Vanlife in the Algarve (South Coast of Portugal)

What a roller coaster this was! This was our first time in Portugal in our campervan (and Bruce’s 10th country!) and we approached the Algarve from the east and followed the coast west. We were a bit skeptical when we saw how few spots there were on park4night but we went with high hopes!

Sadly, for most of this trip were were actually wishing we were back in Spain because of how busy it was and how few parkups there were. Even the paid parkups/campsites were completely full (this was at the beginning of February) and we didn’t even want to go in them anyway because you were pretty much packed in as tightly as possible. I guess a lot of other people were also chasing the winter sun!

But then we made it to Sagres. Beautiful, wonderful Sagres. A surf town with really lovely cafes, dream parkups, and tons of beaches with good surf (although it was a bit too big for me!). So our hopes of vanlife in Portugal were restored.

Stats

Start point: Tavira
End point: Sagres
Total kilometers: 200km
Total days: 16
Nights at campsites: 4
Nights at free spots: 12
Money spent on day parking: 0 Euros
Times asked to move on: 0 (woohoo!)

Things to do

There are loads of beautiful towns along the south coast and Tavira and Sagres had to be two of my favourite. It can be tricky to park in some of the larger towns, and tricky to park in general in a campervan because most of the Algarve is in the Natura 2000 area which either bans campervans or motorhomes completely or just overnight. You can get some very hefty fines if you don’t follow the rules so one of George’s main things to do was try to find somewhere to stay!

Other than visiting towns, you won’t be short of absolutely stunning coastal cliff walks and the further you get to the west, the surf starts to pick up. In February, it was a bit too big for a beginner like me so I had to watch a lot of the time and try to pick up some surfing tips! It’s a great place for running too but mostly on the roads because the coastal cliff trails could be a bit dangerous.

How affordable is it?

We noticed fuel is about the same price as the UK but the supermarkets are about the same as Spain (very affordable!). Cafes are also very reasonable however eating out seemed a bit pricey. So definitely sitting in the middle of the UK and Spain price wise – the UK being the most expensive and Spain being the cheapest.

Driving a campervan or motorhome in the Algarve

Google Maps loved sending us down the most crazy lanes to some of the beaches we went to… it left for a bit of a terrifying experience especially since we live in our campervan! The motorway roads are actually pretty shocking to drive on too. Pot hole city! But otherwise the roads tend to be pretty wide and we didn’t have any real trouble.

Would we go back?

To Sagres – yes 100 times over. Otherwise I wouldn’t go back to the Algarve. Glad to have been there and experienced it but I preferred Andalusia.

Highlights