Insight Guides Pocket Algarve (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

Insight Guides Pocket Algarve

Travel made easy. Ask local experts.
The definitive pocket-sized travel guide.

Compact, concise and packed full of essential information about where to go and what to do, this is the ideal on-the-move travel guide for exploring the Algarve. From top tourist attractions like Ponta da Piedade, Falesia beach and Lagos, to cultural gems, including the Moorish town of Silves, Igreja do Carmo, the famous chapel made from monks skulls, and Olhao fish market, plan your perfect trip with this practical, all-in-one travel guide. 

Features of this travel guide to Algarve:
- Inspirational itineraries: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, highlighted with stunning photography
- Historical and cultural insights: delve into the region's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour maps: with every major attraction highlighted, the maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Key tips and essential information: from transport to tipping, we've got you covered
- Covers: Western Algarve; Albufeira and central Algarve; Faro and environs; Eastern Algarve; Excursion to Lisbon

Looking for a comprehensive guide to Portugal? Check out Insight Guides Portugal for a detailed and entertaining look at all the country has to offer.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839052323

Insight Guides

Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

Book preview

How To Use This E-Book

Getting Around the e-Book

This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to Algarve, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of Algarve, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Algarve are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Algarve. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2020 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Algarve’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Top Attraction #2

Top Attraction #3

Top Attraction #4

Top Attraction #5

Top Attraction #6

Top Attraction #7

Top Attraction #8

Top Attraction #9

Top Attraction #10

A Perfect Tour of Algarve

Introduction

Sun, sand and sports

A coastal province

People of the sea

Vestiges of the past

A Brief History

Under Moorish rule

Henry the Navigator

Foreign intrigues

The great disaster

Political upheaval

Kingdom’s end

Historical landmarks

Where To Go

Western Algarve

The Sagres peninsula

Lagos

The coast around Lagos

Northwest of Lagos

Portimão

Praia da Rocha

Serra de Monchique

Silves

East of Portimão

Albufeira and central Algarve

Albufeira

Hill villages of Alte and Salir

East from Albufeira

São Lourenço dos Matos

Loulé

Towards Faro

Faro and environs

Old town

Town centre

Praia de Faro

Eastern Algarve

Olhão

Tavira

Around Tavira

Castro Marim

Vila Real de Santo António

Excursion to Lisbon

What To Do

Sports

Golf

Watersports

Outdoor sports and activities

Shopping

What to buy

Where to shop

Entertainment

Children’s Algarve

Calendar of events

Eating Out

Meal times

Starters

Fish and seafood

Meat and poultry

Dessert

Table wines

Other alcoholic drinks

Coffee and tea

Reading the Menu

To help you order …

… and read the menu

Restaurants

Sagres

Lagos

Monchique–Fóia

Portimão and environs

Praia Da Rocha

Praia De Três Irmãos/Alvor

Albufeira

Guia

Around Almancil

Vilamoura

Faro

Tavira

A–Z Travel Tips

A

Accommodation (see also Camping, Youth hostels and Recommended hotels)

Airport

B

Bicycle hire

Budgeting for your trip

C

Camping

Car hire (see also Driving)

Climate

Clothing

Crime and safety (see also Emergencies and Police)

Customs and entry requirements

D

Driving (see also Car hire and Emergencies)

E

Electricity

Embassies and consulates

Emergencies

G

Getting to the Algarve (see also Airport)

Guides and tours

H

Health and medical care (see also Emergencies)

Holidays

L

Language

LGBTQ travellers

M

Maps

Media

Money (see also Budgeting for your trip)

O

Opening hours

P

Police (see also Emergencies)

Post offices

Public transport

R

Religion

S

Smoking

T

Telephone

Time zones

Tipping

Toilets

Tourist information

Travellers with disabilities

W

Websites and internet

Weights and measures

Y

Youth hostels

Recommended Hotels

Sagres

Burgau

Lagos

Portimão and environs

Alvor

Carvoeiro

Monchique

Silves

Albufeira/Falésia

Alte

Vilamoura

Vale Do Lobo

Quinta Do Lago

São Brás de Alportel

Faro

Olhão

Tavira

Alcoutim

Algarve’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Shutterstock

Igreja Matriz

Manueline carving at Monchique’s beautiful church. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #2

iStock

Lagos

This resort combines a rich history with a busy present. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #3

Getty Images

São Lourenço dos Matos

Exuberant hand-painted azulejo tiles decorate this church near Faro. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #4

Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

Silves

This historic town was once a Moorish stronghold. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #5

Shutterstock

Ponta da Piedade

Take a boat trip to see the impressive cliffs, grottoes and rock stacks. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #6

Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

Tavira

Soak up the atmosphere of Algarve’s most picturesque city. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #7

Shutterstock

Igreja do Carmo

Monks’ skulls and bones line the weird and wonderful Chapel of Bones in this Faro church. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #8

Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

Sagres

Enjoy an end-of-the-world feeling at Cabo de São Vicente, Europe’s southwesternmost point, and explore Algarve off the beaten track. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #9

iStock

Falésia

Sunbathers and beachcombers will appreciate the charms of this beach east of Albufeira. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #10

Getty Images

Olhão fish market

Join the hustle and bustle and see the catch of the day. For more information, click here.

A Perfect Tour of Algarve

Day 1

Faro

Start your trip in Faro, exploring the Cidade Velha (old town), with its fine buildings, Sé (Cathedral) and the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo and its macabre Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones). Spend the afternoon on Faro’s sparkling town beach, the Praia de Faro, with mile upon mile of white sands.

Day 2

Parque Natural da Ria Formosa

Enjoy a delicious seafood lunch in Olhão, Algarve’s most workaday, but still handsome, town before heading out to the coastal countryside to explore Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, a beautiful area of lagoons, dunes, beaches and pine forests. You can arrange boat trips through the park from Olhão.

Day 3

Tavira

Travel farther along the coast to explore Algarve’s loveliest town, Tavira, which straddles the Rio Gilão. Sights include the Renaissance Igreja da Misericórdia, and you can explore the nearby Salt Pans and take a ferry across to the breathtaking Ilha de Tavira, a long white-sand spit that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Day 4

Algarve interior

Next, head inland to explore the slow-paced, unspoilt interior of the region, which feels like a different world. Visit Silves, a town with slanting red roofs that resembles a Cezanne painting. It is set high above the Rio Arade and topped by a handsome sandstone castle.

Day 5

Into the mountains

Travel farther north to discover Algarve’s mountain range, the Serra de Monchique. The spa town of Monchique is set amid cool woodlands and is a good place to relax and indulge in some spa treatments at the pastel-hued resort of the Caldas de Monchique.

Day 6

Coastal Lagos

Picturesque Lagos is Algarve’s most vibrant coastal town, and a great place to base yourself for a few days, enjoying the charming town centre, with sights such as the stunningly baroque Igreja de Santo António, white-and-black paved streets, and lively restaurants and bars.

Day 7

Beach relaxation

Spend your day relaxing on the beaches around Lagos: head for the smaller, more secluded sands found south of the town. You can go sailing, windsurfing and take boat trips, and explore the incredible rock formations along this part of the coast, where ochre cliffs meet searing-blue Atlantic sea.

Day 8

Wild Sagres

Finish off your tour by taking a trip to Sagres, an appropriately grand finale at Algarve’s western tip. With its great sea cliffs and views of endless ocean, this is a place unlike anywhere else in Algarve. Its wild beaches are popular with surfers, there’s an imposing clifftop castelo, and the Cabo de São Vicente is the southwesternmost point of mainland Europe.

Introduction

For much of the world, Algarve is synonymous with Portugal, yet the Portuguese will tell you the exact opposite: the region has little in common with the rest of the country. The southern stretch of coast is more reminiscent of a