Algarve tips? Nice towns etc?

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Going to the Algarve soon for some end-of-summer sunshine and warmth. Not been before. To be honest I had always put it down as a bit trashy Brits-Abroad, maybe with a side of golf :o

We're not beachgoers, to be honest it's only going to be 25c max looking at the weather. Flying into Faro but staying in Tavira. Not hiring a car but understand we can get trains to a few other towns in the surrounding area. We're after a bit of culture, good food, drinks... just a relaxing time. Maybe hiring bikes if we're feeling adventurous and there's some non-road routes :confused: Treating it more as an extended city break rather than beach/pool stuff.

What would you do and see? TIA.
 
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Hmm - from my (limited) experience I would say you have probably picked the wrong country for what you are looking for.

Wouldnt say it is "trashy brits abroad" particularly but would say its mostly the "beach/round of golf" type place.

However I have only been twice and one of those was a work conference - in a golf resort so I may have got the wrong impression. Hopefully someone will be along to correct me.....
 
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@Mint8 yeah to be fair we were kinda aware that's what it could be like -- that's actually why we've previously picked other destinations over it when we're looking for some early/late summer sun. But we're not going to Albufeira which seems to be the well known stag/hen party. Tavira seems to have a good rep from what we can tell, the hotel is new and looks very classy indeed so I don't think we're in any danger there. Just a matter of finding the right towns to go and take a look at, or countryside/scenery/beaches etc.
 
I was pleasantly surprised by the Algarve this summer. A few of the highlights:
  • We had an excellent dinner in a lovely spot at O Leão de Porches, Porches being a pretty traditional/historical Algarve town
  • Had a good experience wine tasting and charcuterie at a vineyard with beautiful views
  • Drove up to the town of Monchique in the mountains and had a good morning out there
  • Visited Lagos, which was more touristy but had an interesting military church, nice architecture, good food and nice views at the cliffs nearby Ponte de Piedade
  • Did a sea kayaking tour through caves
  • Some of the family visited Silves castle and said it was good
  • Generally, fantastic seafood restaurants to be found if you take the time to research a little and not too expensive either
Overall, you can do the Albufeira/brits abroad trip if that's your thing, but plenty of things to do to have a completely different type of trip if you'd prefer. I would really recommend reconsidering a car, but Ubers are ubiquitous and pretty cheap even for some of the longer journeys.
 
radderfire said:
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Funnily enough his favourite town is Tavira, where we stayed.

We got back on Friday. Had a nice time. I think the Algarve as a whole was exactly what I expected. A bit touristy and skewing towards the boomers :p But Tavira was lovely, just the right size for us to have interesting restaurants and bars to try every day of the stay. There were quite a few Indian restaurants catering to the golf crowd, which was a bit disappointing (particularly as they were crowding the swuare where our hotel was, so we had to walk past them all the time) but each to their own. With a bit of good research we found much better restaurants and bars. And managed to avoid the pensioners as much as possible :p

We were lucky with the weather as it was 26-27c every day. We're not usually beach people but it was a nice 20min ferry ride to Tavira Island/Beach and we found a great beach club where it was only 20eur for a cabana for the whole day. We're much better at the beach when there's facilities, a bar and restaurant within walking distance :p So we did that a couple of days.

So yeah, I'd recommend Tavira but as we already knew you'd be better off hiring a car to explore further afield. We got the train to Faro for a day, which wasn't too difficult but took 45mins and I think it's probably quicker to drive. Big up Churrasqueira O Recife in Faro for great piri piri chicken. And shout out to Restaurante Come na Gaveta which was our best meal, and they also had a bar over the river which was our favourite spot for an aperitif in Tavira. They also did excellent tapas.
 
Went to portugal for the first time ever in March, Villamoura. If I hadn't known it was a big getaway for golfing, I'd had swore it was a gay male mecca, a lot of the pubs around the marina were filled with guys, some crazy ratio like 10-1 women.

But (countrywide power outage aside), we enjoyed our 6 nights there, the Marina is a Marina like anywhere else, loads of eating/drinking holes with every taste catered for, and back from the marina the town is a much more relaxed place. And if you happen to be into Golf I think there is something crazy like 12 golf courses within 30 mins.
 
It's a part of the country where you can make as much or as little of it as you want. Go with the family and there's plenty of stuff to keep kids/teens engaged like water parks, jeep safaris, mountain biking, go karting, boat tours. Go with your partner and it's easy to find a nice quiet place for walks, bit of beach, nice restaurants, tour the sights like Silves, Sagres or Nazare (for the surfing and waves, watching not doing though, it's proper scary at times!), day trips to Seville. Go with your mates to Vilamoura and play golf for a week, avoid the Marina.... :D, try to drink your kidneys into oblivion. It just takes a bit of research on where to stay and what to do like pretty much anywhere.

I've been 36 times in 21 years, staying at a few different places, Vilamoura (mainly for lads golf), Carvoeiro (stayed here the most), Ferragudo, Armacao De Pera, Almancil, Sagres.
 
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