I've just had an email from Viver Albufeira as follows:-

According to our planning the works in Av. Liberdade, Largo Engº Duarte Pacheco will continue until the end of April.
However we hope by the second week will be possible to circulate without major problems

Let's hope it all goes "according to plan"!

Hi everyone,

I live in Albufeira so I thought I'd give you a quick update.

The old town is still dug up! Its not that bad, you can move around and most of the bars are starting to open. It just doesnt look pretty. The square was supposed to be finnished by Easter haha, the latest I've heard is they are a month behind schedule so mid May is a possibility. This is Portugal so my guess is more like sometime in June. They were 3 months later starting afterall.

The main problem for me is that you can not park in the old town. Then again its always been difficult to park there in the summer.

Bar street is open as are all the bars and restaurants around fishermans beach. You can walk around the edge of the square so most of the reastaurants/bars there are open as well. For those of you that like live music, rock is open, but unfortanatly for me Harrys is still closed. Probably a good thing as the ceiling is falling down! They were supposed to be open by easter so we will see.

The new town or 'Strip' is not affected so you can always go there if you don't like getting muddy feet.

If you can read Portuguese http://www.polisalbufeira.pt is the offical website for the works. No sign of any completion dates on there!

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going to portugal on 14th, so hope some more will be finished by then, at least its not all closed though

we are off to sao jao staying at eirasol appartments does anyone know if they are digging up round that area.
we are a bit worried as we got this hol really cheap but we booked last summer so we think someone just canceled it

Eirasol is nowhere near the area undergoing work so do not need to worry.As for the rest of the work should be completed pretty soon:-)

Whats pretty soon luis, Its an absolute building site as last week, cant see it being finished and straight for maybe 2 months or more. Feel sorry for the tourists coming in, especially them what aint been to the Algarve before, not a good advertisement for them to return in future.Even though the perimeters of the town are accessible and open its not a nice site to see.Thats Camara though, had so long to do it and still cant get it right. jayjan

Our thoughts exactly - my OH and I booked our trip to Albufeira precisely because we'd been there before and it was so lovely. What are people who are going forthe first time going to think? We're taking my OH's mum and dad with us this time (their first time) so they won't get to see the gorgeous square we've been describing to them - but hopefully they, and all the other people who haven't been before will be able to 'see through' the disruption and be booking to go back soon..

As Lambchop says, I hope people who are here for the first time have enough little grey cells to work out the square does not look like that all the time, although there will always be some who cannot work it out for themselves - no one from this board of course - far too intelligent

I think it has been remiss of some holiday companies not to tell their customers about it in advance though, can't blame the CAMERA for that one, or the delay in the square - it was the traders there who prevented work from starting 'til January as they did not want to miss out on the single week of good(ish) trade around Xmas. For some reason they could not work out that a four week delay at the start would mean a four week delay to it being finished.

The area north of the square should be finished on time - because they did not cause the delay - and there will be another little square there too so I am led to understand.

That's interesting, Algarveaddick. I hadn't heard that the delay was caused by some of the traders. Do you know whether there will be live music in the new little square and/or at Fishermen's Beach on 25 April? I presume the fireworks are going ahead as usual?

Don't know Rosemary, but I expect there will be live music in Bar Street and Music Street. Fireworks go ahead as normal.

Hi Jayjan:-) Well i think will be prior to the 2 months you mentioned with the days being longer and the wether being better you shall see a massive improvement in the works. Well fingers crossed:-)

are the eirsol apartments ok
what are they the near ie beach etc
looked at a few mixed reports not too bothered as long as it is warm and sunny

Hi all, Just got back into my house at 8pm today from Portugal old town so thought i would update everyone, firstly its looking quite alot better, they have got the workers working overnight now so i think there trying to speed up things, they have taken the fences down so u can see all the rubbel now, it doesnt look like they have much to do, it dint really bother us though, we just used the bars down the alleys and that and it was no different, still a great holiday, it isnt very nice there when it rains though!

Yep, I agree with sambache - We got back home last night after a week in the Casa Mitchell and have to agree that even after only 7 days you could see the improvements - by the end of the week we could walk around fairly unhindered. Don't suppose the rain & thunderstorm on Sunday night helped though! We got drenched, and the kindly barman at the Three Crowns took pity on us and gave us both a HUGE glass of 'firewater' to warm us up! Don't think we felt the rain after that, and certainly didn't notice *any* roadworks

**Edited to add** Just thought I'd mention that Bar Street was closed for a few days while we were there, although those that back onto Fishermans Beach (Snoopys, Oceana etc) were fine as they were able to open from that side. All down the side where JoJo's is was closed as of yesterday (Monday) afternoon - just when I was in the mood for one of their huge burgers too!!

Just back from 9 days ion the old town, stayed at casa mitchell, was lovely. Old town aquare and surrounding areas are a TOTAL MESS, big stones, i hart my foot on one, muddy, noisy etc, apart from that had a great holiday, would love to go back when aquare is done, as it really did detract from our holiday, would have been great without the work, as it was, it was okay, but all the locals told us we were missing a HUGE part of old town life by being there when the work was on. Such a shame, would recommend people to go when the work is done, otherwise, i would stay clear for the time being. Been told it should be complete by the start of June. Personally, I doubt it!!

Hi all
Due to go out to Algarve in next couple of weeks - love hanging out in the square - sounds like that won't be happening! Does anyone have any pics of what state it's in currently?

You'll find threads on http://www.albufeira.com on this subject.

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Many thanks
David

the main square in albufuria old town is being dug up to sort out the water pipes and sewage systems.
i was there last week and it didnt smell and although slightly annying to have to walk around is not too inconveniant as all the shops resturants and bars are al still open for business as usual.
although they were hping to have it done by easter its still going on and there is slight concern it wont be finished for the start of the season but it shouldnt stop anyone going out there, theres plenty to see and do and there are clearly signed diversions around the roads, so its not too bad all in all.