Visit Algarve : our full guide

Welcome to our page dedicated to the Algarve. Here you will find all our articles on this magnificent destination in southern Portugal. We traveled around the region in our camper van during a road trip between late September and early October. You will find all our articles at the bottom of the page and on the map below.

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Algarve : presentation

The Algarve is often the first image that comes to mind when we think of Portugal: ochre cliffs, wild beaches, turquoise water, and small white villages basking in the sun. But behind these clichés (admittedly rather successful ones), the region hides much more than just a few pretty Instagram photos.

Located in the southernmost part of the country, the Algarve is an ideal destination for a road trip, a van trip, hikes along the ocean, or simply to slow down a little. There are lively seaside resorts as well as much quieter spots where time seems to have stood still. In just a few miles, you can go from a crowded beach to an almost deserted cove accessible by a coastal path.

It's also a very easy region to explore: roads in good condition, short distances, accommodation for all budgets, and fairly mild weather for most of the year. Whether you're coming for a few days or several weeks, the Algarve is just as suitable for a packed itinerary as it is for a more improvised trip.

 

On this page, you will find all our articles dedicated to the Algarve: itinerary ideas, hikes, practical advice, and feedback. Everything you need to plan your trip with ease... or simply dream a little in front of your screen while you wait to go.

Best time to travel and climate

Thanks to its Mediterranean climate, the Algarve can be visited almost all year round. Summers are (too?) hot and very dry, with temperatures often between 25 and 35°C, ideal for enjoying the beaches... but less so for hiking in the middle of the afternoon. This is also the busiest time of year, especially in July and August, when the most popular spots can quickly fill up.

In our opinion, spring and fall are the best seasons to travel to the Algarve: temperatures remain pleasant, the ocean is still (or already) there to cool off, and there are significantly fewer people on the trails and beaches. Be careful, though... the hot season can “spill over.” We came at the end of September and found ourselves in a heat wave (admittedly exceptional, according to the locals). But it was over 40°C inland and around 38°C on the coast for several days. Not being fans of extreme heat (including us and the dog), this forced us to change our hiking plans (hello early mornings, haha).

Winter, on the other hand, is mild compared to the rest of Europe, with often sunny days and temperatures around 15–20°C. It's not the season for swimming, but it's perfect for a road trip, coastal hikes, or a van vacation away from the crowds. In short, it all depends on what you're looking for, but the Algarve clearly has plenty to offer beyond the high season.

How long should you travel?

That's a difficult question... But as with many destinations, the answer would probably be: as long as possible. ;) More seriously, I think planning a stay of 1 to 2 weeks is already a good start. If you plan to stay longer, you'll obviously have no trouble keeping yourself busy, but let's say that in 10-15 days you'll already have the opportunity to discover quite a few places.

When planning our trip, we had planned to spend two weeks in the Algarve before heading up to Galicia. In the end, the extreme heatwave that hit the south forced us to cut our stay short... During our first week, we had days of over 35°C and nights of 25-28°C. We won't lie to you, as mountain dwellers, we suffered quite a bit from the heat and began to devise clever plans to avoid the hottest hours of the day (and protect ourselves—in vain—from mosquitoes). Added to this was the fact that our soon-to-be 10-year-old dog is finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the heat, so it was impossible to go hiking during the hottest hours of the day...

We had planned to spend a few days on the west coast of the Algarve in the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, but major fires thwarted our plans. The roads had been closed and it seemed risky to venture to the coast and get stuck. In short, we decided to skip this part (which looked beautiful) and headed north faster than planned.

 

Travel budget for Algarve - Portugal

You may already know this, but I love numbers, and when we're traveling, I take great pleasure in keeping Excel files of our expenses. To each their own hobby, I say haha.

Anyway, below you'll find all of our expenses in the Algarve. In total, we spent a week in this region before heading back up to the north of the country

 

Some details about our expenses:or €33.7 per day per person

• Accommodation: 4 nights at Olhao campsite (€60 for 4 nights), CamperPark Figueira (€30 for 2 nights)
• The above budget excludes the €170 we spent in Olhao (we'll never know if Winchy really hurt his leg or if he was just limping because of the heat... once we left the Algarve, he was bounding around like a goat again).
• It was our first real vacation since we opened our coliving space, and we clearly didn't pay too much attention (which explains why our restaurant expenses are significantly higher than when we used to travel for longer periods). But we're still backpackers at heart and don't really have expensive tastes, haha.

You will probably notice that the above budget only refers to our “on-site” expenses and does not include travel to and from the Algarve. We decided not to include this item because it will obviously depend on where you are coming from and your means of transportation. ;) To give you an idea, we came with our van from Switzerland. We traveled “non-stop,” meaning we didn't make any stops along the way except to sleep and walk the dog, and we drove for three days straight (about eight hours a day). In total, the “transit” part represented about 4,500 km and cost us about €650 in gas and tolls.

Speaking of budget... If you have your own van, the question of driving down doesn't usually arise. However, if your goal is to rent a van for your vacation, it will probably be cheaper to fly to Faro or Seville and rent one there via Yescapa.

Where to stay in Algarve?

Before talking about accommodation options, I thought we might do a quick rundown of the best places to base yourself if you want to get around easily. Since we came in a van, we moved around quite a bit, but we still had a few “bases.” If you decide to go for a combination of rental car + hotel/apartment, this solution will probably be even more suitable.

Personally, we really liked the Olhão-Fuseta region and Tavira as a base in the eastern Algarve. For something more central, we would recommend Portimão or Carvoeiro rather than Albufeira, which we found to be very (too?) touristy.

Further west, the town of Lagos is also a very nice option in our opinion!

 

It is important to note that the distances are still relatively short. If you are based in the east (Olhão, for example), the journey to Sagres takes “only” 1.5 hours by car (with plenty of scenic stops along the way).

Travelling in Algarve with a van

Portugal made headlines for its very strict policy against wild camping in 2020. Basically, at the time, wild camping was completely prohibited throughout the country except in specially designated areas. Since 2021, things have relaxed a little, and the rule is that it is generally permitted to park for up to 48 hours (note that we are talking about parking and not camping, so no chairs or tables outside, no awnings, etc.). The only restriction that remains strictly in place is the ban on spending the night in protected areas (nature parks, Natura 2000 reserves, and the coastline). In short, inland, it's generally not a problem to spend the night in your vehicle, but when you're on the coast, it's best to stick to the designated areas.

During our trip, it was still extremely hot (the thermometer regularly exceeded 30°C). As a result, we clearly favored campsites and rest areas because they allowed us to enjoy the outdoors more, take out our chairs, open the awning to protect ourselves from the sun, etc. And it must be said that rest areas and campsites are relatively reasonable in terms of price. Whether camping or staying at rest areas, we never paid more than €15 per night (van, 2 people + the dog). In high season, it will be a little more expensive, but it's still very reasonable compared to other European destinations.

PS: you can find all the places we stayed on the interactive map at the bottom of the page.

 

Hôtels & apartments

If you don't have a van, chances are you'll be renting a hotel or apartment for your vacation. Prices vary greatly depending on the season. For example, in Olhao there is a 3-star hotel that costs €57 per night in low season (a very good deal in our opinion), but the price rises to nearly €200 per night in July and August (a completely different price range). In short, the key here is to plan ahead (and travel off-season to get the best prices).

To do your research, you can use the map below and enter your dates. This will also allow you to compare different regions.

 

Coming to Algarve and getting around

Coming to Algarve

We traveled to the Algarve “by road” in our converted van. We left Switzerland, and we won't lie to you, it took quite a few hours to get there. ;) In total, it took us roughly 24 hours of driving (spread over 3 days) to reach southern Portugal. Since we had almost a month to spare, it was no problem, but clearly if we'd only had two weeks' vacation, I think it would have been too long a journey (and too expensive... because, without realizing it, the nearly 6,000 km we traveled with the van (4,500 km of which were purely “transit” between Switzerland and Portugal) hurt a little. But we've already talk more about that above).

Many travelers generally prefer to opt for a flight + car rental combo at their destination. For flights, you can compare prices on Skyscanner and for car rentals, Booking eIt is a very reliable comparison site (they have all the major companies). For vans, we recommend comparing prices between Yescapa and Campstar.

See vans on Yescapa

See vans on Campstar

Tip: Faro is the “official” airport for visiting the Algarve and is often an excellent choice. Rental cars are generally not too expensive there, and there is also a good selection of campervans on Yescapa in Portugal. But we still recommend comparing prices! Other valid options include flying to Lisbon or even Seville in Spain and starting your trip from there. From Lisbon, it takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes to 3 hours to drive to the Algarve, while from Seville, the Portuguese border is less than an hour and a half away! There can be significant differences in the price of flights and car/van rentals, so it's worth comparing the different options.

Bonus: if you opt for Seville, you can take a little detour through Andalusia, which is also a truly beautiful region. If you're looking for information about Andalusia, we have everything you need on our blog here.

 

Getting around

During our trip, we traveled in our van, “Dahu,” which means we had our own vehicle and therefore don't have a lot of experience traveling by public transportation.

But honestly, I think it will largely depend on the type of trip you are planning. If your goal in the Algarve is to enjoy a beach vacation with the option of visiting one or two cities, I think you can easily get by with public buses and possibly a few trips with Uber or Bolt (which work very well in Portugal).

But if, like us, you want to hike and explore a large part of the region, we definitely recommend having a vehicle. Driving in the Algarve is really “chill.” We had no problems on the roads and found it to be a region that lends itself well to this mode of travel. And no worries about bumpy or very narrow roads (we still have some strong memories of those in Liguria or Galicia, haha).

 

When it comes to roads, you just need to be aware of the Portuguese toll system, which mainly operates via automatic electronic toll collection. If you have European electronic toll badges, this is generally not a problem, but we had to register our license plate number on this website. After that, we hardly used the highways at all. And in the Algarve, the A22 (main highway) is now free (since January 2025).

Travelling in Algarve with your dog

If you read our blog from time to time, you will have noticed that since January 2021, we no longer travel without Winchy, our faithful four-legged companion whom we adopted in Spain. Given that we prefer nature trips and traveling in our van anyway, traveling with a dog has never been a problem for us. And clearly, everything went very well in Portugal. That said, I would say that it is still the country where we noticed the most “restrictions.” The vast majority of beaches, public transportation, ferries, and quite a few restaurants (especially indoors) do not allow dogs.

After that, things changed! In fact, until 2018, dogs were banned from all bars and restaurants. But following a vote, business owners now have the choice of whether or not to allow animals. A “dogs welcome” sticker is usually placed on the door when they are allowed. On terraces, however, they are generally allowed. As the climate is very mild, this minor “constraint” was not a problem for us at all.

In short, if you're wondering whether Portugal is a particularly dog-friendly country, the answer is no. But it's 100% possible to travel there with your four-legged friend if you're willing to give up a few activities or public transportation options. Overall, I would say that traveling is easier during the off-season, as there is a little more tolerance on beaches and in public places.

Wearing a muzzle: In Lisbon, for example, dogs are allowed on the subway with a short leash and a muzzle, but they are not allowed on buses or trams—with the exception of small dogs that can fit in a basket or carrier bag.

As for the muzzle, we had read that it was best to bring one along... We packed a soft muzzle in our backpack “just in case,” but we didn't end up using it (we didn't take the subway).

Our interactive map of Algarve

To help you plan your itinerary in the Algarve, here is an interactive map of the places we visited. The blog posts written about specific regions (5 blog posts in total) are marked in pink, along with all the addresses and hikes. Feel free to click on the different points for more information and open the menu on the left-hand side for the complete list.