A Month in the Algarve: Olhão, Portugal
Our final month long stay in Portugal has been in the Algarve. Specifically in the city of Olhão in the eastern Algarve. In a region that is known for sunshine, warm temperatures, beaches, tourism, and expats, did it live up to the hype? Would we come back?
Lenda de Floripes statue in Praça Patrão Joaquim Lopes
Choosing Olhão as our Algarve base
The Algarve is the southern most region of Portugal. It stretches from Sagres in the west to Vila Real San Antonio in the east, where the border with Spain is. Generally speaking, the area is divided by Faro, which is the largest city in the Algarve and home to the international airport that services the region. The area to the west of Faro is where you’ll find the heavily touristed cities like Lagos, Portimão, Albufeiro, and Vilamoura. To the east of Faro, the cities are smaller and more local. There is a train service that runs from Vila Real San Antonio to Lagos. Many people will chose to rent cars while on their stay in the Algarve so that they can easily explore the entire region.
We chose to stay in Olhão in the eastern Algarve for an authentic Portuguese experience. Olhão is just a 10-15 minute drvie from Faro and the train station is in the middle of the town, making it easy to access other towns along the coast. Generally speaking, Olhão is a “local” town. Fishing is still a dominant part of the culture. Tourism and expats exist, but are not the economic drivers like many of the cities in the western Algarve.
Daily Life in Olhão
We hit the jackpot with our Airbnb. Under budget, large, well stocked and easy to work in. We absolutely enjoyed our time inside the apartment. We had great internet and plenty of room to spread out. But for sure there were downfalls. It was LOUD outside. We were in a very local neighborhood filled with apartment buildings. And there are a lot of dogs trapped inside those apartment buildings who like to make their presence known. There was also road construction on the major thoroughfare a few blocks away. That means traffic is diverted down our street. Motorcycles, sirens, and horns fill the air.
We also have a 10 minute walk down into the city center and the more touristy area. It is not a great walk. Narrow sidewalks with cars parked on them (yes, they park on sidewalks here in Portugal), dog poo everywhere, missing cobblestones from the sidewalk. It is an adventure reminiscent of our time in Mexico every day we go on our walk.
Olhão City Center
In the historic city center, the pedestrian only streets are lined with shops and cafes. We normally go on a 3 mile walk each morning around 10-11am. A common theme is to see groups of women gathered for coffee at the local cafes. No doubt gossiping with each other about daily life. The men all seem to be gathered at a handful of watering holes, enjoying a morning Sagres or Super Bock, the local beers of Portugal.
The center pieces of the city are the markets. There are two market buildings, one for fruits/veg and the other for fish. Not only is the produce fantastic, but it is endlessly entertaining to see the diverse catches from the local fisherman!
As with much of Portugal, there is mixture of renovated and vacant historic buildings here. Many of the vacant buildings are falling apart. It is not unusual to realize that there is only the front facade left remaining, as the roofs have collapsed and nature has started to restake her claim. The vacant and derelict buildings are both an eye sore and a beauty, with peeling paint, rusted iron, and crumbling tiles.
Ria Formosa
The Ria Formosa Natural Park stretches from Faro to Vila Real San Antonio. It is an estuary, and is full of marshland, salt pans, islands, and beaches that protect the cities from the Atlantic. Birdlife is in abundance here, as are shellfish like clams, oysters, mussels and razors.
Ria Formosa
Along the south edge of the city are several local marinas. On the east side of the city is the commercial marina filled with fishing boats. Along the main part of the city is the pleasure boat marina and the tour companies and local ferry to the islands. Cultura Island is the furthest south island and is home to some local fisherman and restaurants. There are no cars on the island! But there are miles of pristine sandy beaches and dunes. We didn’t get the chance to tour the islands due to some uncooperative weather on our free weekends, but it is definitely one of the top things to do in the eastern Algarve.
Blackout!
One of the most interesting experiences we had while in Olhão was the 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout! We lost power around 11:30am on Monday, April 28th. Having lived in Mexico for 3 months, we were used to power outages! But this was the first time we’d experienced it in Portugal. Thankfully, we had cell service the entire time and water, unlike most people in Spain and Portugal. It was a bit of an odd experience knowing that millions of people were without power, and we didn’t know when it would be back. Early reports hinted that it may be 6-7 days, and at that point we admittedly got a little panicked! We headed to a local market and bought some canned tuna, eggs (which aren’t refrigerated here!) and of course some wine. We were very fortunate that our Airbnb had a lot of candles all over and took advantage of them by the evening. Thankfully, around 11pm the power came back on! The only real impact we had was having to throw away all the contents of our refrigerator. Quite the experience!
As mentioned, one of the reasons we chose Olhão was the easy train access to neighboring cities. We did take advantage of that, venturing to Vila Real San Antonio, Tavira, and Faro. In our next blog, we’ll highlight those Weekend Wanderings!
But was the location worth it? Would we come back to the Algarve or to Olhão? Should you visit southern Portugal?
We would definitely recommend visiting the Algarve if you are in Portugal. It would make a great 3-4 day destination from Lisbon. The weather here is mild, it is affordable, has wonderful fresh seafood, and has great beaches. We are definitely open to returning at some point in our travels. That said, we wouldn’t come back to Olhão, and instead would stay in either Tavira, Faro, or the western Algarve and would recommend others do the same. Olhão wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great for us. It has been a good learning for us that we would rather stay in a location with a bit more tourism.
That’s what this journey is all about for us…learning who we are and what we want out of life!