sense to change accommodations every day, wasting a lot of time. It is better to decide on 2/3 bases from which to set out each day to discover places nearby.
As for my trip to the Algarve, I spent 3 nights in Albufeira, 5 nights in Lagos and 2 in Faro. I think it is a good mix, alternatively if you prefer the social life take off 2 nights in Lagos in favor of Albufeira.
Which city to choose as a base in the Algarve?
Based on what I wrote in the previous paragraph, although I will write an article on each of these cities, the overview is as follows:
Albufeira: lively and fun
Definitely lively, it is basically in the center of the Algarve coast, and just a few kilometers away you can enjoy beautiful beaches, fabulous excursions, and evening fun in the city. Beware that it is the most cheerful of all the towns in the Algarve. Lots of English, lots of bachelor/bachelorette parties, lots of evening clubs with live music. You certainly won’t be bored, but it may be a base that not everyone appreciates.
Lagos: touristy and pleasant
Heavily touristy. Although I had heard very good things about it, it didn’t excite me all that much. Beautiful, definitely beautiful, more suitable if you are looking for more tranquility. There are beautiful landscapes and beaches in the surrounding area. Also, it is great as a base for the western part of southern Portugal if you want to avoid sleeping in Sagres (in fact, there is not much in the latter town in the far western Algarve).
Faro: relaxed and Portuguese
The largest town visited on this Algarve itinerary and paradoxically the one that reminded me most of being in Portugal. Much quieter than the other two, much more city-like, but perhaps more charming. Faro is excellent kept as a base for visiting the east coast, going toward Tavira.
What experiences and excursions to absolutely do?
Difficult to sort through all the experiences available in the Algarve, I will summarize a few that you should not miss:
- Dolphin spotting: absolutely recommended. There are really a plethora of excursions that include 2 to 3 hours in the open sea looking for dolphins. It is an experience that I would also do again right away. Don’t miss it.
- Benagil Cave: There are special tours for the most spectacular cave in the entire Algarve as well. Sometimes they are in conjunction with dolphin tours. Alternatively, get there via kayak from the adjacent beach.
- Ponta da Piedade by Kayak: near Lagos is this famous group of incredible headlands. There are several kayak tours that depart from nearby Lagos beaches and take you to admire the cliffs directly from the sea.
- Sunset at Cabo de São Vicente: a free activity, go before sunset to the extreme western point of the Algarve. Beer in hand and sunset over the ocean (bring your sweatshirt).
- Surfing on the ocean shores: Praia do Amado, mark this place down. Go there, rent a wetsuit and a board and have fun with the ocean waves. If you really want to get serious, do an hour with the instructor.
Algarve and nightlife
If you are looking for fun in the Algarve, you will definitely find it in Albufeira. The town has become a destination for many tourists who come to enjoy music and bachelor/bachelorette parties.
Mind you, Albufeira is divided into two zones:
- old Town area is the “quieter” one, I put quotation marks because as you will see for yourself it is not exactly a dead-end.
- avenue zone Avenida Dr. Francisco Sà Carneiro: nicknamed“The Strip” is the main place for nightlife in the Algarve. Full of music, clubs, discos and lots of young people.
Algarve Beaches
I will not tell you in depth about the Algarve’s beaches in this paragraph, but I want to give you an overview of the difference by area and the services you can find.
One of my first thoughts for my trip to the Algarve was figuring out how to organize with the beaches. Traveling with my expecting girlfriend, the prerogative was to mostly go to equipped beaches so as to be more comfortable.
Equipped or unequipped
I thought that the most beautiful beaches were also the wildest and therefore I could not spend time there, because of the above reasons.
I really struggled to understand and find information. Well, in many of the most famous beaches in the Algarve there are small, reasonably priced equipped establishments. In our itinerary in southern Portugal, we found prices ranging from a minimum of €12 to a maximum of €18 for a beach umbrella and two sunbeds rented for the entire day.
The positive factor is that the establishments are often nestled in the nothingness of the free beach, the opposite of the Adriatic coast, just to make a point.
South Coast Algarve VS Vicenza Coast
Another important difference is that on the type of beaches and sea.
The Vicenza coast of the Algarve, i.e., the one facing America, is characterized by giant beaches, wind and breathtaking views dotted with many small black wetsuits surfing the ocean waves. If you like endless beaches, this stretch of the Algarve retains a crazy charm.
The south coast of the Algarve, however, I would tend to divide it into 3 areas:
- Lagos to Sagres: characterized by a coast full of cliffs, wild nature and, at the same time, a lot of tranquility. Also worth mentioning is the beautiful beach of Sagres city.
- Lagos to Albufeira: an exaggerated mix, wide, sandy beaches such as those near Lagos to Portimao (mark Meia Praia) and a coast full of spectacular micro coves and caves between Benagil and Albufeira itself.
- From Albufeira towards Spain: long beaches with impressive rocks behind them, to Faro and Tavira with waters more sheltered from the ocean as they face the Gulf of Cadiz.
My 10-day itinerary in southern Portugal
This 10-day tour of the Algarve is designed to be able to strike a good balance between relaxing on the beach, hiking and visiting small towns. I will briefly describe each day, you can take it as a starting point for planning your Algarve trip.
As I said, not being a classic ontheroad, you can mix and match all this information to suit your needs.
1 – Arrive in Albufeira in the evening
Our Algarve trip began with a short transfer between Faro airport and Albufeira. 45 kilometers transfer to our highly recommended hotel “Lost & Found – Guesthouse & Suites” and stop at an anonymous, but great for a local experience, bar a few kilometers from the center of Albufeira.
2 – Albufeira and Praia de Falesia
Given the favorable weather, we planned to spend the first day at one of the Algarve’s most characteristic beaches: Praia de Falesia, about 20 kilometers east of Albufeira.
A beautiful beach, also equipped, where you can relax with a mammoth cliff behind you…not coincidentally, the name of the beach traces the spectacular place where it is located.
3 – Silves and Ferragudo
First day discovering the Algarve and its treasures. Yes, because both Silves and Ferragudo are certainly two pearls not to be missed.
Silves is a small town a 30-minute drive (30 km) from Albufeira. Slow pace, a very interesting castle with respectable panoramic views. A nice excursion into the hinterland of the Algarve.
Ferragudo, on the other hand, is located on the coast and is a tiny, quaint little town overlooking the sea and Portimão, a town I did not visit as it is not recommended by many. And on the face of it I would say, given the jumble of high-rise buildings present.
Ferragudo is a nice stop, suitable for ending a good day in the Algarve.
4 – Praia da Marinha, Carvoeiro and overnight in Lagos
On the route to Lagos, we had chosen to stop at Praia da Marinha, considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Unfortunately, neither weather nor tides were on our side.
Besides a thick blanket of clouds that kept us company until early afternoon, even the beach was not the best because of the seaweed that sometimes affects the beaches of this part of the Algarve coast.
Nevertheless, it is a beautiful beach that deserves to be included in the Algarve tour. You can reach it by car, or on foot if you have a chance to walk the Seven Suspended Valleys path that passes right near both the beach and above the Benagil Cave located a short distance away.
If you reach it by car and park in the clearing at the beginning of the road (about 1km away, as I understand some times they restrict access to parking near the beach), be careful to avoid the sandy area, because you risk ending up in it and never getting out again (or almost, fortunately) like yours truly.
Finally, Carvoeiro, a beautiful and lively village, recommended by any travel guide on the Algarve, with a very lived-in beach. It is almost reminiscent, pass the comparison, of one of the five lands. From this location we moved on to our hotel Luzmar Villas about 15 minutes from Lagos on the road to Sagres.
5 – Ponta da Piedade and Sagres
From Luz to Ponta da Piedade takes very little time, only a 10-minute drive. This promontory with crazy views is a place to be experienced slowly, exploring each of its points and savoring its colors, sounds and scents.
We devoted the entire morning to it, only to be able to enjoy some refreshment in the hotel pool (it would have been late to get to now-crowded beaches) and be ready to visit Sagres in the late afternoon.
We spent the evening in Sagres, not before admiring a sunset at Cabo de São Vicente. From Luz to Sagres is a very smooth 25-minute drive. From Sagres to the far west of the Algarve and thus to the viewpoint to see the sunset is another 9 minutes (7 km).
6 – Carrapateira and Costa Vicentina
Still leaving from Luz, we headed to the west coast of the Algarve; another 20 km and 30 minutes of travel time scarcely. Between the beach of Carrapateira, the Pontal and the Praia do Amado you are spoiled for choice of places to be amazed. The advice is to include them without any doubt in your Algarve itinerary.
One word of caution: if you use your navigator to get around…be careful to take the paved roads. On the way back from Carrapateira to Lagos/Luz, the navigator put me on an unpaved road, full of potholes and with lots of ups and downs. I think I did about 10 km on a dirt road.
7 – Relaxation in Luz
After the miles on dirt road, a few hours of relaxation at Luz beach refreshed us.
8 – Tour of Lagos and Relaxation at the Beach
After a morning tour of Lagos, we spent the rest of the day at one of the most pleasant beaches seen these days in the Algarve: Meia Praia.
A giant, very long beach with very few people. Absolutely recommended.
9 – Excursion to Albufeira and transfer to Faro
The majority of excursions in the Algarve to the coast and dolphin spotting leave from Lagos or Albufeira. There are many companies and it is often difficult to understand which one is best to choose.
I am happy to recommend the one I took, precisely because it was a wonderful experience that was worth all the money spent. I purchased this combined Benagil Cave and dolphin sighting. Everything was really perfect, 3 wonderful hours at sea.
At the end of the excursion we headed to Faro, the main city of the Algarve, where we spent the last two nights of the Portuguese itinerary.
10 – Tavira and relaxation on the beach and car drop-off
With good reason, Tavira, 40 km from Faro, is considered one of the most beautiful towns in the Algarve. I can only confirm this and absolutely recommend you visit it.
Truly characteristic, it also features a castle, although quite different from that of Silves. Beaten by a scorching sun, divided by the Gilão River on which we also find the famous Roman bridge, Tavira is a town where you can spend half a day in peace.
A short distance from Tavira is the Praia da ilha de Tavira, on the island of the same name, connected to the mainland by a ferry service from Cais de Quatro Aguas. We spent our last hours at sea right here, before returning the car to Faro airport and reaching the city by bus.
11 – Visit to Faro and bus to Seville
While organizing the Algarve tour, I never noticed much “partisanship” for Faro. Let’s just say that it always seemed to me to be snubbed by the masses. Instead, I absolutely must tell you that it is the town I liked the most on my tour of southern Portugal.
I toured it far and wide both in the evening and in the morning of the day of departure. In the evening it is very lively, especially around the harbor, but there are areas for those who prefer more quiet as well. In the daytime, however, it shines thanks to the sunshine and the streets of the old town are really pleasant to walk around.
After visiting Faro, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, we took the bus to Seville. 2 hours and 40 minutes ride on a comfortable Alsa line bus that leaves from the Faro bus station and reaches the Plaza de Armas in Seville.
From the station to the airport, we used the comfortable EA bus and in 40 minutes we arrived at Seville airport.
Algarve: final tips
This trip to the Algarve is a beautiful itinerary that, if you had additional time, I recommend that you include within a somewhat larger Portugal-related project, perhaps not necessarily in the middle of the season.
Consider continuing either with the Portuguese hinterland and thus the Alentejo, or exploring Lisbon and the area above Lisbon.