There are three Algarves. I’ll call them the Mystic East, the Dead Centre, and the Wild West. Most people flying to Faro will end up at the popular resort towns of the Dead Centre such as Vilamoura, Albufeira and Lagos, leaving a whole lot of Algarve relatively free of visitors. But if you do fetch up in such a resort, a 20-minute drive will deliver you to some of southern Europe’s most scented, empty countryside.
Our Mystic East is the borderland. The Guadiana river separates the Algarve – where humility is regarded as a strength – from brasher Spain. Inland, it’s possible to meander for miles through enchanted valleys, hear birdsong, see few people and find peace. The east’s coastal margin is where the ocean is tamed by the sand islands, salt pans and azure lagoons of the Ria Formosa natural park, where flamingos and dolphins abound.
The central Algarve coastline has been relentlessly developed, but even here there are havens of old Portugal with its carob, fig and almond trees, where time treads softly and slowly and life’s pleasures are priced with locals in mind.
To the Arabs who ruled here for the best part of 900 years, Al Gharb – “The West” – was the end of the world. Go west today and you’ll find wind-brushed cliff paths and superb swimming coves. Turn north at Cabo de São Vicente and there are miles of surf beaches, inland from which white villages huddle amid sheep-nibbled farms and ancient forests.
With the Gulf of Cádiz and the Atlantic beyond being among Europe’s most fertile marine areas, and a climate where mangoes and bananas thrive, visitors eat extremely well – and surprisingly cheaply – here. The Algarvian kitchen excels at honest, hearty dishes, and the local beers and wines from the region, and neighbouring Alentejo, are world-class and inexpensive.
In recent years, a few smart visionaries have opened tiny hotels that succeed in being chic yet open-hearted and warm. Visitors staying at one of these will feel cared for – and lucky. So, with 300-plus days of sunshine, abundant budget flights, excellent roads and deep traditions of hospitality and affordability, the only question worth asking is: which Algarve to visit?
THE EAST
It’s worth heading inland to pretty Alcoutim for the drive alone. Cistus, wild orchids and house-high castor oil plants fringe the roadside. Alcoutim’s slim, cobbled streets tumble down to this gorgeous bend of the Guadiana with its peace and sandy river beaches. O Soeiro restaurant (4 Rua do Município, +351 281 546 241) opens out onto the adjoining church steps and riverside. It’s family-style and not fancy. The grilled chicken is heroic.
The Guadiana meets the sea at Vila Real de Santo António. Elegant, once-wealthy and still popular with Spaniards perusing bargain household textiles, Vila Real is where the ferry chugs across to Ayamonte in Spain. Some 300 metres up the all-but-abandoned quayside from the ferry terminal is Tasquinha da Muralha (+351 963 267 265), a blue-and-white shack serving faultless grilled fish.
Monte Gordo is a 1960s tourist town that need not detain us but, from here, there are beaches all the way to Faro. Praia do Cabeço is popular with clammers but also families and strollers, and runs from Monte Gordo to Manta Rota. The popular (and good) Sem Espinhas (+351 281 956 026, semespinhas.net) beach hangout will cook you lunch, sell you a lolly and/or get you tipsy.
Once the home of 12th-century Sufi poets drunk on divine love, Cacela Velha is a jewel-like three-bar, two-restaurant seaside hamlet on a cliff top overlooking market gardens, oyster beds and inviting, strollable sandy islands.
Cabanas de Tavira was once a tuna fishery and is now a slow, low-rise village with the excellent Noélia e Jerónimo (3 Rua da Fortaleza, +351 281 370 649). Noélia is a seriously good chef who serves updated Portuguese classics such as octopus fritters with coriander rice. Opposite is Cabanas island beach, which is reached by ferry (€1.30) in three minutes. If doing nothing is too much for you, Eolis (kitesurfeolis.com) will teach you kitesurfing … and that you’re not as young as you used to be.
Tavira is slightly the victim of its own elegant loveliness: eating places abound, as do visitors. But its beach is a gem: Ilha da Tavira, only reachable by boat, has shops, cafes and a campsite. Ferries run to here from Tavira town, Cabanas de Tavira and Quatro Águas.
Between Tavira and the island is adorable Santa Luzia. This whitewashed fishing village is Portugal’s “capital of octopus”. Book ahead at Casa do Polvo Tasquinha (8 Avenida Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco, +351 281 328 527) for Nicole’s perfect chargrilled octopus. Walk lunch off at Praia Barril beach, reached on the vintage train (€1.30 each way) which deposits you at the beach cafe/shop complex. Like many eastern Algarve beaches, Barril is naturist-friendly.
Still heading west, Marisqueira Fialho restaurant (Estr Vale Formoso, +351 281 961 222) is at Pinheiro, a tranquil shallow lagoon where visitors can stroll the marshes among the abundant bird life and soak up the sun on lonely sand bars. Fialho specialises in eel, fish and clam dishes, and much unforced Portuguese cheer.
Fuzeta is a 1930s fishing/holiday town with another fabulous island beach. Splendid outdoor fish lunches, expertly grilled by Senhor Filipe, are yours for €10 a pop at A Lota (next to the fish market, Largo 1 de Maio, +351 289 794 860). An afternoon’s paddle and stroll along Fuzeta beach brings you to Armona and its ferries (olhao.web.pt) to Olhão.
The Algarve’s largest commercial port and its extensive clam beds make Olhão a busy, living, salty place. Clam digger Alexander cooks (relatively) upscale dishes opposite the thriving, exciting market at Sabores da Ria (Praça Patrão Joachim Lopes, +351963479472), while Carlos and Helena (10 Rua Olhanense, +351 289 702 892) offers Helena’s pitch-perfect family cooking.
The Ilha da Culatra can be reached by ferry from Olhão. There’s sometimes a shack on its beach with drinks and sunloungers; the few folk who come here do so for solitude and its beautiful waters. By the jetty, friendly Café Janoca (meals from €15) will overfeed you with pleasure. Culatra is also a destination for Passeios Ria Formosa (passeios-ria-formosa.com) which operates tours and water taxis from Olhão, Fuzeta, Santa Luzia and Cabanas de Tavira.
Where to stay
New this year, Convento (doubles from €80, 10 Travessa Antonio Bento, +351 911 970 167, conventoolhao.com) is a serene nine-room riad with a rooftop pool in the heart of Olhão’s medina. With its no-sign, no-shoes policy and striking white decor, it’s everything a secret, sexy B&B should be.
In the campo behind Castro Marim, Companhia das Culturas (doubles from €75, Rua do Monte Grande, +351 281 957 062, companhiadas culturas.com) is a classy, country-chic small hotel in an old farmstead with vintage furniture, a soon-to-be-open hammam and a cork-lined barn for yoga and meditation.
Ten minutes’ drive from Cabanas de Tavira is Forte de São João da Barra (doubles from €150, la carretera nacional 125, +351 960 375 419, fortesaojoaodabarra.com). Set within a Napoleonic fort just a few metres from the sea, this beautiful 10-room hotel is a haven of calm and good taste.
THE CENTRE
Only five minutes’ drive from the airport is Faro’s island. Ilha do Farol has a long, sandy beach and a bevy of ramshackle beach bars. With its terrace, cheery service and foot-long toasties, my favourite is O Paquete (16 Avenida Nascente, +351 289 817 760). Faro is a thriving university town with a pretty centre: find fun and alfresco drinks and snacks at Bar Columbus (Jardim Manuel Bivar).
The hills behind and beyond Faro offer many a sturdy dinner. In an old dairy in the village of Machados, near São Brás de Alportel, Adega Nunes (+351 289 842 506) offers home cooking and homemade firewater digestifs. Another happy place to lose an afternoon in is Lagar da Mesquita (Mesquita Baixa 315A, +351 289 845 809), a restaurant in an old oil press in the hamlet of Mesquita.
Paderne is a sweet village nine miles inland from Albufeira with two great restaurants: Veneza (560A Estrada de Paderne, +351 289 367 129) with its renowned cellar, and Xerém (Estrada Ferreiras,+351 289 543 141), famous for xerém – Portugal’s polenta. Just off the N125 coastal artery near Albufeira is Guia village, where chicken farmer José Ramires set up a grilled chicken stall in the 1960s. Ramires (Rua 25 de Abril, +351 289 561 232) now seats 350 and has spawned many competitors. Sr José holds court daily at his card table beneath the bronze bust of himself.
The N266 road from Monchique to Mount Foia is a gorgeous drive and offers the opportunity to tarry at A Rampa (Estrada da Fóia, +351 282 912 874) for (yet more) fab piri piri chicken.
Closer to Foia is Jardim das Oliveiras (Sitio do Porto Escuro, +351 282 912 874, jardimdasoliveiras.com) which specialises in rich serrana dishes and local wild game in season.
Where to stay
The spa town of Monchique is set among eucalyptus, olive and cork forests and has good hotels and excellent, affordable hydrotherapy treatments (from €15). One option is to stay at spa resort Villa Termal das Caldas de Monchique (doubles from €60, +351 282 910 910, monchiquetermas.com). And near Boliqueime, up in the hills inland from the rather tacky Vilamoura, is nine-bedroom rural turismo Quinta da Cebola Vermelha (doubles from €125, +351 289 363 680, quintadacebolavermelha.com), a beacon of Portuguese charm, comfort and hospitality.
THE WEST
Mexilhoeira Grande is a village of traditional white-and-blue houses above sprawling, built-up Portimão. Twenty years ago, at Vila Lisa (52 Rua Francisco Bivar, +351 282 968 478), artist José Villa started cooking Algarvian dishes for his friends. A restaurant evolved, with opening hours that allowed José to paint. His paintings adorn the walls and his cooking and heartfelt welcome are also works of art.
Percebes are goose barnacles. They look alarming but have an appealing flavour. Vila do Bispo is the “capital of percebes”. A few places to eat fringe its sleepy church square, none more lovely than simple Café Correia (4 Rua 1 de Maio, +351 282 639 127) where the petiscos (tapas) and barnacles are a treat. A block back from Café Correia is A Eira do Mel (Estrada de Castelejo, +351 282 639 016) where slow, local dishes are served in the restaurant (and the more casual adjoining Adega) to celebrities, tourists and farmers alike. In nearby Aldeia da Pedralva, Pizza Pazza (+351 282 639 173) is something of a local legend.
Down on the coast, Salema is a 1970s holiday village with lots of charm, and the winningly old-fashioned beachside Boia Bar (Rua dos Pescadores, 101, boiabar.com).
Heading west, the beach at Zavial is a stunner. Sandy, buzzy Restaurante Zavial ( +351 282 639 282, restaurantezavial.blogspot.co.uk) gets hilariously full in season. Around the next headland is quieter Ingrina, a six-umbrella bathing cove with the lovely, lazy O Sebastião (+351 282 639 034) for lunches, petiscos and drinks.
Sagres is where Henry the Navigator based himself in his later years (he died there in 1460). Today it’s a bit of a surf-hippy, best-burger-ever hangout. Off the main road into town (turn left at Restaurante Oliveira) is simple, unassuming Café Zambujo (Rua do Poça, +351 282 624 398), home to the world’s best (only?) moray eel burger – crispy, umami and rich, it’s the bacon of the sea.
The crowds head to Cabo de São Vicente to catch the glorious sunsets; it can be chilly at the cape later on so visitors should take a blanket. North of here, the full force and heft of the Atlantic can be felt. The coastline west of Carrapateira village offers world-class surfing, and Micro Bar (Largo do Comereio) has killer cocktails, reggae beats and top-notch dude food. Also in the village, Trigo Vermelho (Rua Dos Quintais, +351 282 973 908) is veggie-centric and offers guitar hire.
North of Carrapateira, there’s 70 miles of almost unbroken, wild coast along the Costa Vicentina, most of which is protected as part of the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina.
Where to stay
In Vila do Bispo a decade ago, António Ferraira created the chic Aldeia de Pedralva (houses for two people from €64 a night, aldeiadapedralva.com), by purchasing and restoring an all-but deserted village – a good example of sustainable tourist development. Further east, in the Arade river nature reserve, is rural turismo Tapada do Gramacho (doubles from €75, tapadadogramacho.com) with its convivial communal kitchen.
• Flights were provided by Easyjet (from £28). The Algarve Promotion Bureau (visitalgarve.pt) assisted with the trip
