First and foremost, Albufeira is famed for its beaches, for the countless shades and tones of its rocks and cliffs. This is a place where people live to the rhythm of the great holiday destinations, sunbathing during the day and at sunset flocking to enjoy the restaurants, bars and discotheques that enliven the night-time hours. (...)

The boundaries of Aljezur municipality mark out a broad rectangle delimited by the sea and the hills, and its landscapes reflect this dual influence. While the coast is marked by high cliffs beneath which huddle sandy coves and pristine dunes, the hinterland is a place of rolling hills covered with vegetation that recede, row upon row, as far as the eye can see. (...)

Green, how I love you green. The poet could have been writing of the wooded slopes of Monchique, for after the heat of the Algarve beaches it is the coolness of the hills that is most striking. (...)

First the blue sea and its gently lapping waves. Then fine, golden sands framed by cliffs and rocks. The cosmopolitan atmosphere of an international tourism destination. This is the Algarve of beach holidays in the sun. (...)

Gigantic sculptures carved by the pounding waves that plunge into a crystal sea. The iridescent greens of sea caves. Beach after beach of soft sand tucked away between ochre cliffs or stretching clear to the horizon. (...)

The mythical atmosphere surrounding Sagres and Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St. Vincent), places dedicated to the gods for thousands of years. The unspoilt coastline, with its dramatic horizons of cliffs and sea. (...)

A turquoise sea bounded by ochre cliffs and soft, sandy beaches. Bunches of grapes ripening beneath the hot summer sun. The shapes, colours and designs of ceramics that belong to a tradition centuries old. (...)