After what seemed like months of research to find a good place to go on holiday this year, Gemma and I settled on a self catering apartment on the outskirts of Albufeira in Portugal. I’ve been to Portugal many times in the past and it really is a beautiful country. Despite my reservations about using a cheap flight operator, EasyJet were an absolute pleasure to fly with, we even arrived earlier than expected so don’t be swayed by all of the negative comments you read on the Internet these days. On our arrival to Faro airport in the early afternoon it was above thirty degrees centigrade, ‘muito quente’!

On our first outing we were a little disappointed at the lack of ‘local’ restaurants, that was until we walked to the ‘old town’ which turned out to be the crown jewel of the area. Although heavily focused on tourism, Albufeira old town was teeming with life during the day and a hot spot of activity, street performers and a real feel good feeling at night.

During the week we stumbled on a pair of artists who had constructed an entire Asterix and Obelix cartoon scene out of sand. I’ve added a couple of pictures but I don’t think they really do it justice as the detail was quite extraordinary. At night, the mojitos flowed and the food was excellent in every restaurant we visited. Everybody we met was extremely friendly and having the freedom of a self catering holiday was far better than being tied down to a specific breakfast, lunch and dinner routine.   

Although Albufeira as a whole has become a huge tourist destination, there are regulations in place that prevent any new buildings from being more than three stories high, so at no point do you have to put up with muti-storey hotel complexes ruining the view as you do in many other mediterranean countries. I would definitely recommend this as a destination for any young couple looking to get away to scorching hot weather and a busy night life. ‘Excelente‘