11 Days in Algarve, Portugal — Honest Impressions After a Road Trip Through Lagos, Tavira and Faro

27 May 11 Days in Algarve, Portugal — Honest Impressions After a Road Trip Through Lagos, Tavira and Faro

For a long time, ever since I can remember I wanted to visit Portugal.

And looking at this blog and since I reached places like New York, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Cairo, Rabat you might laugh and ask ” why didn’t you visit sooner? Those places are harder to get to.”

The answer is simple yet complicated at the same time.

I have this theory, which you may find wrong, that while you are younger it is better to travel further from home, it is easier.

As you get older, things closer to home start looking more interesting.

So, I tried to push my bigger trips first and now, as I’ close to 45 years old, I’ll make the switch slowly and start looking closer to home.

The second reason was money. For a long time, there was no direct connection with Faro and only one company operated flights to Lisbon.

Those flights were so expensive that at some peaks during autumn you could have bought a New York ticket with about the same money you would have paid for Lisbon.

Faro has been an amazing flight opportunity because the line was just opened and I caught some promotional prices that made the trip extremely affordable.

For two persons, one large luggage and handpicked seats we paid around 350 euro and while that might seem much, last autumn for Lisbon in october I found tickets going at about 800 euro/person which is insane actually.

So, opportunity came knocking at my door and I purchased the tickets.

I knew from the start that I wanted a car so I hopped online and rented one from Centauro and I cannot recommend it enough.

For 11 days we got a sweet automatic, no km limit Peugeot 2008 with the price being around 330-340 euro whoch included full insurance.

Now, I know that there are people doing Algarve without a car and you definitely try and do that but we ended in Algarve in early May.

The prognosis showed two or three days of full, heavy rain.

I wanted the chance to hop on the car and drove 60-80 km to a beach pt town where the prognosis was better and I think this was the most important part of my trip.

You see, after booking the plane tickets I started drafting the itinerary for the trip. And it looked great on paper. But the weather, the mood changed it.

Having a car allowed me to go to an isolated little town then drive to a wild beach then search a pastry shop in another place.

And that is freedom for me.

From the start I need to add that parking in Algarve is cheap and with the exception of one place in Faro i literally paid nothing for the rest of the trip.

When it comes to accommodation I wanted to camp in Lagos and Tavira. My fiancé wanted Albufeira so we reached a compromise and booked Lagos and Albufeira.

In the end we ended in Faro too but more on that later.

Reaching Faro after a 4:30 hours flight was the beginning, and we needed to walk to a rendezvous point in the parking of the airport where a Centauro representative comes regularly and picks up people who rent cars from them.

The ride to Centauro is short, just a few minutes away and we got a hold of the car and started our trip to Lagos, our first destination.

What I can say from the start is that many if not nost of the roads are really OK and we managed to reach Lagos a bit under one hour so we actually gained some time that evening in which we were able to grab something to eat, make some small groceries and water shopping at a supermarket and unwind a bit on the room’s terrace.

From the start I will say this. If you have the possibility of booking a room with a balcony, a terrace, do it. Regardless of where you are.

We weren’t close to the ocean but waking up in the morning, getting out, enjoying the silence and the sun, just staying there, not doing anything brought our energy levels up.

Also, drinking your coffee while relaxing on a chair in the sun is bot a bad start for a day.

So, morning came and we were ready to explore.

If it is one thing I highly recommend doing in Lagos is doing the beaches itinerary.

Yes, I know, it sounds cheesy and touristy but there are reasons to why I picked this to be the first trip.

First, after a day spent in the airport, waiting, sitting in the car, then sleeping I wanted to decompress myself, to relax, to get rid of that travel stress.

I wanted something close, that would keep me on my feet but also give me the opportunity to lay down when I wanted.

Second, these beaches are not your typical beach.

The rock formations here are world renowned and walking from beach to beach, going through small tunnels or passes, laying in the sand next to such amazing structures feels wild.

First day

So, our first day focused on these beaches.
* Praia da Batata
* Praia Dona Ana
* Praia do Pinhao
* Praia do Camilo
* Ponta da Piedade
* Praia dos Estudantes

It is a route that connects beaches and some of them can be passed from one beach to the other, some need extra steps on the road but it is all highly doable in half a day or more if you want to lay down, get a tan, relax.

Now, we did found some beaches access closed (like Pinhao) and we only managed to photograph them from above but it is still an amazing view.

Of course, I could have passed around the small block and made my way to every beach but that’s not something I do and even though I might miss a shot or an amazing place I am comfortable with my choices.

Even though we visited in the first part of May I need to be honest and admit that I’m not holding the temperature as good as I thought. Even though there were obly 20-22 degrees Celsius, walking a lot, carrying my photo bag and my beach bag, constant sun and wind, made me sweat more than I thought.

I thought there’s no way I’d enjoy doing this on summer months considering how hot it felt in May.

What we did was this.

We moved beach by beach, slowly enjoying them, photographing them until we reached Ponta de Piedade.

There, we decided to turn back, without visiting it.

The reason was, we wanted to come here in the evening and see if the light was better for some photography.

Being May, there were tourists, but we didn’t feel crowded, we didn’t feel cramped. We saw around us people who either did what we did or people who went on a beach and stayed there enjoying a book or bathing in the sun.

Lagos beaches, at least in May look quieter, relaxed and we really enjoyed that.

That evening, we returned to Ponta de Piedade and we slowly walked around it, went down the stairs and just enjoyed the gentle weather.

If you are a photographer, then this next part will interest you.

One, Ponta de Piedade is positioned in a way that the best shots are at sunrise. At sunset, the sun going down over the land casts just shadows on the area and I don’t think that works well for photography.

Second, we have been to this area twice and each time we caught wind that would make long exposures a nightmare.

Only point where the wind was calmer was at the bottom of the steps but that would defeat that above look that comprises all the formations

Now, I know that on some guides Ponta de Piedade and Praia Canavial get a lot of attention and I’m not saying you won’t get a decent shot but in May considering where the sun was every evening, the location of those two places and the constant wind, I wouldn’t bother too much with sunset shots.

On the second day I split my day in two parts. First, in the morning, exploring Lagos. Afternoon spent driving to Ferragudo then to Praia dos Tres Irmaoes.

As tou guessed it by now, I won’t touch food in this article. We tried over 18 places in our trip and those places, pictures, cost, etc deserve a full, separate article.

What I can say for bow is that each of your days should contain a pasteis de nata.

We loved it that much.

Lagos

Back to Lagos and this part is very simple.

From the start I can say that all towns listed in this article can be done easily in a day or half a day.

I know that there are countless articles online about “X” town and how you should book 5 days for it but in all honesty, people rarely get the luxury to travel 11-12 days in a row let alone spending 5-6 days just in one place.

We enjoyed Lagos. You see, Lagos is the kind of town where you should establish a base.

It is not crowded, at least in May, it is walkable, it has some great dining options (more on that later) and it is nicey positioned to reach a lot of places easily.

Like most places in Algarve, the old town, the place that interests tourists a lot is not huge.

Lagos, like other Algarve towns is a mix of new and old, of a touch of luxury and a touch of decay, graffiti next to new stores, new constructions next to those marble and tiles old homes.

For us, Lagos proved to be a great introduction to Algarve.

Starting with an easy drive from Faro airport, great places to eat, reaching all places easily by foot or by driving a few minutes, Lagos would be my recommendation for a base in this part of Algarve.

Add to this the fact that most accommodation offers free parking and that the fees inside the center of Lagos are very small, it is really an obvious choice both for people who want to walk or for those who want to drive from point to point.

On the second day, on the afternoon we picked Ferragudo as the first destination outside Lagos.

Ferragudo

Ferragudo is about 40 minutes away from Lagos and easily reached by car.

If you enjoy photography, I would suggest leaving the car the on the carpark outside the town and move a few meters on the beach from where, with luck, you might discover some interesting photo opportunities.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bU8BgtjJAWYbBat7?g_st=ic this is the exact place to leave the car and move a few meters down the beach before crossing the bridge and entering the town.

Walking the streets of Ferragudo made us realize something important. Sometimes small, quiet places deliver a lot.

I’m sure that if you look on google maps you’ll see a few roads, a castle, a beach and a church and yes, Ferragudo is exactly this but it’s so different how some places feel from how they look on the nap or even in pictures.

I’m so sure many people would walk those small streets and think, “oh boring” but we enjoyed it quite a lot. There was no rush, no need to check a special sight, just walking around without fearing you’ll be late or you’ll miss something.

At this point I need to make a small confession.

After the first day taking photos I decided to do a 180.

Meaning that I left home with a tripod, ND filters, etc and after the first day I realized I wouldn’t be using them much.

I decided to turn the Algarve trip from a few memorable shots into tens of pretty, fun, happy pictures that conveyed better our experience there.

As usual, if you look on the internet, you can find amazing pictures from Algarve. Sunsets, sunrises, long exposures, rocks isolated in water, etc.

And I decided against that. I decided against waking up in the middle of the night and driving and walking to a point and waiting and praying that morning would be wow or that clouds would appear at sunset and things like that.

I made the choice to leave all behind, take my camera and my 28-75 lens and just walk as much as I can and take fun, pretty pictures.

So, in regard to photography, all became simple. If I found something fun or colorful, I shot it.

No more backpacking, no more trying to fit photos in a project, nothing.

And that’s what I did at the next stop too. At Praia dos Tres Irmaos.

Praia dos Tres Irmaos

Just walked around, enjoyed the amazing rock formations and just be present there, in the moment.

And I do know that this beach does not appear on all guides and is rather overlooked but I loved it here and thought of this place as one of the most interesting of my trip.

Tunnels, moving from portion of beach to portion of beach, quiet, few people, it all added up to a great experience.

Third day

Third day was probably the most famous day on the trip.

It meant Praia da Marinha, Benagil cave and Corvoeiro.

Reaching Praia da Marinha took us about 45 minutes and we were extremely lucky with the parking.

The free parking at Praia da Marinha is small and it fills fast. Even though we got there early we only managed to find a place because a car parked outside its space and I had to squeeze my car in, almost touching his.

If not for this, then I probably would have had to wander and look for an opening on the road, somewhere to park.

After squeezing the car in we had a few choices to make. we went left and traveled for 10-15 minutes until we reached a rock formation that is famous all over the internet.

From there I took a picture of the beach, that would soon prove useful and then we had a dilemma…get back to the beach for a tan and relax or keep going on the coast until we would reach the observatory point of Benagil Cave.

We thought that the sun was too low and that meant the inside of the cave was not super lit so we decided to go back, on the beach, and enjoy some time laying in the sun.

So, we reached the beach and laid for a while on the sand.

Marinha beach is great, you get to see the arches, the rocks, people enjoying tours on kayaks, it was really relaxed but I had an itch.

Now, I knew that the sun was up so that meant no award photos for me.

But I wanted to photograph the arch from below so that’s where my photo helped.

I opened it on my phone, zoomed into it and noticed there were 3 rocks blocks on the way to the little gulf facing the arch rock.

So I did as expected. I took my sneakers in one hand, my camera on the other and went for that little golf.

First stone barrier was easy because it had a space, a hole under so I went on my belly and crawled to the other side.

By taking the photo from above I noticed that the next barriers were rocks and pieces of rocks that would kill my feet so that’s were my sneakers got on and by jumping from rock to rock I managed to pass the next two barriers and reach the final small gulf facing the arch.

It is here where I took my shoes off again and entered the water up to my knees looking for a better composition.

Now, I know that this picture is nothing that will win awards, but I had an itch to scratch, and I sure couldn’t not explore all possibilities with the arch so close.

Come to think of it I was super sure I won’t get an amazing shot but I had to do it because sometimes you just want to do something like slide under a rock, jump of others, go half in the ocean just to take a barely legal photo.
And that is perfectly fine. Sometimes the chase is way more interesting than the end result.

After we finished our time on the beach we were faced with a dilemma.

Go on foot to Benagil observation point or take the car, drive for 5 minutes and then walk for 300 meters?

We picked the car because we wanted to reach another destination after and we didn’t want to lose time on the road back.

I think parking at Benagil gave us a taste of what this place looks like in rhe summer.

A big car park, filled, people waiting inside cars for someone to get out so they could park too, a bit different from the places we had seen so far.

When it comes to Benagil, to be honest, I wasn’t super impressed.

I mean it is interesting, nice but it’s not something I would return to see another time.

Maybe visiting from the water brings another perspective but from up there, from where we were looking down it was just OK

Carvoeiro

Next stop, after Benagil was Carvoeiro and my thoughts here are a bit mixed.

There is a nice runway along the coast on which you can walk and see the ocean.

There are small streets leading up and a nice view overlooking the beach and a cliff with houses.

But I wasn’t the biggest fan of the center of the town with so many shops, restaurants, all feeling a bit cramped and filled with people.

I know a lot of people will read this and ask themselves or even message me ” but Benagil is great, is a must see or Carvoeiro is featured on every guide” and all I have to say is this.

If you are visiting Algarve for the first time DO visit these places.

It is a small effort, and you might like them more than I did.

Even though I wasn’t super impressed by Benagil or Carvoeiro I am being most honest and encourage you to visit them.

Not only because everyone will ask if you saw them but also because at the end of your trip you will make your own top of places and it would be interesting to see where these rank.

Aljezur

Our next trip, next day, started with a trip to Aljezur.

A 35-minute drive from Lagos and free parking is the beginning of a nice day I would say.
Aljezur is not a large town. Like most towns in this part of the country, it can easily be done in a few hours.

Many people will ask ” then why go there if there are so small?” and my answer is simple.

First, I am curious by nature. If I see a picture online that I enjoy I will try to go to that place and see it for myself.

Second, for diversity. My mind needs spikes. It cannot be beach after beach after beach or small town after small town.

I need a mix of things to get me even more interested in a place.

For example, I am working on an article about the Dolomites and to this day I am amazed on the diversity of the place.

Most people when thinking of the Dolomites picture only mountains but I loved the rovers, the lakes, the strange rock formations, the meadows.

So, back to Aljezur.

I think that this could be a nice stop on your route because you’ll see a nice little place and from there you’ll reach the next stop easily.

And that next stop is Arrifana beach.

Arrifana Beach

I don’t know if this beach appears on the list of recommendations for Algarve but maybe it should.

Seeing it the first time from above it reminded me more of Tenerife than of Algarve.

It is not filled with strange rock formations, it is not home to that soft, white sand but rather darker and windier.

Surfers gather here and it is understandable considering the wind’s power and waves.

This place, this beach felt like something different, a breath of fresh air, different from the beaches we saw so far.

If you have the time, then I would suggest you give this place a try.

After Arrifana we still had plenty of time and I was intrigued by the description of a beach.

Praia da Bordeira.

I saw dunes, sand and a long beach and I knew we had to get there.

This beach is different from the rest. It is… you get a strange feeling because you don’t see the water when you arrive at the parking lot and all you see are sand dunes.

And you walk through these dunes, maybe 200 meters or a bit more, until you finally reach the water itself.

And everywhere around you, left and right, there are dunes.

Now, don’t expect massive dunes, but some of them are fairly large and you basically have to walk through them and keep going forward until you finally reach the ocean.

The fun part about this beach is that you can place your towel anywhere, even on top of a dune or somewhere on the slope if you don’t feel like walking all the way down to the water.

And you can simply stay there and enjoy the silence.

Being quite a wild and remote beach, there is only one surf rental center and besides that absolutely nothing else.

I suppose that even during summer months this is not the most crowded beach, so regardless of the time you arrive here, there is still a certain feeling of solitude, of calmness.

Cabo de Sao Vicente

Cabo de Sao Vicente is the kind of place where you arrive, stop, sit down on a rock and simply stare at the ocean.

It is the kind of place many people will probably just check off their list and leave but in my opinion, it deserves much more than that.

I think this place works best if you make it the final stop of your day, regardless of if you arrive there in the afternoon or maybe even in the evening for sunset.

But what I really think you should do here is sit somewhere on a rock, of course not too close to the edge, and just watch.

Watch the lighthouse, the ocean and the waves crashing into those huge cliffs stretching into the sea.

Praia do Beliche

When it comes to Praia do Beliche, you can either stop there before reaching the lighthouse or on your way back.

We did it on our way back and we were a bit lucky because at the lighthouse we still had sun and by the time we reached the beach, maybe an hour later, clouds had started appearing and the whole landscape became much more dramatic.

You leave the car somewhere above the stairs that go down towards Beliche and it really is that kind of wild beach. Strong wind, lots of photography possibilities especially around sunset or even while going down the stairs where you might catch something interesting like I did with those surfers making their way down.

And I think this is one of those beaches where you can come and relax, not only check it off your list.

If we had stayed one or two more days, this would have been one of the places where we would have simply put down a blanket and spent a few hours there while I read something on my tablet or maybe a book and just enjoyed the weather.

Burgau

The next day started in Burgau and it started while waiting inside the car for around 20 minutes during a torrential rain.

And we were honestly wondering what would happen because the weather forecast showed rain for the entire day.

The moment the rain stopped, after those 20 minutes, we left the car up in the central parking area of the town and walked around 600-700 meters down towards the beach and I actually think this worked better because it gave us the opportunity to first wander through all those few little streets that make Burgau such an adorable little town.

As a quick note here, I can honestly say that for some reason I still cannot fully explain, this ended up being one of the towns I liked the most during the entire trip.

There is a long beach, a small harbor with old boats where I took advantage of the moment to photograph a few scenes that morning, a few cafes, restaurants and a beach where we once again entered the water and enjoyed the ocean.

And I can honestly say that this ended up being one of the nicest half days of the trip.

Maybe it does not sound like much because there are just a few streets to walk around but the way they are built, the way they open towards the sea, the colors of the houses, the bicycles hanging around, all these small details make Burgau an incredibly beautiful little town in my opinion.

From the start I said that we split the trip into two bases.

Initially we planned to stay six nights in Lagos and then spend the following five days based in Albufeira.

After Burgau, on the following day, we left towards Albufeira and since almost all accommodations nowadays start check-in somewhere around 3-4 PM, we suddenly had a lot of hours that we somehow needed to fill.

So, we decided to split the time between visiting two towns, Alte and Loule.

Alte

We first arrived in Alte where we left the car somewhere lower down and walked uphill towards the town.

And maybe it was the weather, slightly cloudy, with a fresh feeling after so many days of heat but wandering those empty streets that morning for a few hours was exactly what I needed.

Alte is one of those destinations I would recommend to anyone because it feels like such a strong contrast compared to the rest of Algarve.

We walked left and right through the small streets, photographing old houses, old windows, colorful walls and all this under heavy clouds and a coolness that honestly felt like a blessing after so many days of sun.

Even though it had rained the previous day in Burgau, the atmosphere there still felt warm and suffocating.

Loule

Loule was our next destination and even though there are plenty of parking spaces on the streets, I never really understood that whole system with green zones, paid parking and different parking areas so we decided to leave the car in an underground parking lot close to the center.

From there we walked maybe 200-300 meters through the older streets of Loule until we reached the Central Market which I think is probably the main attraction everyone visits here.

When it comes to the town itself, it is beautiful, pleasant, charming but I don’t know if we would return a second time.

Maybe if I had to choose between Alte and Loule I would pick Alte, perhaps because it feels smaller, more intimate and more cohesive.

Loule has slightly larger streets, more cars, more people and more tourists.

Albufeira

After we finished that day with Alte and Loule it was already around 3 PM and after being on the road for 6-7 hours we headed towards Albufeira where our accommodation was waiting for us.

From the very beginning I have to say that my first impression of Albufeira, even from the road leading into the city, was that everything felt crowded.

Traffic lights with queues of cars, lots of people on the sidewalks, everything suddenly felt busier.

We left the car across from the hotel near a supermarket because we were told parking there was free all the time which I suppose also encourages people staying nearby.

And then we checked into the accommodation.

Initially we planned to stay there for five days.

We entered the room and honestly, we were extremely disappointed by the first impression.

We tried to rest for half an hour before going out to explore Albufeira.

Even though it was a Monday, once we finished walking around the upper cliffside area and entered the old center of the city, everything felt completely different from what we had experienced so far in Algarve.

Huge crowds, music blasting from every terrace, noise everywhere, almost no old traditional stores, restaurants filled with tourist menus.

We walked around the old town for maybe one hour or one hour and a half and we could not find a single place that truly felt quiet.

More than that, even dinner that evening did not impress us so we already started thinking from that first evening about the possibility of changing our base and moving somewhere else entirely.

We contacted both Booking and the hotel asking to have our room changed because there were simply too many problems.

The following day we left towards Tavira and Olhao to explore, something I will detail a bit later.

When we returned, thanks to the kindness of the hotel staff, we received another room but unfortunately many of the problems were still there.

So after spending one more night there, after giving both the hotel and another restaurant a second chance, a restaurant which also disappointed us even though it was not touristy and was located far away from the old center, we finally decided to move our base for the final three days to Faro.

And honestly, this ended up being one of the best decisions of the entire trip.

Tavira

That morning in Tavira, that same morning when we left Albufeira already quite stressed after a night where we barely slept, we arrived in Tavira and parked the car near the igreja. We’ll probably look it up later exactly where it was.

As a fun fact, this ended up being the only parking place during the entire trip where we genuinely did not notice there was a parking meter or that parking had to be paid.

And a few days later we discovered a small envelope with a 7 euro fine.

So, I guess the lesson here is that before driving through Tavira you should pay very close attention to all parking systems in Portugal, which areas are long term, which are short term and where you need to pay.

We absolutely loved Tavira and if I were to do a much longer Algarve trip or if I had to split the bases differently, then the three bases I would recommend without hesitation would be Lagos, Faro and Tavira.

It is a charming little town filled with cobbled streets, bougainvillea everywhere, restaurants, cafes and that exact type of tourist we encountered almost everywhere in Algarve except Albufeira.

Quiet people looking to walk around, see monuments, discover history and in one sentence, exactly the kind of people you hope to encounter during a trip.

I know there are countless articles online explaining how you can spend four days in Tavira or even six days in Tavira because I read many of them myself before the trip while preparing the itinerary.

OK, in my opinion you can spend seven days anywhere, even alone on top of a mountain. Whether you have things to do there or not, that is a different discussion.

When it comes to Tavira, I think the charm of the place does not necessarily come from visiting it for half a day.

I think Tavira works best as a base.

A place where during the day you take short trips around the region, explore nearby beaches or towns and then during the second half of the day you return and simply enjoy the town itself.

Walk slowly through the streets, sit somewhere, eat a pasteis de nata or some traditional food and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Personally, I think this is the best way to experience Tavira.

Of course, if you only have half a day available, that is still more than enough to form a very good impression of the place.

After Tavira we decided to visit Olhao.

Olhao

We honestly did not know what to expect. The guides described it as large, fun, lively and many other things.

For me this ended up being one of the coolest experiences of the trip because even though Olhao is indeed larger, the part that interests most tourists, the old area near the center, is still relatively manageable and can easily be explored in a few hours.

Once again we wandered through those streets filled with closed shops, abandoned houses or walls covered in bougainvillea, restaurants with thousands of reviews from tourists and all this surrounded by the atmosphere of an important fishing port.

I think it already sounds repetitive to say that food and fish in Portugal feel incredibly fresh but Olhao is one of those stops you should make during a trip through Algarve.

Maybe half a day in Tavira and half in Olhao or maybe even the other way around would work best.

Starting with Olhao, which feels more agitated, louder, with more people on the streets, voices, shouting and movement and then retreating afterwards towards Tavira for a much quieter second half of the day.

Faro

In our rush to escape Albufeira, that morning we looked at the options and had to choose between Tavira and Faro and even though we loved Tavira, we are extremely happy that we chose Faro as our final base and this is probably also thanks to the incredibly good accommodation we found there.

Maybe the best bed and the most relaxing bed we have slept in during the last few years of travelling.

I have to admit that when we first entered Faro I set the central market area as our destination and parked the car there which is something I absolutely do not recommend because the parking price was extremely expensive.

For around six hours I think we paid somewhere close to 14 euro which by far ended up being the most expensive car park of the entire trip.

And to make things even more confusing, the route brought us through another part of Faro, filled with high apartment blocks, heavy traffic and crowded streets, so our first impression was not exactly great.

Later, after reaching the guesthouse where we could park the car for free, we discovered a completely different route which connected directly to the main road and highway while bypassing all that chaos entirely.

And from the accommodation to the old center we only had to walk a few hundred meters in a straight line.

When it comes to Faro, yes, I would recommend it to anyone looking to establish a base in Algarve.

Personally, I think it is the second-best base in the region.

Lagos remains number one simply because it is surrounded by all those famous cliffs and rock formations that basically placed Algarve on the map in the first place.

But Faro is that kind of livelier city, a larger port, easy to navigate, with a small but extremely pleasant old center and a surprisingly large number of very good restaurants.

Without question, Faro ended up being one of the highlights of our entire Algarve trip.

You simply cannot compare Faro to Albufeira when it comes to the evening atmosphere and overall feeling.

Everything felt different, from the people walking on the streets to the walks through the old center itself.

No shouting, no constant noise, some restaurants open, others already closed, no loud music blasting from terraces, everything felt completely different.

Honestly, I think from all points of view Albufeira is the real contrast in the region while Faro feels much closer to Lagos, maybe with a bit more movement on the streets but still a city with an old center that feels calm, safe and incredibly easy to walk through without any stress at all.

Before moving towards the conclusion of this article I also want to mention two more beaches we visited, Praia da Falesia and Praia da Faro, two beaches completely different in atmosphere and appearance.

Praia da Falesia is obviously famous because of those massive red cliffs mixed with white tones, creating an incredibly strong contrast and one of the most visually impressive landscapes we saw during the trip.

Praia da Faro on the other hand, located close to the airport, feels completely different. A much flatter beach, with buildings behind it and a much more direct, simple beach atmosphere.

I did not even take my camera with me to either of these places and I did not take a single photo there.

Those were simply days for staying at the beach and relaxing.

Maybe I slightly regret not taking the camera at Praia da Falesia but between 9 AM and 1 PM, while we stayed there, the sunlight was simply too harsh for the kind of photography I enjoy doing anyway.

Still, if I had to choose between the two, I think Praia da Falesia would easily win for me because it is not only about relaxing on the beach itself but also about the entire setting around you.

There is something interesting about laying there in the sun while constantly seeing those huge vertical cliffs next to the ocean.

What comes next

As a conclusion, we spent 12 days in Algarve, in Portugal, a country I wanted to visit ever since 2006 even though back then, when I first started dreaming about Portugal, I was dreaming about Lisbon and the northern part of the country.

The trip itself was really good.

There are a lot of interesting places, some wonderful towns, Lagos is a place I can recommend anytime for accommodation, food and atmosphere.

The same goes for Faro.

Small towns like Burgau, Tavira, Aljezur or Alte created an interesting mix between the ocean and those small villages slightly isolated from the water and from the cliffs that made Algarve famous in the first place.

When it comes to food, I know many people will probably be surprised by this because we tried around 19-20 restaurants during the trip and there will definitely be many separate food articles coming soon, but for me the food in Algarve felt better than what I experienced in Italy, Spain or Greece.

I was honestly shocked because I left with the mindset that OK, this is a very touristy destination and maybe the food will not be anything special.

Instead, it was incredible.

Nothing to complain about. Everything felt excellent.

If we talk about pure emotional feeling though, I still think Tenerife remains that place we completely fell in love with and the place we would constantly return to.

At least for now, I did not feel that same pull with Algarve.

Who knows, maybe with time passing we will start remembering a certain meal, a restaurant, a small street or a quiet evening and maybe then the feeling will grow stronger.

But it was not the same impact we had with Tenerife where the moment we returned home we immediately started thinking about how to plan the next trip back there.

And this, this article, is only the beginning.

There will be many more articles coming soon about itinerary ideas, accommodation, traditional dishes we tried, restaurants, beaches and attractions so hopefully I will be able to go much deeper into Algarve and explore many of these subjects in far more detail.

In the meantime, if you want to read about our acommodation in Algarve, you can do it here.