Algarve in 5 days
- pat kelly
- Apr 26
- 4 min read
We say good bye to Lisbon and head south. We generally prefer trains to the buses but for this trip the bus was faster (3.5 hours) and cheaper. For this travel question, I always use Rome2Rio.com which answers the question of city A to B transportation options.
Where to Stay: Usually I read about neighborhoods first and then look at hotels, or rental apartments (check both airbnb and booking.com for different types, with more small apartments and hotels on booking). On this Portugal trip that approach worked well in Lisbon, where
an apartment in Alfama helped make it very walkable and the rustic finishes added to the charm. This was a good trade off in Lisbon.
For the Algarve, location again ruled the day.
Planning where to stay in Algarve, one house I found on airbnb in Lagos, right next to Punta de la Piedad made me pick Lagos as home base. There are many similar appearing beaches in sunny southern Portugal with incredible scenery. Several of these beaches right outside the door of this apartment (including Praia do Camilo) made me pick this as our last stop in Portugal.
Once we got off the bus we decamped at the airbnb, took a dip in the pool and then headed into town for lunch. Lagos has a quiet harbor with an old fort and enough restaurants and shopping to be a good home base for the Algarve.
Next, we walked out our front door and found our way to Praia do Camilo. You will see a lot of photos of this beach from the top of a stairwell as it reflects the sky enough to make interesting photos. Our airbnb had several shots of this beach decorating its walls. The beach itself is small so it can be a little crowded but it is so scenic. We came back to this beach a couple of days later and threw around a football with the boys.
The next morning I got up early to walk over to Punta de la Piedad. This was a similar 10minute stroll. Different little walking paths to these incredible beaches are right outside our place. I love these solo morning photo excursions while traveling. The rest of the family sleeping in and I get the good early light. I was really excited at this photo hike session as the Punta is a
long headland where you are looking
down at limestone cliffs and sea arches in turquoise waters. The paths on the headland are beautiful in a windswept kind of way and first thing in the morning, there was nobody around. There are a number of boardwalks and a couple areas where you can descend steps to the water's edge. I thought I got a ton of great shots but alas the light was not quite as good as I hoped so no great shots but a very good time and perfect way to start a day.
Next excursion was the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. This hike was so damn scenic that there no complaints from winy teens or feeble middle aged folks. I figured we could survive the whole Portugal trip without renting a car and it didn't prove hard. It could have helped to have a car in Algarve but Uber and Bolt (a more local ride sharing version) were very cheap in Portugal and this is how we got to and from this trail.
You can start or finish at Praia de Marinha. I chose to hike in the eastern direction so we would end at Marinha. We started at Praia do Vale de Centianes. For most of the hike you walk along a headland similar to Ponta de la Piedad, with beautiful scenery below you. The 6 km hike is very easy going. Although it is true that you walk by the opening of the famous Bengali cave on this hike, you cannot see down into it so it is nothing to get excited about. This is a site you can best see by renting a boat.
After the hike we had dinner in Lagos. Meu Limao had decent food and great waiters. There was also quite a show in the square outside the restaurant with acrobatic dancers who performed for tips. They were impressive. We finished the night at a karaoke club-request of a couple of our teens. We went to a local club where the 'adults' were the oldest people by DECADES. Good times.
Next day was for surfing. I had read that the Lagos area could offer us some surfing but the water was always flat. We were advised that we should head around to Aljezur, Praia Arrifana. Even though this was a 45 minute drive, it was still not to expensive on Bolt. It was also easy to rent boards and wetsuits on the beach. We used Beach Hut Arrifana and they were cool. The only problem was the actual surfing. This group has done some ugly surfing in Costa Rica and some halfway decent surfing in Hawaii but Portugal was a little too much for our
talent level. After a couple hours, we hit up a great lunch spot above the beach: Bar da Paraia da Arrifana and hopped a bolt home.
Last evening back in Lagos... to the beach. Praia Dona Ana, also walkable from our house, was great for snorkeling and soaking up the sun one more time. The next day we hopped a car for Faro to fly back home. The Algarve was a great way to finish the trip and could be your only destination if you are in need of a little sand in your toes.
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