Day-by-day programme of this 8-day itinerary across The Algarve: Portugal's south coast.
Day 1 — Arrival in Faro
You land in Faro, capital of the Algarve, and pick up the car (essential for the coast). An afternoon in the walled Cidade Velha and a first seafood dinner. Tomorrow the Ria Formosa lagoon and the east.
- ✈️ Faro — Aeroporto di Faro (FAO)
- 📍 Faro Old Town — Faro is often just the airport you flee from towards the beaches, and those who don't stop are wrong: the Cidade Velha, enclosed in medieval walls, is a quiet gem. You enter through the Arco da Vila, walk among cobbled lanes, orange trees and low houses to the cathedral, on whose tower storks nest; inside, the Capela dos Ossos, the chapel lined with monks' bones and skulls. From the walls the view opens over the Ria Formosa lagoon. A first dinner of cataplana (the fish stew in a copper pan). Tomorrow you sail among the lagoon's islands.
- 🏨 Hotel Sol Algarve by Kavia — Faro
Day 2 — Ria Formosa and Tavira
A morning by boat in the Ria Formosa natural park, the lagoon of islands and sandbanks that shields the coast, with flamingos and seahorses. An afternoon in Tavira, the loveliest town of the eastern Algarve, and on its sandy island.
- 🎯 Ria Formosa Natural Park — The Ria Formosa is a protected lagoon stretching 60 kilometres: a mosaic of sand islands, channels and sandbanks forming a barrier between land and ocean, a paradise of birds (flamingos, herons, avocets) and shellfish. A boat trip through its channels — leaving from Faro and Olhão — reaches the deserted barrier islands like Ilha Deserta or Ilha da Culatra, with endless white beaches and a little fish restaurant. You spot seahorses, here among the most numerous in the world. In the afternoon you drive half an hour east to pretty Tavira.
- 📍 Tavira — Tavira is considered the most elegant town in the Algarve, and you see it at once: the Gilão river splits it in two with a bridge of Roman origin, the churches number dozens (almost one for every day of the year, they say), the hilltop castle gives a view over the typical 'scissor' rooftops and the salt pans. No beach chaos here: you stroll, take a coffee in the square, climb the tower. Its beach, the Ilha de Tavira, is a sand island reached by ferry: kilometres of dunes and calm sea. At sunset you return to Faro for dinner. Tomorrow you head west, where the golden cliffs begin.
Day 3 — Benagil and the cave coast
You leave the east and drive to the central Algarve, the realm of ochre cliffs: Praia da Marinha, the Sete Vales Suspensos trail and the famous Benagil cave with its dome open to the sky, visited by boat or kayak. You sleep in Lagos.
- 📍 Praia da Marinha — Praia da Marinha is regularly voted one of the most beautiful in Europe: a crescent of pale sand set between honey-coloured cliffs sculpted by the sea, with two twin rock arches rising from the turquoise water. From here starts the Sete Vales Suspensos trail, the clifftop path that in a couple of hours links the coast's most spectacular coves all the way to Benagil (start early, little shade). You go down for a swim in the crystal water, then reach the nearby Benagil beach, from which boats leave for the cave.
- 🎯 Benagil Cave — The Benagil cave is the Algarve's signature image: a natural cathedral carved into the cliff, with a little sandy beach inside and, above all, a great circular hole in the vault — the eye — through which a beam of light pours. You can only enter from the water: take a boat tour, a kayak or a SUP from Benagil beach (swimming in is banned, dangerous). Inside, the light falling from above onto the emerald water is an unrepeatable sight. Book ahead and go early, before the crowds and the wind. Then you drive to Lagos, the coast's liveliest town.
- 🏨 Sollagos Apartamentos Turisticos — Lagos
Day 4 — Lagos and Ponta da Piedade
A day in Lagos: the boat trip among the cliffs and caves of Ponta da Piedade, the Algarve's geological showpiece, and the afternoon between the walled old town and the beaches set in the rock like Praia Dona Ana.
- 🎯 Ponta da Piedade — Ponta da Piedade is the coast's masterpiece: a headland of golden cliffs thirty metres high that the sea has carved into arches, stacks, pinnacles and caves, with the water below an impossible emerald-green. From above, a stairway and clifftop paths give dizzying views; but the best way is from below, on a boat or kayak trip threading between the rock columns and into the caverns. The little boats leave from Lagos harbour. An hour of pure wonder. Then back into town for the old centre and the beaches.
- 📍 Lagos — Lagos was the port from which the caravels of the age of discovery set sail, and it keeps a lively walled old town: cobbled lanes, little squares, the church of Santo António with its carved and gilded interior (talha dourada), the cafés and fish restaurants. It also has a dark past: here stood Europe's first slave market, now a small museum. Minutes away, beaches set among the cliffs like Praia Dona Ana and Praia do Camilo (with its long wooden stairway), perfect for the afternoon swim. In the evening Lagos lights up with bars and music.
Day 5 — Sagres and the end of Europe
A day at the south-western tip of the continent: the Sagres fortress suspended over the cliffs, where Henry the Navigator founded his school, the Cabo de São Vicente lighthouse at sunset and the wild ocean beaches of the west coast, surfers' realm.
- 📍 Sagres Fortress — At the south-western tip of Europe, where the Atlantic crashes against the land, stands the Fortaleza de Sagres: a wind-battered headland ringed by walls, where Henry the Navigator is said to have had his legendary school of navigation in the 1400s, from which the age of discovery set out. There remains a great stone wind rose laid out on the ground, a small church and above all the sheer cliffs where fishermen dare the abyss. It's a place charged with history and harsh nature. A few kilometres away, the true finis terrae: Cabo de São Vicente.
- 📍 Cape St Vincent — Cabo de São Vicente is the south-western tip of the European continent: a 75-metre cliff sheer above the ocean with one of Europe's most powerful lighthouses, where for the Romans the inhabited world ended (they called it Promontorium Sacrum). At sunset it's the Algarve ritual: people gather on the edge, a kiosk sells the 'longest sandwich in the world', and you watch the sun plunge into the Atlantic as the lighthouse comes on. Shivers guaranteed. Along the way, the wild ocean beaches of the west coast — Praia do Amado, Odeceixe — pounded by waves and loved by surfers. You return to Lagos for the last night.
Day 6 — Silves and Monchique
A break from the sea inland: Silves, the ancient Moorish capital of the Algarve with its red sandstone castle, and the cool hills of Monchique, between hot springs, medronho distilleries and the region's highest point. You drop down to Albufeira for the last nights.
- 📍 Silves Castle — Silves was the splendid Moorish capital of the Algarve, when it was called Xelb and was larger than Lisbon: what remains is the red sandstone castle, the best preserved of Islamic Portugal, with crenellated walls, cisterns and a view over the orchards and the Arade river. Below, the old town with the Gothic cathedral built over the mosque and cafés on the stairways. It's a plunge into the Arab Algarve, far from the beaches. Then you climb through woods towards the hills of Monchique, where the air turns cool and the landscape changes entirely.
- 📍 Foia Monchique — The Serra de Monchique is the Algarve's green lung: wooded hills of chestnut and eucalyptus, hot springs (Caldas de Monchique, loved by the Romans) and quiet villages where they distil medronho, the arbutus-berry spirit. You drive up to Foia, the highest point of the Algarve (902 m), from which on clear days the view reaches the ocean and Lagos. It's the perfect counterpoint to the coast: cool, green, silent. A lunch of mountain cooking (piri-piri chicken, suckling pig) and then down towards Albufeira, for the last two nights of sea and relaxation.
- 🏨 Hotel Baltum — Albufeira
Day 7 — Albufeira and relax
A last full day among the beaches of the central Algarve: the old centre of Albufeira, the very long Praia da Falésia with its red cliffs, and all the time for a swim, a hammock and a final grilled fish by the sea.
- 📍 Praia da Falésia — Praia da Falésia is one of the Algarve's most scenic beaches: six kilometres of golden sand beneath a very long cliff layered in red, ochre and white, crowned with pines. It's so vast that even in high season you find your own corner of peace. You spend the morning between swims and walks along the shore, at the foot of the coloured cliffs. In late afternoon, a hop to Albufeira's old centre — the white maze of the old town, away from the touristy seafront — for the last sunset and a seafood dinner. Tomorrow you head home.
Day 8 — Home from Faro
An unhurried morning, drop the car at Faro airport and the flight home, your skin still salty and your eyes full of golden cliffs.
- ✈️ Faro — Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa (MXP)
