The Allure of the Algarve

27 years ago, my wife Nicky and our 3 children enjoyed a fantastic family holiday on the Algarve, on the southern coast of Portugal.

Fast forward all those years and she and I were fortunate enough to be offered our first return opportunity, with a 15 night, mid-October stay, in a villa belonging to friends.

The promise of a villa stay with late autumn sunshine was a no brainer and far too enticing and we gratefully accepted that lovely offer.

Even as we said “Yes please”, I can remember a small voice in my head saying: “Mmmmm….. but will I actually like it this time?” 

All those years ago, whilst we had enjoyed a fantastic family holiday in a wonderful climate we had also discovered an area that had felt over developed, gated and soulless. I hadn’t loved The Algarve then so I really did wonder if I could start to love it now.

As I reflect after returning from an absolutely fantastic break I’m pleased to refute that pre-departure emotion: we absolutely loved it. 

What a fantastic place and what a cracking holiday. Thank you so much Michael and Sharon. We would love to go back if that’s ever an option …..PLEASE! 

It is safe to say that the Algarve has a unique appeal that makes it a superb place for a holiday all year round. Its appeal is equally attractive to families, couples and solo travellers in equal measure. 

Climate, Cost, Comfort, Connectivity and most especially Coast all combined to give us one of the best holidays of our lives. 

But first the context for this holiday which we took so late in the year?

The UK summer of 2025: how will you remember it? 

From a weather perspective it has to be remembered as one of the best summers in recent years and the persistent sunshine and warmth  of May to October 2025 was fantastic. It totally vindicated our decision, made in the April, to ’Staycation’ for the British summer. 

And that explains why we flew out to Faro on a Sunday morning in the middle of October.

We arrived at Faro airport courtesy of Ryanair who fly direct from Leeds Bradford airport. Often and rightly maligned, Ryanair delivered us, home and away, bang on time with affordable (not such a bargain this time but still pretty reasonable at £220 with a checked 20kg suitcase) flights and a civilised flight time for both journeys. NB A 20Kg suitcase between us wasn’t actually necessary. Given the warm climate and the fact that I didn’t wear a fleece once, I would now recommend just taking a 10kg shared suitcase for a couple heading to the Algarve.

The Portuguese weather was sublime: with the thermometer always hovering between 24 and 29 degrees in the daytime. It provided the most perfect weather for simply chilling, walking, reading, alfresco dining, exploring and swimming.

My reservations about the Algarve,  forged nearly 30 years ago proved to be completely unfounded. 

This region along the coastal fringe of Southwest Portugal remains highly developed and in some places far too over developed for my liking, but Albufeira itself (where we stayed) was so near to beautiful coastal scenery. Even without a car, you are always in close walking proximity (up to 3km) to more than 10 stunning and beautiful beaches. 

The Old Town was a 20 minutes walk away from our villa. We visited it on our first day on the Algarve at the perfect time of 10.30am. It was quiet, we didn’t get hassled by street vendors and it was clean and attractive. Reputationally that all changes once the ‘Happy Hour’ culture begins early afternoon and the Old Town begins to live and breathes its formidable hedonistic reputation. During our sole morning visit that was never our experience.

The ‘All Trails’ (free version) walking app that I used, always gave very easy to follow directions and always plots your location with a moving cursor. It was easy to use and it meant that were always able to find some beautiful and quiet coastline scenery. This can be downloaded free of charge from The App Store. I recommend it for use whenever you are travelling abroad

The walk from our villa to the coast was never more than 3 km and nearly aiways followed interesting trails across mostly dry scrub and riverbeds. We saw unusual native African trees and bushes including the bayoab tree which as a succulent, absorbs and stores water in its massive trunk.

We saw comical hoopie birds on our cliff walks and masses of sea birds on the jagged edges of rocky cliff formations, including shags, gulls and cormorants.

Small oak trees abound everywhere . They are used locally to provide cork, used for bottling wine and spirits of course, but also used to make cork clothing, shoes and bags. I never knew that cork was waterproof or could be moulded to such a use.

Everyday on vacation is an education of course!

Many oak trees across the region have clearly cut out sections where the cork has been removed and harvested.

Most of its rainfall in the Algarve falls during the winter months, with November and December being the wettest. The total annual rainfall is roughly 500 mm, and it is very dry in the summer, with almost no rain in July and August. Yet water rationing is never enforced. It bemuses me that so many UK water companies enforce hose pipe bans in a country where a lot of rain falls for such a lot of the time!

Despite the dry climate beautiful vegetation thrives as it clings to the golden cliffs in this limestone landscape.

Always beautiful, the sand on these beaches is golden and absolutely perfect for sand castle building and families with children young and older. The sea temperature is warm and inviting and the Atlantic swell provides waves that give lots of fun for both novice and expert surfers alike. 

Many of the beaches are connected by a labyrinth of coastal trails and wooden boardwalks. The golden limestone cliffs provide spectacular scenery, where every twist and turn of the path reveals glorious glimpses of golden rock, towering cliffs, crashing waves and those oh so golden sands.

October really is the best time to visit: the tourist hoards have gone, but the infrastructure remains but all at much more affordable prices and without the noise and chaos that the masses provide. 

We hired a car for the duration of our break through Zest, a UK based car hire company who use local rental company Master Kings. (http://www.zestcarrental.com/)

Our car rental  cost €160 for the 15 night break and allowed us the freedom to explore so many beautiful places that were less than an hour from our villa but probably not walkable given the extreme heat of this area for most of the year. The car rental with Zest was professional and hassle free and we successfully avoided any rental scams where the tourist is fleeced by unscrupulous operators. Our car whilst, scratched in places was clean, comfortable and economic to use. 

Within minutes of returning the car to the airport car park we were walking into the departure terminal. It really was a stress free experience.

Faro airport is clean and modern and a number of car hire companies operate just outside in car park 4: just a 250 metre walk from the terminal. 

The connectivity of Albufeira to our villa was simply brilliant. I reflected that Michael and Sharon had chosen well when they bought this property.

We visited Vilamoura, Carvoeiro, Albufeira Old Town and Marina, Benagil caves. Sagres and Cap St Vincent. 

Cap St Vincent is the Portuguese equivalent of our own ‘Lands End’ and lies just 1 hour (62 km) west of Albufeira by car.

Our visit was personal and intentional as I hope to return in the spring of 2026 to walk another Camino, this time the whole length of Portugal from the Cap in the south to Santiago de Conpostela in north western Spain: (mostly along The Fishermen’s Trail and then the official ‘Camino Portuguese’ once I reach Lisbon. At nearly 1200 km long, I think it should keep me busy for a few days!

The Cap was interesting and popular with tourists. Its reputation for being the end of the world is probably more attractive than its look. A bit like Lands End in Cornwall, it is not the most attractive part of this region: but interesting and worthy of a visit nevertheless. To me, there always seems to be something mystical about a ‘Lands End’ type visit in any country.

We bought ice cream in Sagres and wandered down to the small harbour. The small lighthouse on the point gave a pretty reflection in the mid afternoon sun as gulls swooped and bickered noisily around us. .

Carvoeiro is very pretty and is the most attractive coastal community on The Algarve in my opinion. Nestled in this particularly craggy clifftop environment, property is expensive with 4 bedroom villas easily costing €1.5M (£1.45M).

For this holiday we took a ‘totally local’ targeted approach to discovering what was near or around us. There was always a small and beautiful beachside cove less than 30 minutes drive from the villa. We would usually walk a 7-10 km circular walk along jagged cliff top trails with easy access to beautiful deserted beaches. 

The rocky outcrop around Algar Seco is amazing and the 1km board walk connecting it with Carvoeiro is fully accessible and very well maintained.

This is a popular spot with tourists but despite this, roadside car parking is free.

Car parking in the Algarve was always easy. We often perked within 200 metres of the coast: it was always free. 

Walking, even in late October,  could often be a hot and thirsty business. So we always took plenty of water and sun lotion. We had many a stunning ‘picnic at hanging rock’ experience!

As our stay progressed I realised more and more that October really is THE perfect month to visit the Algarve. 

I really don’t think I would fancy a stay in the Portuguese heat of July and August when temperatures typically reach the mid 30’s and where it seems that most of Europe the appear to storm the beaches and roast their own flesh under the never faltering summer sun.

That might be their idea of fun, but blistered skin and extreme heat have never been my idea of fun.

Our own personal ‘Oktoberfest’ was amazing.

The Portuguese people we met were always friendly and courteous. 

Truth be told, the Algarve can often feel like ‘Little Britain’ with a whole cocktail of British accents audible across the area. As well as the ‘Brits abroad’ It is also popular with the Dutch (always the coolest) and Germans (quite a bit less cool). 

Eating out was affordable and always fun. We followed some recommendations from Luke, Michael and Sharon’s oldest son, including dining twice at a non descript looking restaurant about 20 minutes drive from our accommodation. The ‘Piri Piri’ restaurant provides a truly authentic Portuguese experience. 2 friendly brothers serve you a 3 course meal in what resembles the front room of a house. One brother frequently (affectionately) slaps male diners on the back as he walks past. I got 4 slappings! There is no menu: you make a choice from up to 4 traditional Portuguese main dishes and your 3 course meal costs €15 a head. The grilled sea bream with garlic and lemon was simply sublime and I hardly ever choose to eat fish! A bottle of local beer costs €1-50. Outrageously cheap! 

The Piri Piri restaurant opens at 7pm Tuesday to Sunday and comes with a highly recommended tag. It is closed on Mondays.

Piri Piri chicken is actually a local speciality. On a day trip to Loule, some 25 minutes north east of Albufeira, we found a car boot sale with 6 stalls and a Piri Piri costumed festival with the local members proudly wearing their Piri Piri kit. At 0800 it was a pretty bizarre spectacle to witness at the start to our day.

Loule was a lovely visit, especially on a Saturday where local street market stalls provide a colourful backdrop to some beautiful architecture dotted along shining and authentically cobbled streets.

Our guide was a lovely Romanian lady called Marina, who lives in Twickenham, NW London and owns the villa next door to Michael and Sharon. She was great fun and we had a really enjoyable day out with her.

Marina is a writer and finds staying in the Algarve really fuels her creative writing.

The produce in Loule was authentically artisan. Traditional stalls selling fresh fish, chorizo, fruit and vegetables and beautiful copper cooking pots complimented each other perfectly.

In Loule, we finally discovered our first reference to Portuguese footballing legend Ronaldo. Just like him, it wasn’t a cheap canvas!

Conversely the Gypsy Market on the outskirts of Loule was less alluring: full of cheap copies of English Premier League football shirts and other tat. ‘Highly avoidable’ is a fair assessment! 

The church opposite the market,,and perched on the hill, was a nice little addition. The girls mooched as I marched up the at hill. The stained glass in the new church, next to the beautiful old chapel was lovely.

Vilamora and Albufeira marinas were both lovely for a morning visit and provided a colourful tapestry to ocean living and sailing. Walking along the promenade and associated boardwalks is easy, especially for people with mobility challenges.

The flotilla of ocean going vessels in Vilamoura Marina must be worth a fortune!

Nearer to home the new Marina in Albufeira certainly makes a visual statement!

Sun lounging in full view of the tourists, on an artificial grass plinth in the middle of the marina, would not be my idea of fun however. 

From a distance the crazily coloured Marina apartments and villas complemented the blue Algarvian sky beautifully. It resembled the set in hit BBC TV show ‘Balamory’: only this was real, not fictional and with a much warmer climate.

The costal walks we enjoyed so much provided this amateur photographer with a feast of choices as he looked through his lens finder. Benagil caves, Yellow Submarine Rock (stupidly if understandably named) and the coast path to Carvoeiro were amazing. All of these were just a 30 minute westerly drive from our villa. 

Algar Seco rocks literally 1 km from Carvoeiro were absolutely stunning and the Portuguese sun in the late afternoon of our visit, bathed those rocks in the most amazing golden light. My photos do not and cannot do it true justice! 

Our trip provided us with so many fantastic experiences. We felt so lucky!

Of course the experience is always enhanced when shared with the best of travel companions. Nicky enjoyed it just as much as me. After 40+ years together, she remains the loveliest of travel and life companions. Hopefully we will return to the Algarve soon. 

As with all great holidays, our time away was gone in a flash and we returned tanned and rested to the British wet season in full winter flow. 

Thanks for reading this blog. 

My next blog will be out in December 2025 after we visit Wroclaw in Poland for a 6 night winter city break. 

Best wishes

Martin

Martin and Nicky Moorman travelled to the Algarve from Leeds Bradford airport from 12-27 October 2025. 

Martin Moorman took early retirement as the Headteacher of a special School in Halifax in September 2020 after 35 years of working in Specialist Education.

Martin and Nicky live in North Yorkshire and have 3 grown up children who are all very happily married.

Our first granddaughter was born in 2024 and lives next door with her mum and dad and special family member, Tip, a border collie. Family life, walking, writing, photography, cooking and travelling are all hobbies that Martin loves to exploit in the brave new work-free world that he has discovered.