We finally dragged ourselves away from Albuferia and headed a whole 8.5 miles along the coast to Armação de Pêra. The campsite was the most unlevel we had been to so far. After moving the van several times, we finally conceded that we would be on a slope, so headed into town to see what was around.
The beach was quite close and there were a couple bars right on the sea front we picked one and chilled with a glass of wine.
That night we decided to eat in the restaurant at the camp site, as we had spotted ‘Steak on a stone’ on the menu. The food arrived with the steak on a sizzling hot plate, and was rally tasty.
The following morning we headed to the beach. The town was quite small and rather hilly. The sun was shining but the wind had picked up so we wandered along the beach and found a small cove where we could shelter from the breeze for a couple of hours in the sun.
We stayed here for two nights before moving another 17 miles along the coast to Alvor. The campsite was on quite a steep hill. The pitches were very shady which would be great in the summer, but this was March and we needed the sun. The town has two parts to it, on one side was a working port and the other had the most stunning beaches we have see so far. On the port side there were lots of trendy restaurants whilst the beach side had a long walkway on decking with signs for Tsunamis escape routes.
The forecast was for 5 metre waves so we headed to the beach to see them. This has to be one of the most incredible sights that I could watch all day. We spent 4 days exploring the coast line. We found lots of little coves where we could watch the sea. On the last day we got so lost in time that the tide came in and cut us off. We had to wade through the sea to get back to the main beach.
The town was also full of really good restaurants, although they were all on a hill. It made us chuckle when we came across a defibrillator half way up the hill. One of the restaurants we ate in had live music, others had fireplaces which were needed as it was quite cold in the evening. Alvor is so far my favourite town in Portugal, although I didn’t really like the campsite.
Albuferia to Armação de Pêra
Mileage 8.5
Route N125
Camping Praia de Armacao – €11 pn
Armação de Pêra to Alvor
Mileage 17
Route N125
Camping Alvor- €16 pn
