The Algarve, from golden cliffs to the Costa Vicentina

From the lagoon to the wild coast

The Algarve is three coasts in a week on the road. In the east, the Ria Formosa, a nature park since 1987, is a lagoon some sixty kilometres long, sheltered behind its barrier islands. At Quinta de Marim, the park’s headquarters, a trail leads to a tide mill. Olhão, with its brick market halls, is the lagoon’s main fishing port. In 1808, seventeen of its fishermen crossed the Atlantic in a caique. They were going to tell the Prince Regent, then in Rio, that the Algarve had driven out the French.

In the centre, the road follows the cliffs. East of Albufeira, Falésia lines up walls of red, ochre and white sand, gullied beneath the pines. Further west, the sea has carved the limestone into arches, stacks and algares — caves whose roofs have fallen in. The one at Benagil is a round chamber open to the sky; you go in by boat or on a guided kayak trip.

At Cape St Vincent, the coast turns north. From Burgau, before the cape, to Sines, a nature park protects more than a hundred kilometres of cliffs and beaches, often at the end of dirt tracks. The trails of the Rota Vicentina follow this coast. At Odeceixe, the River Seixe divides the Algarve from the Alentejo; at Cabo Sardão, storks nest on the cliffs. On the way back, the road crosses the Serra de Monchique and its strawberry trees.

The Portuguese Reconquista came to a close in 1249, when Afonso III took Faro. He then styled himself King ‘of Portugal and the Algarve’. The title became ‘of the Algarves’ in 1471; the kings bore it until 1910. In Faro, behind the Arco da Vila, the walled Vila Adentro stands on the site of Roman Ossonoba.

On the west coast, at Arrifana, a ribat, a fortified monastery, was identified in 2001. It was founded around 1130 by the Sufi master Ibn Qasi.

Lagos, Sagres and the end of the world

Lagos was the town of the Discoveries. Gil Eanes, who rounded Cape Bojador in 1434, was born here. In August 1444, 235 African captives were sold in the town. The building presented as the first slave market of modern Europe now houses a museum of the slave trade.

In the south-west, the bare plateaus of Sagres and Cape St Vincent thrust out into the ocean. To the Greek geographer Strabo, this was the westernmost point of the inhabited world. For the ancients, the world ended here. According to legend, ravens escorted the relics of St Vincent all the way to Lisbon. Lisbon’s coat of arms still bears a ship and two ravens.

What not to miss

1. 1The bell tower of Faro CathedralThe old town at its feet, and the whole lagoon.
2. 2Praia do BarrilOn Tavira Island, a graveyard of rusting anchors, a relic of the tuna fishery.
3. 3The Seven Hanging ValleysNearly six kilometres of cliffs, from Marinha to Vale Centeanes.
4. 4Ponta da PiedadeLimestone stacks and caves at the foot of a lighthouse, near Lagos.
5. 5Cape St VincentA lighthouse closed to visitors, whose beam carries 32 nautical miles, and sunset over the Atlantic.
6. 6FóiaThe highest point in the Algarve, at 902 metres; a rock, foyaite, takes its name from this peak.

The Algarve in pictures

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The arches and sea stack of Praia da Marinha in low, raking light.

The Algarve’s table

Here, people cook in the cataplana, a copper pan that closes like a shell over clams or fish. Portimão grills its sardines, Santa Luzia calls itself the octopus capital, and Vila do Bispo cooks percebes, goose barnacles gathered at the foot of the cliffs.

The Aljezur sweet potato has its own geographical indication and an autumn festival. Monchique distils medronho, a spirit made from strawberry-tree fruit. In Lagos, try the Dom Rodrigo: egg threads (yolks cooked into strands in syrup) and almond, in a twist of coloured foil.