And we were off. This time on a high(ish) speed train bound for the Algarve. While we were staying in Armação de Pêra – thanks to the enthusiastic recommendation of Daria – the only place we were able to nail down a rental car was at the Faro airport. The train ride went smoothly. We had downloaded a few movies to a tablet before we left Canada, so those made an appearance. I napped (again on transit which is SO unlike me, but rather delightful), and worked on writing up some of our early adventures for blog posts.
From the train station, we took a Bolt to the airport car rental area and picked up our wheels for the next few days. We knew we weren’t going to be able to check into our apartment until 3 pm. With time to spare, we stopped by a grocery store and stocked up on food and snacks.
Parking in downtown Armação de Pêra was a nightmare. Narrow streets and cars EVERYWHERE. There don’t seem to be any regulations about where people park/how long they can stay in a spot (some cars were parked, covered in sand and dust – clearly having been parked for days). We managed to snag a spot and trudged to the apartment complex, more than a little worried about how we were going to manage the parking conundrum. Thankfully, the apartment came with underground parking (not clear in our booking information) which was a LIFESAVER. Pro tip: if you’re going to book a rental car in the Algarve, make sure your accommodations come with parking.
We settled into the apartment and got our bearings. It was a lovely spot, though much smaller than our apartment in Lisbon. Cramped quarters were more than worth it for the view of the beach (about 2 minutes from our door), and easy access to a GORGEOUS pool area, complete with lounge chairs and a soccer pitch. We all got dressed in our bathing suits and headed across the road to the beach. It was hot and the beach was crowded. The kids had fun playing in the water, but we didn’t stay too long. The pool (salt water – so much nicer than chlorine) was basically empty and the kids had an absolute blast.
We picnicked on our lovely terrace – which included a table, four chairs, giant sun umbrella and a drying rack for wet clothes.
The kids weren’t too enthused about going back out in the evening, so we left them watching TV while John and I strolled the still-busy (!!) beach after sunset. Unbeknownst to us, it was a Super Blue Moon!! The night sky was incredible; of course, iPhone pictures cannot do the scene justice.
DAY SEVEN
We knew crowds in the Algarve were going to be extreme (honestly, everywhere in Portugal in the high season is crowded), so we tried to maximize morning activities.
First up was Algar Seco. This is a beautiful nature preserve of rock formations with free entry. There is quite a bit of parking onsite (also free) – rare in the Algarve – and we quickly found a spot and started exploring. The views were phenomenal.
We investigated some caves – tricky with water filling and emptying spaces; time your steps well or feet WILL get wet.
We also snapped pictures in the famous keyhole. Apparently, this keyhole is “the spot” for local marriage proposals. We arrived early enough in the day we had the area to ourselves.
If the kids hadn’t been along, we would have explored the area more thoroughly, but these cliffs were high, the footing was unreliable and…we didn’t want any hospital visits. A very lovely place and definitely a spot that could be explored for several hours.
Next up we attempted to visit Praia Marhina. Frequently ranked as one of the nicest beaches in the world, we thought mid-morning would give us a good opportunity to find parking. Um…not a chance. The parking lot was JAMMED. A bit disappointed, we decided to head to Praia do Vale de Centeanes.
This was a really lovely beach with a cave at the far side that was fun to explore. We spent a few hours splashing (the waves got BIG!) and tanning and then headed to Praia do Carvalho. This was probably my favourite swimming spot we visited in Portugal. It was a simply stunning location. There were a lot of stairs to get down to the beach (par for the course in the Algarve) but entry to the beach requires passing through a tunnel which was très cool. The parking area for this beach also offers great views of Farol de Alfanzina (Alfanzina Lighthouse).
The kids were ready to be done adventuring at this point. It was hot and we were perpetually thirsty during our time in the Algarve. It literally felt impossible to consume enough water to stay properly hydrated. We had brought a change of clothes so we would be ready for our evening activity, but for the sake of morale decided to add extra driving to our day and return to the apartment for a few hours. The pool was a welcome relief from the crowded and hot beaches and the kids really enjoyed some down time, playing games in the pool with new friends – they had a great time with other kids staying at the same apartment complex. John and I opted to take showers and I’ll admit I was very thankful to be clean and in fresh clothes for the evening.
After supper (can’t remember what we ate this night) we headed to Portimão to catch a sunset boat tour to Benagil Cave (perhaps the most famous landmark in the Algarve, thanks to being featured in a Windows 10 background). Before we went to Portugal I had debated between a sunrise kayak tour or a sunset boat cruise. I opted for sunset and I’m glad I did – about a week before our trip, the government permanently banned kayak tours from the cave so now the only option for getting to the cave is via speedboat (limited to two boats in the cave at a time).
The kids were not in great moods and neither one was enthused about the boat tour. Sigh. We arrived in plenty of time to join our group and get lifejackets and instructions and then we were off.
And it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. The highlight of our trip to Portugal (for me) and one of my best travel memories ever. This trip exceeded my expectations and was a little over $100 CAD total. We spent an hour investigating caves dotted along the shoreline, stopping to watch the sunset, before ending at Benagil Cave. The guide was engaging, the sunset was spectacular, and the whole experience was nothing short of amazing. (We booked a sunset cruise using Get Your Guide through the Atlantis Tours company.) I would do this again in a heartbeat, and would make sure to book a sunset option again! It was also fun to see two of the beaches we had visited earlier in the day from the ocean; an interesting perspective.
We ended the evening with a trip to McDonald’s (the kids were perpetually hungry), where I got my second mini-McFlurry of the trip. No regrets. We also popped into a grocery store for some extra picnic supplies for our final day in the Algarve.
DAY EIGHT
Our last full day in Southern Portugal. I had a laundry list of places to visit, and since we’d been unsuccessful at seeing the purported “best beach”, we opted to start there. We arrived at the parking lot for Praia da Marinha around 8:00 am and there were only a handful of spaces left. Yikes! It is a popular spot and also one of the places people can start hiking the Seven Hanging Valley’s Trail. (This looks like an incredible route, but given the intense heat and the fact we had kids in tow means it’s something we’ll do on a return trip to Portugal.)
Marinha was…forgettable. The kids were rather scathing in their review, and we all agreed we had visited other beaches we enjoyed far more. But it was fun to say we’d seen the spot.
This also foreshadowed a lot about our day. One of the main reasons we weren’t a fan of the beach was the density of seaweed. It was everywhere. And smelly. Which made sense because it was low tide.
Cue ominous music.
Next up we tried to visit Praia dos Estudantes which is famous for featuring a Roman-style bridge. The parking lot was already jammed, so we moved on to the next beach, just a short drive away. Praia Dona Ana. It was nice enough – long, and already getting quite crowded, but there was a lot of seaweed and I was more interested in Praia do Camilo, which looked like a hidden oasis. It was hot and we were all sweating by the time we walked between the beaches via a lovely wooden boardwalk. When we started to go down the many (many!) stairs we noticed huge swarms up people coming…up. Hmmm. That seemed odd. Near the bottom we caught a glimpse of the beach and understood why. Of course it was low tide at this beach too and it was basically a solid wall of seaweed. Argh.
Back we climbed, feeling a bit disillusioned by this point, and made our way to Ponte de Piedade which are world famous rock formations. Once again we had a long climb to the bottom – with the traditionally slippery steps – and once again we discovered the view was not very impressive at low tide. Live and learn. Tides matter in Portugal, folks!
We took in the view of the lighthouse (Farol da Ponta da Piedade), and to boost morale stopped for incredibly expensive gelato. They must realize that hikers and tourists will be so hot and tired by the end of the boardwalk they’ll be ready to sell a kidney for something cold. Thankfully, the price tag was worth it. I had some Chocolate Mint Gelato that ended up being one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten in my life. It was SO GOOD and definitely redeemed any frustration from the tide issues.
After our less-than-stellar track record in Lagos, we opted for a different tactic and headed West. I hadn’t planned to go this far along the coast, but since we had extra time on our hands, we headed to Praia do Amado. Almost two decades ago, John and his best friend went on a surfing trip to Portugal and this was the beach they surfed at day after day. When they visited, it was basically abandoned, with just a sprinkling of local surfing enthusiasts. Clearly the secret has gotten out because this place was PACKED and had all sorts of amenities.
It was a much colder beach, and I was feeling a bit bummed out that my morning plans hadn’t panned out the way I had expected. John was enjoying the views while I tried to manage the kids’ expectations on shore. When he came up he whispered into my ear to gauge my thoughts on him renting wetsuits and surfboards so he and A could go in the water. The rentals were very reasonably priced, and they ended up having a phenomenal time! This is A’s top memory from Portugal and it was really lovely for John to be able to return to this beach after so many years. He texted lots of pictures to his surfing buddy and it ended up being really awesome.
We debated going back to the apartment – the kids were keen to have more time in the pool – but I really wanted to try to see the “Roman bridge” beach one more time. We found paid parking about 1 km away and made our way to the beach. When we arrived, there wasn’t much beach left! Now it was high tide and, oh-so-ironically, to access the bridge beach you need to be there at LOW tide. I was determined to make it over to the beach, so A and I navigated through a cave that was slowly filling with water. Lots of other people were going, so I was confident things would be okay. And, thankfully, they were but it was terrifying. The tide came in SO fast and the currents were so strong. Even the few minutes we were over admiring the bridge made the return trip very hard as the tunnel had almost completely filled with water. We made it in one piece but we were both bleeding from places we were slammed against rocks. An adventure for sure and one I’m very glad we survived. One more time for the people in the back: TIDES MATTER IN THE ALGARVE. I don’t feel like any travel blog or news article about the Algarve region discussed how critical tide timing is for accessing beaches and impacting the state of the shoreline.
We had to swim through the tunnel left of center to get over by the bridge, so these are the best pictures we have (taken before the tunnel filled with water completely)…
But if you go before high tide, here’s what it would look like from the tiny tunnel-access-only beach.
Finally we made for home and the kids had a great time in the pool playing with friends while I watched from our balcony. We all took showers, packed for our journey north the following day, and John and I went out to buy some supper while the kids lounged in bed and watched TV. The two of us ate (sushi + pizza) on the terrace; the kids opted to eat in bed and keep watching TV. Fair enough…it had been a busy day!
Your turn. Have you ever been surfing? Do you find it easy to introduce yourself to new people? L walked up to a group of boys and asked if he could join them playing soccer. And that was it! New best buds.
Nicole MacPherson
Wow, what a roller coaster of emotions I had reading this! My takeaway is that this is an absolutely incredibly gorgeous part of the world. Also, very busy and crowded! And I had to laugh at the teen angst. Family trips, there is always going to be some angst somewhere! The photo of you in the boat is everything!
Elisabeth
Very busy, but there’s a reason everyone visits in July and August. It really is lovely!
Roller coaster indeed, but it makes for lots of memories (again, the things that go wrong/quasi-wrong make the best memories…when we survive them!!)
Grateful Kae
Every picture is amazing! That beach at Praia do Carvalho is stunning. So glad you made the right call on the boat trip! I have a similar “top” memory from when we did a sunset boat trip in Portland, Maine. It was just so beautiful at that time of night, and seeing the lighthouses from the water… I love that memory too. 🙂 And yes, teens are weird. Ha. I feel like you just never really know what will strike their fancy (or not) or why. So fun that they went surfing! Did A take a lesson or did John just help her? Those photos of the beach with all the bright surfboards are so great. That cave tunnel filling with water does sound absolutely terrifying! I had read about a few similar spots in Hawaii that sounded like they can be potentially really dangerous. Drowning is seriously one of my #1 fears- I get panicked just thinking about it. So I can imagine the rushing water was very unsettling! Glad you made it through safely. And how great to have a nice quiet pool to return to. Seems like your lodging was a perfect little oasis in the busy/ hot days. I can also relate to the kids kind of wanting to just “chill” at night… we’ve done that sometimes now on our trips, where the adults will go out for dinner and the boys will occasionally stay back and do… nothing. Ha.
Elisabeth
That boat trip was amazing and I think that I’m always going to look for boat options on vacation moving forward. And sunset is just…perfection!!!
John just helped A. You could take lessons, of course, but the waves were HUGE and so strong (so much bigger than they look in pics), so we knew really she was going to be tossed around a lot and not have calm, gentle waves to really try to get up on. It was a blast though and she loved it!
The cave was pretty scary. At one point L was planning to go over with us but I made him turn back and took him to shore. I am SO glad because I was holding on to A soooo tight and still lost grip on her and we got bashed against rocks. It is pretty terrifying to think about how I would have managed if I’d had two kids with me.
The pool really made the Algarve experience what it was; especially for the kids. They just loved it and we’ve never stayed at a spot where there is an outdoor pool. And to be visible from our room window was pretty sweet! I totally understood chilling at night. Part of me wants to maximize every minute because vacation is expensive, but they enjoy it more if we also have lots of down time. So it worked perfectly to have several evenings a week where we just stayed in and vegged out.
Birchie
I love this! Tunnels, lighthouses, castles and oh my!
When the boys were small my husband gave them an intro line to use with other kids: “hey do you like Pokemon?”. It worked wonders. I need the adult/non-Pokemon version of that. The closest that I have is anytime I see someone with a dog – it’s an instant conversation starter.
Elisabeth
That’s awesome – we have a child who loves Pokemon and that is definitely a safe question to ask others!
Alas, I don’t have a dog so no pet talk for me. I’m boring and usually start with the weather. I will say that kids are often a launch point, too. Comparing notes about activities or challenges or fun things to do etc. I met a lot of current friends when my kiddos were babies and I would go to Babies and Books and thinks of that ilk.
ccr in MA
Oh, your photos are stunning! Wow. I’m sorry for the bumps along the way, but overall so much went so well, yay!
Elisabeth
All’s well that ends well, right?
Lisa's Yarns
Wow this looks amazing! Some of it reminds me of the Great Ocean Road in Australia. When I was studying abroad in Australia, a friend I had met when working in Colorado for the summer was studying abroad in Spain and she sent me a postcard of Algarve! So I always associate my friend Ali with that region. I’d love to visit someday as it looks so gorgeous! I love areas like that with such amazing natural beauty!
I am pretty good at making friends if it’s someone I know I am going to see in the future. I do not put any effort into making friends/being friendly with people I will never see again. Paul is a bit like L and will easily make friends at the park for example. We’ll see if Taco is like that, too, when he’s a bit older.
Elisabeth
It is beautiful! I loved all the rocky cliffs which gave the beaches so much individual character.
Sarah
Beautiful! And you packed a bunch in but still look blissed out on vacation vibes.
Elisabeth
It was a pretty good balancing act of doing a lot, but also taking lots of time to chill. Portugal has very laid-back vibes, so the setting helped.
NGS
A’s disdain for the boat ride was the high point of this post for me. LOLOLOLOL. Teenagers are going to teenage, aren’t they?
I even think your gross, smelly, seaweed-covered beach photos are beautiful. What a lovely country.
Elisabeth
Yes, these beaches are basically beautiful at all times! (Though the seaweed is so thick at low tide you really can’t use the water at some of the smaller beaches).
YES. Teenagers are going to be teenagers, regardless of where you are on the planet. Thankfully, she adored most of the things we did in Portugal (especially surfing) and came home with a suitcase full of awesome memories. I think if I hadn’t loved the boat ride so much I would have been frustrated by the angst, but the beauty of the coast at sunset was just too much for any whiff of negativity to bring me down. IT WAS STUNNING!
Diane
I can’t believe how many beaches you packed into this trip! Everything looks so stunning.
I love seeing your supermarket haul. Going to the grocery store is always one of my favorite parts of travelling.
Elisabeth
The grocery stores were great! We found a set of things we really enjoyed eating/that travelled well and tended to buy similar things over and over. It’s also a lot cheaper than eating out for 3 meals/day!!!
San
I feel like every fantastic vacation must include some frustrations like that (that you can laugh about later but which are not fun in the moment). The crowds are always frustrating and then the TIDES! Oh man, all the things you have to keep in mind when making plans.
But I LOVE that John got to go back to the beach where he surfed years ago and that he and A got to surf together. I also love all the family pictures in this post. So many frame-worthy memories!
Elisabeth
So true. Something has to go wrong and better little things like this than sickness or some major flight disruption.
The one thing I neglected to account for was tides; oh well, we know for next time.
Jenny
As always, your photos are amazing! I’m laughing at the photos of A in the boat (hmm, I think I know that expression!) L seemed a little miffed to be left out of the surfing, but then I noticed the last pictures he’s in the water with them. To answer your question, no I’ve never been surfing. And, I definitely find it hard to introduce myself to new people. It seems to be so much easier for kids (although, I wasn’t great at it as a kid either.) Soccer seems to be a real ice-breaker!
Elisabeth
There were two poses and I posted the less angsty-looking one 😉
We decided the waves were just too big for L to try surfing and we also knew he’d be FREEZING (the water was soooo cold here). But in the end, J let L use the board and he enjoyed his time in the water even though it was freezing and the waves were overpowering.
I think sports are a universal language. I’m not sporty at all, but I think I would have found it easier to fit in with lots of different circumstances if I had been good at sports! You don’t have to actually speak the same words to know how to play soccer together, which is lovely.
Michelle G.
This was such a wonderful post to read, Elisabeth! What a vacation! Your photos are amazing. My favorite has to be the one on the boat—your joy next to the teenage angst is priceless! I had chills reading about your race with the high tide. Terrifying! I have never been surfing. Thank you for letting me travel to Portugal vicariously through your blog!
Elisabeth
Ha – there is regularly emotional juxtapositions in our house at this stage of life, but she was mostly happy and lighthearted on this trip. Apparently she “couldn’t see enough” on the boat ride, but goodness for me it was a 20/10 experience!
The tide thing was terrifying. I didn’t have time to dwell on it too much but I definitely did have these flashes of thinking: Oh my goodness, we could both die!!!
Kate
My heart was in my throat reading about the tunnel (mis)adventure even though OBVIOUSLY I know it all turned out okay in the end! Yikes! Situations like that are always a jarring reminder to me of the untamable forces of nature. But I’m really glad you were able to see the bridge! So cool!
Also dying of laughter over the angsty pictures because we see that face regularly around here too. I really do appreciate the honest reflection of what a family trip looks like, attitudes and all!
So many of these pictures absolutely need to be put on canvas and hung up in your home. To be honest, I want to put some of the landscape photos up on MY wall! Haha. I did laugh seeing the picture of the Benagil Cave because I see it so often on my laptop screen 😉
When kids are in tow and if they are already starting to interact, I do find it easy to strike up conversation with new people (like their parents). But not so much if I’m on my own. One of my favourite things about travel with kids is watching them form these instant connections with people. Once the girls played Simon Says with a group of Croatian girls at a park – one of them spoke enough English to translate to her friends, and it was so sweet!
Elisabeth
The bridge was cool and I’ll say it was worth it now that I’m on the other side of the adrenaline rush!
Yup – the attitudes come along for the ride. Though I have to say both kids were tremendous travellers yet again with mostly good attitudes, limited sibling fights (which is extra impressive because of the constant proximity with each other). But that picture really does sum up life with a teen many days.
Suz
The photos of the caves, beaches, views are just outstanding. I would have loved the sunset boat tour and I had a little giggle at your angsty teen; hey, it happens–we can’t all be happy at the same time and I’m sure it was short lived.
How fun that your husband was able to revisit his old surfing grounds! I always love a full-circle moment.
Elisabeth
It really was a full-circle moment. Maybe even more fun because it wasn’t planned? I think that afternoon was the highlight of the trip for him.
If you ever find yourself in Portugal again, I HIGHLY recommend a sunset boat cruise in the Algarve.