we are hoping to get away in early July or early Oct. haven't been to Portugal for a few years now so, Ideas please
we have been to Alberfura old town, and Monte Gordo [ i preferred the old town,OH prefers MG [she didn't like the cobbled slopes]]
we are looking for.... not more than 1hr transfers from the airport, half board accommodation, not too noisy resort, as authentic as poss [tall order]
I throw it over to you lot for inspiration
Brian
Is the half board accommodation a must-have Brian ?
Hello Brian, you could have a look at Tavira about half way between Faro and Monte Gordo. Lagos is nice but it fails the tranfer test.
too lazy to do the SC bit we both take turns in cooking at home, so its a no driving [but plenty of drinking] no cooking [but we will have to eat] and the option to either kick around the hotel and chill, or do the touresty bit and grab a couple of coach trips so H/B is preferd [dont think i can afford F/B or AI]
... only if you decide to walk it !! Taxi transfer takes about 40-45 minutes. You could get half-board at the Tivoli which has three restaurants of its own - ( it also has one decent and one excellent restaurant within 200 yards of its front door.)The town still retains its Portuguese character and is still a working fishing port and, although busy, is seldom noisy or brash.Lagos is nice but it fails the tranfer test.
one thing worries me about Lagos, looked at our resort reports some mention hills and some chap from north wales mentioned cobbles both of which OH isn't keen on
The bit about cobbles is cobblers !! - they are reasonably flat and are more of a patterned mosaic tile than what you knew as cobbles in the olden days many, many years ago when you were a lamplighter !! The vast majority of the historic and tourist part of town ( and, more importantly, bars and restaurants), is on relatively flat ground near to the river and the only major hill runs to the west of town towards the Torraltinha and Dona Ana areas; this can easily be taken out of the equation by use of the Tourist Train (or Wally Trolley) which runs hourly throughout the day. There's the added advantage of being on the Algarve railway network and major bus routes both to the rest of the Algarve and also Northern Portugal, should that appeal to you.
Hills are gentle and if you stay near the marina - harbour ot town centre then you won't be confronted with them. restaurants are civilised as are the bars; no "chavs"! Also it is within easy distance of the motorway should you wish to hire a car.
Finally, there is a German bakery which makes pastries of all sorts which you will die for!
Well Lagos is my favorite as well.
But to offer an alternative, how about Vilamoura ? You will now get a load of purists telling you it is a man made resort (which it is ). But it is all done in the best possible taste. There is a lovely marina that you can walk around of an evening all on the flat and although I haven't stayed there it looked like there were a couple of nice looking hotels where you could probably get an upgrade to half board. I think one is the Dom Pedro Golf, and I will look up the other one and post it in a mo.
The Algarve seems to be mainly SC or B&B.
Doe
Edit : Vila Gale Marina is the other one.
Algarve gallery. Tavira is a good place for the odd trip out, cubsur has a great website with detail of public transport.
Tavira is mostly flat (or at least so gentle that you don't notice). The main exceptions are the climb to the castle for the view and the area around the Hotel Porte Negre (which sort of rules that out!). The only other significant hotel in town is the Vila Gale, I wouldn't recommend the HB but it's fine for B&B as long as you don't pay rack rate (try Expedia) and has a very relaxing pool area. There are plenty of places to eat within 10 minutes walk. The Vila Gale Albequora is way out of town and isolated. I've put some photos of Tavira in the
Dom Pedro Marina, Dom Pedro Golf, Vila Gale Marina, and the Vila Gale Ampalius are all good hotels in Vilamoura.
thanks all... I will start doing the recerch into cost/flights etc when i get back from Zakinthos
.... wrong forum,Zakinthos
Post a Reply
Please sign in or register an account to reply to this post.
Similar Topics
-
Turn up and go
Posted by uktony in DIY Holidays
-
My turn for some help please.
Posted by Sanji in Spain - Costa Blanca Discussion Forum
-
MY Turn to ask...
Posted by Wizard in Greece and other Greek Island Discussion Forum
-
my turn!
Posted by Fiona in Goa Discussion Forum
-
My turn for some help please.
Posted by Sanji in Spain - Costa Blanca Discussion Forum