Your nearest supermarket will be Eco-marche next door to The Oura Praia Hotel,not sure about opening times on Sundays though. The Market is at Albufeira on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month, it is near the old town,at the traffic lights junction near the fire station (Bombeiros), turn right (If your coming from the Strip area) go up that road for approx 1km and the market is on the left. There is also a market at Quarteira every Wednesday which is good.If you were using the local bus service I am not sure where you would catch the bus though as we always have a car, but there are also a lot of the travel shops you could use that do trips to Quarteira market. Have a look at my website if you want more info on local algarve markets/bars/restaurants it may give you some idea of where to go.

thanks jayjan for the quick reply, is intermarche a big supermarket? would we be able to get a cab back to the hotel ( we would probably be laden down with bottles, soft drinks of course ) or is it too close to hotel.
I think we will miss first tues market at albufeira so will give quarteira a try, is it a large market?
I love shopping abroad, am so looking forward to this trip.

hugs la x

Its called Eco-Marche sorry, Its quite a large supermarket, and its not very far from the apartments.Quarteira is a big market and its situated near the bus terminus. There is also a fruit and veg market which is lower down the main road of Quarteira.

Hi, new to the board. Off to Portugal for the first time in August with my family, wife and two children 14 and 10. Could anybody tell me where the nearest decent size supermarket is from the Alfagar apts, and if public transport is an option?

Thanks for the help

Spandau, I think also that eco-marche is the nearest one for you on the five palm trees roundabout near Oura Praia Hotel.(going towards Albufeira) There is also one going the other way towards Olhos d Agua on the main road, it was called Marachino but not sure if its the same name anymore as eco-marche seem to have been taking over some of the Marachino supermarkets. Alfagar is a good 15 minutes walk to the five palm trees roundabout and is up and down hill. Regards public transport on that route, maybe another member can help you with that ? as we use a car.

I don't have my map to hand (not at home) but Alfagar is I recall rather more than a mile from the shops at Sta Eulalia/Oura Praia area and maybe two miles from the Intermarche store at Olhos D'Agua.

There are buses along that road but at irregular intervals - see my website at http://www.algarvebus.info/002w.htm and use the times for BALAIA nearest Alfagar and OURA for the shops. In the other direction these buses run to Vilamoura and Quarteira.

The outdoor Tuesday market in Albufeira is next to the main bus station where all the buses start and finish. The Wednesday market in Quarteira is only about 100 yards from the bus station there. The beach at Quarteira is also only a couple of hundred yards away, so you can easily make a nice day of it!.

Hope that helps a bit.

Is it inter-marche or eco-marche my brain has gone into blank mode?

Jayjan, I think I recall someone saying it is Eco - marche.

I'm saying Eco- marche and cubsur is saying Inter-marche whos right help!!

On another forum, I was giving directions to someone on how to get to the Mariscchino (sp) by the Oura Praia Hotel, and someone popped up there and told me it was now Eco - Marche. I remember thinking it's a fumnny name for a shop and wondering (don't laugh... ) if they they sold alot of eco - friendly stuff.

(They also told me about the one in the middle of the Strip closing down)

Sorry - me getting muddled - they are both owned by the same company and the larger ones are called 'Intermarche' and the smaller ones 'Ecomarche'.

Gee whiz cubby, now I can get my mature brain back on the right track. eco (small/pequeno) Inter (Big/grande)

It's the same company that owns them in France and last time I was in one on Portugal I noticed a lot of French stuff on sale.

very rarely use Eco or Intermarche my favs are Plus, sadly no more, but hope pingo doce will be as good on prices. Lidl & Aldi, just a pity Aldi is a little bit too far out near Algarve Shopping