Algarve
You can be here in December for about €630, 4 days, direct.
Why now
Shoulder season in December: 17°C days, sea 17°C.
June and late September give the same long days and open restaurants without the August crush, when the Portuguese and British holidays coincide and the coast road jams. The sea here is Atlantic rather than Mediterranean and stays cool all year, peaking around 19 degrees in late summer, so come for the coast and the light rather than for the water. Much of the west closes in winter, but the east and Faro stay open, and the almond blossom in the hills starts early in the year.
Best months here: June, September, November. Daytime highs, sea temperature and rainy days from three years of Open-Meteo reanalysis; a rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, which is the WMO threshold and not the same as "it drizzled".
The place
The Algarve is two coasts sharing one name: the developed central strip from Faro to Lagos, with its golf, marinas and English breakfasts, and the quieter ends, the tidal lagoons of the east and the Atlantic cliffs of the west. Faro itself is a small walled town most visitors bypass on the way to the resorts, which is their loss. The region suits families, surfers and anyone content to eat grilled fish twice a day.
What you can do
- 01Take the ferry from Faro's old town to Ilha Deserta and walk the empty sandbar of the Ria Formosa.
- 02Eat cataplana or clams at Olhão's waterfront market, fish on Saturday mornings.
- 03Walk the boardwalk over the Ponta da Piedade cliffs at Lagos, then swim below at Praia do Camilo.
- 04Drive the western coast road to Sagres and Cabo de São Vicente, the corner of Europe.
- 05Visit the bone chapel behind Faro's Carmo church, then the Roman ruins at Milreu near Estoi.
Where to stay · neighbourhoods
Base in Tavira or Faro for lagoons and calm, Lagos for cliffs and nightlife; Albufeira and Vilamoura are packaged resort strips that most independent travellers will want to skip.
Unusual things
- ◦Cacela Velha, a whitewashed hamlet on a bluff above the lagoon near Vila Real de Santo António, with oysters at the water's edge.
- ◦The Palácio de Estoi, a pink rococo palace with tiled gardens, now a pousada, ten minutes from Faro.
- ◦Monchique's Fóia summit in the Serra, with the Caldas de Monchique spa village and chestnut woods below.
Day trips
Flight options
Routes come from OpenFlights (historical) and a 2026 route reference compiled from public timetables. Durations are the published schedule where we have it, otherwise a block-time model fitted on measured nonstop flights. Verify schedules with the airline before booking.
Entry requirements · IT passport
Source: passport-index-data, March 2026 (coarse indicator), covering 258 of our 268 destinations for each of 199 passports. Always confirm with the destination's official site.
Airports
Distances are centre to airport derived · nonstop counts are our route reference for 2026, not every flight that exists.
Local transport
- Airport to city
- Bus, 20 min, €2.35; car recommended
- Car needed?
- Recommended for most of what is worth seeing
- Getting around
- A slow regional train links Vila Real, Faro and Lagos roughly hourly, but a car is the honest answer for the coast and hills. Faro airport is 15 minutes from the town by bus or taxi.
- Clock
- 1 hour behind Brussels (Europe/Lisbon) derived
- Daylight
- 9.6 hours of daylight in December · sunrise 07:38, sunset 17:16 derived
- Currency
- EUR
Good to know
Atlantic rip currents on the west coast beaches are strong; swim only where flags are flying and lifeguards present.
Alternatives at a similar price
Whole trip per person for 4 days from Brussels in December, then the flight time; estimates, like the total above.
Sharm El Sheikh
Cairo
Luxor
Tenerife
Fuerteventura
Lanzarote