Albufeira 2017 (Tips and Advice Part 3: Beaches)

Hello everyone,

Another thing that people often ask me about are the beaches that I recommend. Which is why I am going to make a complete analysis of each one of them. We are going to go through each beach in geographical order in regards to the city, to make it easier to find them. I have also put in a map [below] so that you can locate them. (If you download the photo and enlarge it, you should clearly see their names [in Spanish], but here they are very small).

The beaches Praia Olhos de Água and Praia da María Luísa (Olhos de Água beach and María Luisa beach) are the first in the “Concelho de Albufeira”, as the Portuguese say. It’s a different concept to how we would separate provinces, cities, towns… for us to understand in English, it’s as though Olhos de Água is a small town inside of Albufeira, that isn’t far from the city, but if you were to rent in this area you would be a bit distant form everything, so I wouldn’t recommend staying here. They are big beaches for what you tend to see in Albufeira and more tranquil than those closer to the centre. If you go for the whole week then it is worth going to see them because they are quite lovely.

The next beach is the Praia de Santa Eulália (Santa Eulália beach), also quite large in comparison with the small streets that you see behind it. To orientate ourselves, if you’re looking at the sea to your left is the Oura party strip. So, as you can probably imagine, it is quite a touristy beach and quite overcrowded in the high season. The advantage is that it’s not full of drunk people in the daytime like in Oura. It’s a good zone for sleeping because although it’s close to the strip, it’s not on top of everything, and the beach is really close by.

And we’ve arrived at the famous Praia de Oura (Oura beach). The first thing to mention is that the street it’s on isn’t actually called Oura, but it has this name because of the beach. You only need to walk to the end of the strip to get to this gorgeous beach. Honestly, it is one of the prettiest beaches in Albufeira, but I personally think the atmosphere there ruins it. It’s very common to see drunk people that have spent the night there in deplorable conditions. It’s probably better if I don’t tell you what you might find in the sand because, as you can imagine, people often meet another person that they want to spend the night with, and the closest place is this poor beach, and here I’ll stop…

Due to the tourism in this area, that the shops take advantage of, a small bottle of water could cost you up to 5 euros in the high season.

Despite all of this, I recommend going for a little while, although I wouldn’t spend the day there, because it is quite beautiful. I’ll leave you with this photo.

We arrive now at the Praia dos Aveiros (Aveiros Beach), the first miniscule beach in this area. Gorgeous, like all of the tiny beaches in Albufeira. Although, I have to say that the small beaches drive me crazy because my whole life I’ve been accustomed to very long, large beaches, but also there are tourists that arrive asking for larger beaches, so it depends on your preferences.

It’s tiny, and almost the whole beach is taken up by sun beds and umbrellas that you have to pay for, and you can’t move the umbrella, but it’s much more tranquil. Perfect for exploring and for taking photos among the rocks.

Then there’s the Praia dos Alemães (German Beach), also very touristic, but perhaps because it’s a bit more complicated to get to, it tends to have less people than beaches like Oura. Personally, I think it perfectly easy to access, but it might be slightly more difficult to find it because there are less signs.

It’s also very big and beautiful.

After, there’s the Praia do Inatel (Inatel Beach), which is really just a continuation of the previous beach, but they just gave them different names. But it does mean that there isn’t much more to say about this one. It simply depends on whether you’re more on one side or the other as to which one you’re in. The good thing about this area is that every summer they set up an inflatable platform in the sea, not only for kids but also for adults, and it’s quite fun. Needless to say that you have to pay, and it’s not very cheap, but it’s worth it.

Now we’re at the Praia dos Pescadores (Fisherman’s Beach), one of the most well-known beaches among tourists. Situated in the historic centre and near the square that bears the same name. It is quite large and very normal, despite being the most well-known. There are often parties during the night at this beach, and many of the bars and restaurants of this old centre have views of this beach, which make for a beautiful dinner.

The next beach is the Praia do Peneco (Peneco Beach), which, just like with the German and Inatel beaches, is exactly the same beach as the Fisherman’s beach, but as it is an enormous beach, they just gave it two names depending on the zone. This often leads to error when you want to find a beach but you cannot see the name that you are looking for. If you are already at the Fisherman’s Beach and are looking for Peneco, you’d only need to walk a few metres through the sand, and you wouldn’t need to leave the beach.

In this zone you will find a lift that will take you down to the beach from a high point in the city, although more often than not it is not in use.

And now we’ve reached my favourite part, starting with the Praia dos Arrifes (Arrifes Beach). It’s a miniscule beach where, when the tide rises, there is often not much beach at all. But it is incredibly beautiful and worth going to see it, even if its only for a little while. There you can find the restaurant Da Sardinha, where you can enjoy a delicious Portuguese sangria whilst looking out over the sea. Already lunch and dinner will cost you quite a fair bit. You’ll be lucky if you’re budget allows it!

In this beach is it very common to snorkel and underwater fish because there are many rocks here and you can see many pretty things.

After this beach there is another small beach that you cannot necessarily access as such, and it doesn’t have a name. If you go to the Dos Arrifes beach and look out over the sea towards the right, you will see that there is a dirt parking lot. From there, there are various slopes, some more comfortable than others. You just have to search for one that seems to provide the best access. It’s not very complicated to go down as long as you don’t go with any small children or elderly people. Below you’ll find a lovely small beach that is quite tranquil and to which you could bring dogs, because it is not legally registered as a beach. It’s also perfect for snorkelling and you could swim to either beach on either side of it.

The next beach is the Praia do São Rafael (Saint Rafael’s Beach), incredibly gorgeous and marvellous. It tends to be enjoyed by everybody because it has the good parts of both the large and the small beaches, that is to say it is not small but it has lots of rocks and nooks and crannies to explore. It is common to see tourists doing grand photoshoots, such as couples using professional photographers. Furthermore, there is also a good restaurant for having a drink or something to eat, and there they make a sangria with more tropical flavours, such as mango and passionfruit.

Links to the photos:

https://www.furgovw.org/index.php?topic=201843.0

http://www.algarvehoy.com/playa-de-los-alemanes/

https://www.visitportugal.com/es/NR/exeres/07319CC7-5B59-4FEE-8C6E-966EDAC7CD9C

https://www.booking.com/landmark/pt/fisherman-s-beach-albufeira.es.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-landmark-XX-pt-fishermanNsNbeachNalbufeira-unspec-pt-com-L%3Aes-O%3AwindowsS81-B%3Achrome-N%3AXX-S%3Abo-U%3AXX-H%3As;sid=f50ef5cae9756c9bccbcef99e48b015b;inac=0&

http://www.leclercvoyages.com/product/?pid=425278&c.desti=PT.ALG

https://playascalas.com/praia-dos-olhos-de-agua-una-preciosa-playa-en-portugal/

https://www.inmobiliariaalgarve.com/algarve-blog/playas-del-algarve/

https://www.gites.fr/gites_muthu-clube-praia-da-oura_albufeira_h942142_es.htm

https://www.turismoenportugal.org/playa-de-santa-eulalia-algarve

https://vuelosbaratosbaratos.com/hacer-turismo-en-albufeira-y-el-algarve-portugues/

https://www.visitportugal.com/es/NR/exeres/90786144-CE4F-42EC-8437-839F2358CD25

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