Portugal – the beautiful west coast

In this post it will be different – instead of dissecting the cities and sights, we will show you the most beautiful places on the Lisbon – Algarve route.

Our first days in Portugal were spent in the capital and its immediate surroundings. After a few days of exploring city life, admiring the architecture and culture, and getting around by public transportation, we decided to rent a car and head for the (supposedly) most beautiful beaches of Europe, the Algarve. We will write more about the Algarve itself, but in this post we will focus on the road to the south of Portugal and the picturesque views.

To keep things simple and fast, and to make it beautiful (!), we decided to bypass the highway and take smaller roads along the coastline. Of course, this involved a much longer road, but we were in no hurry to go anywhere that day, especially since even going on the highway we would have to make frequent stops (the pregnant spine does not like long sitting and lack of a toilet ;-)). So why not do them at nice beaches, small towns and viewpoints?

Especially since the road led through the vast Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina (which stretches all the way from the village of Sines).

A little about money and cars…. ;)

At this point, it is also worth mentioning about traveling by car in Portugal, or maybe more to warn about unexpected toll highways :) We learned about it in the rental company, although we would probably pay attention to the toll zones ourselves, too.

In general, the point is that some roads are tolled, even though there are no gates (so sometimes it’s easy to miss). At the rental company, we can get a device that sort of acts as our credit card for the roads, and in the end we pay for the routes driven. If you do not equip yourself with this device then you can get a fine….

There is also a third option – simply avoid toll roads, which are often marked with a radar-like symbol (such are mainly in the Algarve). The main highway connecting the capital to the Algarve is tolled in the traditional way (toll gates), and the Lisbon bridges are also tolled (although only one way).

To take an alternative route, you can take IC-1, then N-120

Also noteworthy is the bridge we drove on while still in Lisbon: Vasco da Gama Bridge – it is the longest bridge in Europe! And this is an example of a bridge, tolled one way (in the direction to Lisbon).

Importantly, there is no other way to leave and enter Lisbon, unless you want to make up a lot of miles to enter Lisbon from the north.

West coast = beaches

But enough about money and cars :) It’s time to look for interesting sights, and they begin as the road approaches the coastline. Driving along the road, we were eager to drive down to smaller towns like Porto Covo, Vila Nova de Milfontes and Odeceixe. It was still the so-called. low season and only here we were able to feel what it means – beautiful, picturesque villages, peace and quiet. Probably during the tourist season there is a crowd of people.

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Even nicer than the villages, were the coastlines and sandy beaches. Daredevils for swimming are lacking, for beachcombing as well ;)

The views were great! Where not where by car you can drive up to the very cliffs or beaches, and in other places you have to walk a bit to feel the sea wind. Well, that’s right…, it was cold and chilly in many of the places we stopped, just like at Cabo da Roca. Such a time of year ;)

We drove like this for a long time along the coast…. views truly angelic :)

Our destination, however, was not Cape St. We left this place, along with others in the Algarve region, on the St. Lawrence River (at the end of the west coast), for ourselves for the next few days. We drove towards Portimão to the town of Alvor to our next hotel.

It was a completely different place, a completely different atmosphere than the one we had the opportunity to feel in Lisbon. We stayed in a typical moloch near the beach, where guests come mostly on All Inclusive (yes, we felt discriminated against without those bracelets ;) ).

This hotel had everything it needed, although it was already marked by the large number of tourists that passed through here, despite the fact that it looks like a fairly new facility. In the area, not far away there were stores, restaurants and most importantly…. hospital with maternity ward was literally across the street (no, we were not specifically looking for such a hotel ;)).

Wonderful views, sandy beaches, calm waves and wild, natural places where you can hardly find tourists made us even more eager to visit the best beaches in Europe, namely those in the Algarve, but we will write about it in one of the next posts:)

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