Hi everybody,
As I already told you in other posts, we arrived in the south of Portugal because we wanted to escape from Madeira, which we didn’t like at all, and this was the best place to which there were flights.
What interested us was that there were moderately decent beaches since there were not one in Madeira.
Beyond the issues with the accommodation (you have it in previous articles), this area is not bad to live in low season. Of course, you must have a car depending on the area and look for an apartment or house in good conditions since the accommodations in the south of Portugal are poorly isolated for the cold. I saw a lot of reviews from people from Northern Europe who were complaining about it.
One thing I must tell you is that the ugliest buildings I have ever seen in my life so far are in the Algarve. Really, what a horrible thing. I think even uglier than those in southern Spain.
The Algarve area in low season is like a ghost town, the streets are empty. From May, tourists start to arrive and in August it must be hell because of the quantity of tourists and the heat.
Here is where everyone’s tastes come in. When I travel, I seek as much solitude as possible.
As for the temperature, as of May 15 I couldn’t take any more sun because it was too hot. If on that date we were already in 30 degrees, imagine in August. But the water in mid-June was still cold, so we never stopped wearing the wetsuits.
A taxi driver told us that the owners of the accommodations in Algarve didn’t want to make long-term contracts because in the 3 summer months they make what they would make in a whole year with a long-term rental. After the pandemic they changed their minds, but there is no demand in the area as there is no work, only tourism a few months a year.
Public transport is very infrequent, that’s why I told you that you will need a car. Depending on where you base, you will need it to go to the supermarket or to visit the most important things. Especially since supermarkets are not very well supplied and you must go to more than one to find everything. Even more in terms of fruit and vegetables, the only supermarket where we saw fresh veggies and fruits was at Lild; for the rest, you find things almost rotten.
Buying from the supermarket was a little cheaper than in Valencia.
In general, people are polite, which is a change for the better with respect to Spain. Although they did not use the masks much, they usually moved away if one passed to keep their distance. In addition, they help you and explain things to you. Another very important thing is that they try to speak in your language and that denotes that they appreciate their tourists.
The bad thing is that the agencies that rent tourist apartments do not know what hospitality is and it seems that they do not care if you rent with them or not. As customers keep coming in summer without the slightest effort, they just don’t care. In this respect it reminded me of Costa Rica.
Regarding leisure activities, here there is only beach for which you need wetsuit; there are no hiking trails to do. So perhaps to live a long season it becomes monotonous and boring.