Maybe the Algarve has the dirtiest name in Portugal for the serious traveller, it now has the reputation for being the new Costa del Sol of Europe because even the least adventurous people no longer want to go to the Costa del Sol.. so where else can they go but a hundred miles West up the coast!

But who can blame them, the Algarve knocks the socks off the Costa del Sol.. it might catch a little more Atlantic breeze but the beaches are unforgettable. It’s a bit like taking the most beautiful beaches of the Northern Europe (France, South Wales, West Ireland)..and giving them some hot weather!

You’ll find all of the sins of the package tourist around the town of Portimao but all of relaxing evenings and good little restaurants can be found just a few miles up the coast in Alvor and the delights of history just a few miles further in Lagos (this was the major shipping centre in the 15th century, at the start of the Age of Discovery).

And all along this south facing coast of Portugal you are bound to find all of the things you could possibly hope for in a holiday by the sea. The Algarve ends with the fort at Sagres (Prince Henry the Navigator’s nautical school), where the Mediterranean coast meets the Atlantic coast. The sea gets a bit choppier from then on Northward.