Visiting the Algarve in the Winter | The Algarve, Portugal Winter Guide

two girls kissing at praia marinha algarve

girl standing in front of ceramic wall sagres algarve

The last stop on our Portugal trip was to The Algarve region. We visited in the winter, so we weren’t sure if visiting Portugal’s most famous beach towns would be worth it in February … but it 100% was! We had great weather, and the beaches were one of the most beautiful ones we’ve ever seen. Since we were visiting in February, some of the restaurants & shops weren’t open, but it was not touristy or crowded at all. We had such an amazing time, and if you are heading to Portugal in the winter, you can definitely still visit The Algarve!

How to Get Around the Algarve

The Algarve is a coastal region in southern Portugal known for it’s beautiful beaches. The Algarve encompasses a bunch of different beach towns, so the best way to get to each town and the different beaches is by renting a car. We rented a car through Expedia at the Lisbon Airport (since we were coming from Lisbon) and the process was very easy & smooth! Driving in Portugal was a breeze, especially once we got the Algarve region. Since it was the off-season, there was no traffic and hardly any other cars on the road. We loved having the flexibility with a car to visit different towns in the Algarve and visit some of the beaches/other nature areas nearby. We highly recommend renting a car if you are visiting this area!

Rent your car to explore the Algarve here with Expedia!

Where to Stay in The Algarve

There are a bunch of towns worth staying in (Faro, Lagos, Ferragudo) but we decided on staying in Albufeira. We stayed at a VRBO villa with out friends and had the most amazing time. The villa had a pool, a hot tub, and a pool table! Since it was the off-season we didn’t get to use the pool but we spent lots of time in the hot tub and it was perfect. Albuferia is also a really cute town and we were in walking distance from everything at the VRBO. Since it was winter, a lot of the restaurants and shops were closed, but we were still able to find places to eat for dinner and cute coffee shops that were open for the morning.

Find other VRBO villas in Albufeira here!

Best things to do in The Algarve

Visit Cabo se Sao Vicente - Known as “the end of the world”. It’s the southwestern most point in continental Europe and the area over here is absolutely stunning!
Check out Praia da Marinha - one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever been to! Even though it was the winter, we still had an amazing time exploring here, just wear some layers! Also there is a little cat village near the parking lot — the locals feed and take care of the stray cats and you can pet them before walking to the beach! Praia Marinha also has a beautiful cliff walk you can do which is stunning.
Visit the ceramics shops in Sagres - All of Portugal is famous for it’s ceramics (a lot of ceramic products are made in Portugal!) but Sagres has some beautiful ceramics shops. The iconic one with the ceramic wall is called Ceramica Paraiso. The shop was closed since we went in the off-season, but we’ve heard you can buy ceramic souvenirs there when it is open!
Explore the towns of Albuferia, Faro, Sagres, & Lagos - these are all small, cute, beach towns in the Algarve region! They are fairly close to one another and you don’t need more than a few hours to explore them all. Faro is the biggest one with the most stuff going on!
Do a tour of the Benagil Cave - Sadly our tour got cancelled due to bad weather at sea, but this is the #1 thing you should do when you visit The Algarve! You have definitely seen pictures of the Benagil cave before, it’s stunning. We were sad we didn’t get to see it in person, but that just gives us a reason to go back! There are a bunch of different Benagil Cave tours you can do, and we linked them all here for you. There are kayak ones, bodyboard ones, yacht/cruise ones, it just depends on your price point & adventure level!