At the beginning of October Cologne was in autumn mode. We decided to use our precious, last holidays from work at the end of summer 2017. Our choice was Algarve, Portugal. Traveling off-season we hoped to evade the tourist crowds and still enjoy the amazing nature and sun Portugal is known for.
Spoiler: The choice was more than accurate: Portugal was super sunny, we had zero rain, just a few clouds to give the perfect dramatic sunsets.
Concerning tourist masses: none; but some restaurants still required a reservation in advance.
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Step by step: Britt and I were travelling with our flatmates Ms. M and Mr J. (masked due to respect of their privacy). The plan we agreed on in advance was simple: fly in, relax, no culture, no sight seeing, no city tourism what so ever, do some sporty activities, recharge, fly out.
If you pursue the same strategy for your next vacation, the rules for a hassle free vacation in a group are simple:
1. Get an awesome accommodation which you do not want to leave (ideally with a big pool).
2. Do not save on a motorized vehicle/ car since in order to get supplies in civilisation you need to carry out this operation as fast and hassle free as possible. Britt would always rather take the bus but in some places, Algarve is one of them, I just totally recommend a car.
3. Do not overpack your itinerary with thousands of amazing things nearby that you ought to do before you die. It is good to be prepared but remain agile to be able to change plans without suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out). This point is actually something I really need to work on myself.
4. Expectation management with your travel buddys. Everyone needs to be cool with this “I-do-not-commit-myself-to-anything-but-chilling”-vacation. If one of your travel companions is totally into going to god knows where 300 km away from your homebase, he or she should state why it is so important to him/her in advance. Everyone should know that there is either an obligation to please a weird individual (that’s usually me) by going there or the group should make it clear from the very beginning that they might not want to go. Common expectations.
Luckily we had a common understanding of what it means to do nothing. Now that I write about it, our itinerary turned out to be kind of full.
Our itinerary for one week around Aljezur, Algarve:
Day 1:
We landed in Faro, just to pick up our rent-a-car and to head towards Aljezur.The drive takes about 1.5 hours.
Aljezur is a nice little town situated in west Algarve. Being in the middle of Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park it is surrounded by nature.
The area we stayed in was Vale da Telha, which is part of Aljezur but almost 10 minutes drive through nature away from the actual town.
Vale da Telha is mainly villas with pools, wide streets, a few restaurants and one tiny supermarket selling basics.
Since we arrived off-season the area felt abandoned. All houses were rather new – there were no middle age village houses. Probably not many people live there but use the place as holiday home.
We rented a three bedroom house with a nice outdoor area: big garden, pool, barbecue (actually it was a little too fancy for us). It was fenced from the outside world which also gave good wind protection. The German owners rented the house out through fewo-direkt.de when not around themseves. Throughout the entire stay we did not engage with neighbours. If you are looking for the cultural experience it is not the right pace to go, since we wanted seclusion it was perfect for us.
Since the Atlantic is usually a bit too cold but the outside temperature is a bit too hot, most houses you rent in that area come with pools we were told.
Right after arriving we left to restock in the Intermarché in Aljezur “town”. The food prices were reasonable – similar to Germany.
Evening barbecue and drinks. The holiday could start!
Day 2:
Day hike to cliffs and along the coast to the beach of Arrifana. Arrifana beach was the surf hot spot. Having ideal conditions (during our stay) all surfers of the region pilgrimed to this beach. At other beaches we saw gear rentals but no surfers. I am not a pro but this beach seemed like the place to be if you are into wave riding.
In the evening we were too lazy to cook and followed a recommendation to dine out at a particular place and to check out the village of Monte Clerigo. Literally 5 driving minutes away from Vale da Telha. Definitely a nice spot with great view points, a big beach and at least one very recommendable restaurant: Restaurante O Sargo. There was a surf rental but no surfers in the water due to strong current and too many rocks we were told.
Day 3:
We decided to check the beaches of South Algarve and went to Lagos. Indeed the rock formations in Lagos were worth a visit. Beaches that we liked the most here were Praia Da Boneca and Camilo Beach. Both are right next to each other. They were slightly crowded because they are rather small and close to Lagos. But they are right between the cliffs which can be explored by kayak or in our case by taking a little swim.
The restaurant o Camilo offered good food and great view but it would be advisable to place a reservation if possible. We had to wait in the queue for a while.
Day 4:
Sporty day: We went surfing in Arrifana. As mentioned before this was the place were the surfers met. Other beaches were hardly surfed the time we were around. The only issue was the gear rental was at the top of a hill and the surf was… well… One had to carry the boards and the wetsuits downhill and later uphill. Still great fun at a great beach.
Later in the afternoon we drove to the village of Burgau and to Praia Da Bordeira. Burgau was recommended by a friend as a nice little place to hang out and was more of an authentic village. Still there were other tourists but there were not many. Maybe a good place to stay next time.
Praia Da Bordeira was definitely worth seeing. It become one of our favourite beaches at the Algarve. Why: At this beach a little stream ends in the ocean. In order to get from the parking lot to the beach you have to wade through this stream with clear, warm water and tiny fish swimming between your legs. At the beach you have dunes and some nice viewpoints. Also this place peaks out into the ocean. From the viewpoint one can see a far stretch of the coastline thanks to the exposed position. Awesome place to visit.
Day 5:
Our activity for the day was kayaking.
If you are looking into kayaking in west Algarve this might be just the right inspiration and place to go for you.
We drove about 25 minutes from Aljezur to reach the little town of Odeceixe. From here it is a 10 minutes drive to the beach. Also here you have a little river floating into the ocean. So the beach offers both Ocean with big waves and warmer river water.
Here you can rent a kayak and paddle up the river to Odeceixe.
Depending on the time and the tide it can be either easy or difficult. We chose to go upriver when the tide was high. The water pushed us up the river. When the tide turned and the current pushed back towards the ocean we paddled back. Between the town and the beach you have unspoiled green river banks. If you are not into kayaking, here we saw some, few surfers too and also the beach with a mix of ocean and river and sand dunes in between is pretty inviting.
Day 6:
After spending so much time down by the ocean we decided to check out the back land by hiking through the mountains. We chose Serra de Monchique for our day hike. We parked near the peak of Fóia which is with 902 m above sea level the highest mountain in the region and strolled through the mountains and the little villages north, north east of the peak. There are quiet some nice treks in this region.
After the trek on the drive back home we stopped at one of the road side restaurants.
The restaurant Abrigo da Serra is worth being mentioned due to the great view from the terrace and pretty nice Pollo Piri Piri, a local chicken dish worth a try if you are fed up with eating fresh fish every day.
Day 7:
After leaving our house we drove back to Faro. On the way we stopped at the lighthouse at the Cape of Saint-Vincent near Sagres. I personally did not like it. It was too busy with tourist crowds without having too much to offer.
The next stop on the way to Faro was a hidden gem and a little highlight of the trip:
We parked at Salema beach and hiked one hour along the coast to a small hidden beach called Praia da Figueira. This beach had no houses or restaurants nearby. The next parking lot was a 10 minutes walk away and felt like in the middle of nowhere.
The water was warmer than at other beaches I found. Because the beach was rather off trek some visitors were totally naked. If you are not comfortable with that it might be not the place to go. If you do not care definitely a nice hidden beach worth a visit.
Our flight next day was super early and we decided to spend the evening by strolling around the downtown of Faro to find a place for dinner. The town was actually very nice with many little boutiques and many open air restaurants.
Day 8:
Nothing too special: got up early and flew back home relaxed, just as planned.
Costs for one week in Algarve
Overview of main costs for our little Algarve holiday for 4 persons:
Accomodation 900 euros (big house with 3 bedrooms =810 Euros) + hotel for last night (90 Euros) in Faro, for 4 pax.
Middle class car all in all 300Euros: 50 € fuel, 150 € rent, 100 €additional driver + highway fees
Flights for 4 pax: Cologne – Faro and back 600 Euros. And there are often far better deals.
We cooked a lot but the prices were not so high in restaurants. All in all we spent around 600-650 Euros per person with all flights, car, fuel, food, drinks, activities, accommodation.
Restaurants
Restaurants that we would recommend near Vale da Telha were Restaurante O Sargo at Monte Clérigo beach and Restaurante O Paulo at Arrifana.
Lessons learned:
Spend at least another day surfing.
Eat fish but do not miss out on chicken piri piri.
I personally enjoyed the day in the mountains because it was a nice alternative to the coast.
Our favourite beaches were Praia da Figueira and Praia Da Bordeira. Though all the beaches mentioned here were worth a visit.
Cool activities we looked into but skipped were Coastering or going to Lisbon.
If you are looking for a rather relaxed holiday option evading busy citys tourism and having rather a chill, layed back atmosphere in October this itinerary might be just the right inspiration what to do when near Aljezur, Algarve.
