Luckily where we go has not hiked up their prices,this is just as well as i doubt i could get my other half to go anywhere else now.
What will you do Sagres if you go to another country no Sagres beer and no Portugese wine

Like Addict, I'm lucky too as I get a private apartment really cheaply and book my flights with Globespan as soon as they come out. This way, I get 2 weeks in May and 2 in September for what most people would pay for 2 weeks alone with a package deal!!!!

Sagres, if you go elsewhere, will you change your username too....eg. Cruzcampo, Dorada........doesn't have the same ring to it somehow...
Pat

I'll just drink the beer and wine of whichever country we choose;there's not a lot of difference - if you drink enough of it, you still fall over !!!!

It's not the prices that's the problem,Pat - even at current prices, it's still good value as far as we are concerned.The problem is that the town is starting to resemble a building site, and a badly designed building site at that ! Many of the hundreds of new apartments will probably be bought by people as an investment,to be used only for their own holidays and to be rented out in the main season;the result of this will be that,out of season when we tended to go, much of the town will be a concrete,modern ghost town and that's not what we fell in love with all those years ago.

Yes, I agree, Sagres. It's building all over the place and spoiling it.
Even in Cabanas, every time we go, there are new apartments springing up. The only good thing (if there can be one) is that they are all at the back of the village and not on the main front.
Most of these places have been bought to rent out but as far as we can see, they are lying empty most of the time. Many of them are up for sale and I have seen property there that has been up for sale for 5 years and still not sold!!!!
If you find anywhere nice and quiet, not touristy and without all the concrete jungle stuff, PM me with the details.......got to keep it quiet!!!

I've sent you a link to a website,Pat.Hopefully, we'll pop along there when we're in Lagos in December and check it out.It looks very like Lagos did when we first started going.
To be honest,we've seen the present situation approaching for some years now, but hoped that we would have got too old to travel before they actually ruined it.Either they've speeded up or we're lasting longer than we'd hoped !!

Sounds like I got in just in time this year, although I must admit I was shocked by the amount of building work going on in the Marina Area. I also can't see who is going to buy or rent all these properties.

This year I was torn between staying at the Marina Club or Clube Porto do Mos and my thinking was 'never mind we will go there next year or in 09' but when we had an investigate I started to have second thoughts.

When we go back we might go a bit further west, but I prefer Lagos to Luz so it would have to be even further. I love all the restaurants and bars in Lagos, I can't see getting that kind of choice elsewhere.
Glad your not past it yet Sagres

suppose i have been lucky stayed at freinds most of the 20 years been coming out, but last year they decided to sell up so i had to find something else took details of a few local individual places which were about 25 euros per night but then decided to try Find Rooms.com which appear at the top of your web page.Could not beleive it, perhaps i was very lucky, booked early got a week in feb at a very nice complex in Vale de Parra for 9euros per night for the apartment(4.5 euros each for me and she who must be obeyed) a week in May for 25 euros per night(same place) and 2 weeks in oct/nov for 12 euros per night !!!
they give you 8% discount as well for repeat business
cheap flights, cheap accom,,cheap food, cheap wine, so why am i back in a damp cold miserable UK ???

Nosivad just done a search on http://www.find-rooms.com for 13th January 7 nights 1 person single room staying at Hotel Aldeia Albufeira £82, http://www.freedomdirect.co.uk same hotel £77, the prices were cheaper still staying elsewhere. Maybe freedomdirect would be something you could look into in the future, and possibly cheaper for a twin room. Cheers Jayjan

yes you will find that, the closer you book to the travel dates ,i booked over 6 months in advance. i also tried to find out how they could offer such low prices as when i tried to book direct with the owners they were hugely more expensive. i was told that all hotels and accomodation suppliers use agents and as such from time to time they get special rates
just like the budget airlines so the trick is to keep looking well in advance and you could well drop in for such a deal

Jet 2 have just published their Summer '08 fares from Manchester to Faro.Massive increases over 2007 fares.Seems they're no longer a budget airline - just an airline that doesn't serve meals onboard and doesn't have IFE on most of their fleet.

I noticed that as well Sagres - my friend was disappointed with Easyjet's new prices as well - she goes to Algarve the same time every year and, even though she was there out of the starting blocks she's paid a lot more.
We're going with flyglobespan and have had to go the first to weeks in July 6th to 20th and paid £265.16 for 2. That's from our small regional airport.

To be honest,Glynis, this just might have made our minds up about returning to Lagos.We've seen it being developed then overdeveloped and were going to use our trip next week to make a final decision as to whether or not to look for somewhere else to spend our holidays.Unless there's clear evidence (and we're not expecting it 'cos we know plans have been passed for three 5* and one 4*complexes in or near town) that the development is going to stop, then I think it will be a case of 'thankyou,Lagos and goodbye'. Our Portuguese friends are returning permanently to the Azores from where they came originally, so, especially with the apparent ending of cheap flights, it looks like time to search for somewhere new.
We could have got flights with Easyjet on the day they were released for £84 return for the two of us, but we wanted to hold on 'til after next week's trip to make a decision.You can bet your life that Easyjet's prices will have been hiked up now that they've seen what their main local 'budget' competitors are charging.
As I say, I think the decision has been made for us.

it would be a sad day if sagres and other regulars don't return, would miss
the banter !! . i too was quick out of the blocks with easy jet, coming out at easter(wed to wed) for £70 each and again Aug for £120 each, so i feel that there are deals to be found.prices for car hire seem to have gone up. Sagres you know and i know that there are still unspoilt areas
for us to go, so don't give up on algarve just yet as the portuguese say
"saudades"

Unfortunately, it's not just me that's disillusioned with the way things are being allowed to go in Lagos.We know three lots of Portuguese nationals who invested in businesses in town who are seriously considering moving out ( one couple so seriously that they leave after Christmas),two ex-Pat Brits who have their businesses on the market and two British families who retired to Lagos some years back and who are now actively looking to move to the north of Portugal.
True, there are still unspoilt parts of the Algarve, but it is quickly becoming a case of keeping a couple of miles ahead of the developers.
The beauty of Lagos has always been that a) it always retained it's authenticity as a working fishing village, b) development was always kept in sympathy with the town's character and c) the town's transport links enabled people like me,who have no wish to drive whilst on holiday,to have the freedom to travel about the area if one so wished.
To access less spoilt areas, one has to either drive there or, having been driven, remain there for the duration of one's stay due to the absence of public transport.Lagos gave us the best of both worlds, which is one of the reasons we'll miss it badly.
Anyway,let's look on the bright side - when we get there next week we may find out that the President of the Lagos Camara has had a change of heart and discovered that he quite likes his town to be Portuguese and that the supermarkets have hidden all the cornflake packets so that the developers and 'architects'( ) can't get any inspiration for new buildings...... we can but hope !!

Aww that is a shame Sagres as I know how much you loved your holidays in Lagos.

We are going back to Cabanas in July and have just booked for Salema in October.

If we were to carry on visiting the Algarve,Salema is one of the places that appeals but,as I mentioned previously,you really need to be prepared to drive because there really isn't enough there for the 3 weeks + that we normally take.
Sintra in the north, is another place that has been recommended to us by Portuguese friends as being similar in nature to Lagos, so we may give that a try - come to think of it,we've been offered free board by the grandmother of a friend of our friends -aren't the Portuguese the most friendly people you could ever wish to meet ? That's something else we'll miss !!...... Time for a glass of Monte Velho ( another thing we'll miss ) as I'm starting to get a lump in my throat.

Awww

Sagres, I find that either Alvor or Ferragudo are very similar to Lagos in many aspects and you would not need to drive