Might be easier if you say what you like from your holiday Andy. There's lots of various resorts in Algarve that should suit most tastes

Well i suppose the noisiest and most lively is going to be Albuferia, which is good for folk in their 20ties and 30ties, or familys who need a lot of entertainment for their kids. It's large by holiday resort standards and so you can have anykind of holiday you want, apartments, hotels of different classes, private villas with pools. Loads of bars and restaurants, cafes and some clubs.

The more West you go the quieter it gets, apart from Praia de Rocha which is pretty big but has ugly tower block apartments, until you get to Lagos which if different from Albuferia, but has lots of nice restaurants and Bars and a decent selection of accommodation, the main town is cobbled and very picturesque. But it doesn't have a strip like Albuferia does. Lagos has a marina which is quite nice, posh yatchs and a few nice restaurants.

Alvor, Carvoeiro, Luz, Salema, Burgau are all smaller and quieter particularly the last two of these.

You can go East as well to places like Tavira, more of a traditional Portugeuse Town, or Cabanas a village resort where you get a boat to the beach.

You need to say what you like in a holiday really somewhere like Albuferia could be one persons dream and anothers nightmare.

All the beaches on the Algarve are lovely soft sand, they are probably some the best beaches in Europe (well from what I have seen and i've been all over Europe) but the massive downside is the sea is freezing so it's OK if you like sitting on beatiful beaches all day, but not great for sea swimming.