algarve real estate
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Lagos, on the south coast of the Algarve, is one of the country's most popular tourist resorts. Most visitors are drawn to the superb beaches, which include Meia Praia, a vast strip of sand to the east, and the more secluded Praia do Pinhão to the south. The town has abundant facilities for renting bicycles, mopeds and horses, and there are also boat trips from the main harbour. Apart from the sun and sand, the resort's other highlight is the Museu Municipal, which has eccentric displays of ecclesiastical treasures, handicrafts and preserved animal fetuses.
This wilderness park in the far north of Portugal, near the Spanish border, has spectacular scenery and a wide variety of flora and fauna. It's extremely popular with Portuguese day-trippers and holidaymakers, but they tend to stick to the main camping areas, leaving the rest of the park to hikers. There are plenty of good short-distance trails with places to swim along the way, as well as facilities for horse riding, mountain biking and canoe rental.
This valley is one of Portugal's scenic highlights, with some 200km (125mi) of bold, expansive panoramas stretching from the city of Porto all the way to the Spanish border. In the upper reaches, port-wine vineyards wrap around every crew-cut hillside, interrupted only by the occasional blindingly white manor house. The roads which wriggle along the banks of the Rio Douro can be crowded with day-trippers from Porto, but the river has been tamed by five dams and is now navigable along its entire length, making boat cruises an attractive way to soak up the atmosphere in peace.
The quiet highland town of Monchique, dozing on the wooded slopes of the Serra de Monchique, offers a good alternative to the hurly-burly of beach life on the coast. Apart from its beautiful and restive setting, the town's other attraction is the Igreja Matriz church, which boasts an amazing portal - about the closest you'll get to seeing stone tied in knots. Of interest just outside the town is the sleepy spa of Caldas de Monchique, and it's worth driving or hiking through thick forest to Fóia, the 'rooftop' of the Algarve. The panoramic views from the top are terrific.
This tiny fishing port is perched on dramatic, windswept cliffs at the south-western extremity of Portugal. The village's proximity to Lagos means that it's not entirely devoid of holiday-makers, but the port is still a centre for boat-building and lobster-fishing. Legend has it that Henry the Navigator established a nautical think-tank here, priming the explorers who later founded the vast Portuguese empire. Nearby are several pleasant beaches and the barren, throne-like Cabo de São Vicente, Europe's south-westernmost point.
Budget accommodation is mostly in private rooms or at a well-equipped camping ground. Sagres is around 30km (20mi) west of Lagos and frequent buses connect the two. There are less frequent coach connections direct to Évora and Lisbon.
Water sports such as swimming, snorkelling, windsurfing and big-game fishing are popular along the Algarve Coast, while surfing is big along the west coast.