Autumn and Winter in the Algarve

Arguably one of the best times to visit the Algarve, the autumn and winter months of September through to December are never what you’d call cold. They are at worst warm and you can still get a good colour with temperatures reaching the mid 30’s at times. This time of year many of the tourists and holidaymakers of the summer have disappeared, leaving miles of golden sanded beach for you to explore, at your leisure.

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Flights to the Algarve, from the UK and other parts of Europe are that much cheaper at this time of year, making for a great value break. There’s also less traffic on the roads so your trip along the A22, that glorious stretch of tarmac leading out from Faro Airport, will be a breeze and when you get to your destination, whether it’s a villa in the eastern Algarve town of Tavira or an apartment in the central Algarve golfing resorts of Quinta do Lago or Vale do Lobo, you’ll feel nicely refreshed from your journey.

The same is true if you’ve taken a villa in the western Algarve town of Sagres, or made it round the point to Castelejo or Arrifana, or stopped anywhere along that piece of the coast at Zavial, Mareta, Tonel or Beliche. Here the journey time from the airport might be that bit further, but it is well worth it, especially if you are into action sports like surfing and climbing or just prefer the more rugged scenery that this part of the Algarve is famed for.

During the autumn and winter months, there’s increased availability in terms of accommodation. You’ll find that you’ll be able to look at hiring a villa or renting an apartment that, during high season, might have been out of budget. You’ll find also, that pretty much everything else, drops in price too. You can hire cars and motorcycles cheaper, your can get a table at a restaurant more easily and the service is likely to be better, since they’ll have more time. This is great because you’ll often get an impromptu lesson in Portuguese thrown in to the bargain.

If you’re into bartering, you won’t have to barter quite so hard and if you do, you can often come away with some good deals. The only price you pay for this increased flexibility and friendliness is the risk of the occasional shower and temperatures that are not quite as hot but it is still shorts and T-shirt weather here, most of the time.

Some people prefer the lower temperatures, making for a different style of holiday. Sports such as tennis are great played in the lower temperatures – and for golf enthusiasts lower green fees are charged out of season and there are fewer people to ‘play through’. This even applies to the championship courses of Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago.

If golf is not your thing; how about a pleasant stroll in the Algarve countryside? At this time of year, tramping around the Ria Formosa Natural Park is lovely and there is lots to see. The forty four thousand acres of wood and park land are largely protected by a string of islands that form a natural barrier against the off shore elements. This barrier shelters a large, tidal salt-water lagoon which is home to a diverse mix of wildlife, both animal and vegetable. The vast green space is of particular importance to numerous wintering waders and ducks and the reed beds here form important nesting sites for many of them.

During the autumn, the lagoon regularly attracts 20,000 or so water birds including; Eurasian Wigeons, Greater Flamingoes, White Storks, Eurasian Spoonbills, Little Bitterns, Purple Swamphens, Black-winged Stilts, Pied Avocets, Grey Plovers, Common Ringed Plovers, Kentish Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlins, Little Terns and the bird that has become the symbol of the Ria Formosa, the Collared Pratincole.

If you are in Portugal and the Algarve for Christmas, you are in for a real treat. Things get started as early as December the 8th, that’s way before most of us in the UK have even got into the festive mood! Festivities and firework displays will generally happen throughout December but Christmas proper is celebrated on the evening of December 24th. This tends to be a comparatively quiet, family affair, but the celebrations kick off again afterwards, in the run up to New Year when there are yet more firework displays, culminating in the big ones which take place over the water.

All of the main resort towns will have their own highlights and the shopkeepers make a special effort with decorations, lights and trees. Goods wise though, you’ll find nothing much changes, there isn’t the big Christmas consumer push that there is in the UK. In Portugal, and even in the most Anglicised parts of the Algarve, Christmas is still, first and foremost a family affair. That’s not to say, they don’t like to party, of course they do and they love their festive treats too, but when it comes to buying presents and in particular, Christmas cards, the Portuguese are a little more, reserved.

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