Exploring the Beach Towns in Southern Portugal

On a recent trip to Portugal we were fortunate enough to spend time in some of the great beach and marina towns. Where we were staying was situated right in between the resort of Vilamoura and the beach town of Albufeira along the Algarve coast.

Vilamoura is known for it’s marina, high end hotels and casinos. We just visited the marina for an afternoon and thought it was so beautiful.

There were boats of all shapes and sizes. Since it was a weekday and not quite summer season yet, the marina was fairly quiet.

Our first shopping stop was to pick up an official jersey from the Portuguese National Football (soccer) team. We have some very big fans at home that had requested this specific jersey. Portugal has qualified for play in the 2022 World Cup, which will be played in Qatar. So there is quite a bit of excitement in this country around football.

The store was very helpful and we made our purchases. They gave us a souvenir to have some fun with. So on this day we were ALL Cristiano Ronaldo fans. Did you know he will be playing in his 5th world cup this fall?

We were getting thirsty so we stopped for a beverage. Of course one of our favorite things about international travel is new food and drink experiences. Our good friend we were traveling with is from Sweden. On their stay in Portugal they found a Swedish restaurant in Vilamoura. What a coincidence is that?

Our friend wanted to snack on a traditional Herring that is served with Akvavit, a Swedish liquor. Doesn’t he look so happy to have found this treat all the way in Portugal?

While we all enjoyed a glass of wine, someone in the group said, “Well, I think we should just stay here for dinner!” So we did!

What could be better than dining with this view?

The restaurant is appropriately named, Akvavit. They have been open for 33 years and survived the time when the world shut down, with loyal customers. The owner is Portuguese and married a woman from Sweden. Their grown sons now help run the restaurant. Their website can be found: HERE

The food started coming and every single bite was delicious. We had "Toast Skagen" Swedish Shrimp Toast with Dill.

Then we had "Lax Record," Marinated Salmon with Swedish Mustard Sauce and Toast

For my dish I shared the Cataplana a Algarvia or Algarvean Fish Stew in a copper pot. It was incredible! What we loved about this restaurant is that they blended traditional Swedish and Portuguese dishes. Also, the seafood was so fresh!

Our Swedish friend had Biff Rydberg (Beef Rydberg) a very traditional dish from Sweden. He shared with us that this dish was created in the late 19th century at a luxury hotel in Stockholm called, Hotel Rydberg. The separation of the raw egg and bearnaise sauce from the meat and potatoes is part of the uniqueness of this dish, where all is only mixed together by the one eating it. He said it was very good and very traditional. All at a marina in Portugal.

It was a beautiful evening and a great way to end a perfect day in Vilamoura. Funny ending, is that right after I took this picture, the power went out on the entire marina. Thank goodness we were done with our food! We sat and enjoyed the last of the twilight, before the restaurant added up our bill the old fashioned way; by hand!

The next day was spent in another beach town called Albufeira. This town was a lot more touristy with tons of shops and restaurants. There was a boardwalk along the beach with many choices for lunch.

Albufeira is a former fishing village. Because of the beautiful blue ocean and sandy beaches it blossomed into a beach town for tourists.

The white and pastel color houses reminded us of Bermuda or even Greece. This was unique to Albufeira, vs. the rest of the coastal towns we visited.

We stopped at this funny little beach café that promoted all kinds of specialty drinks. Our friend ordered a Long Island Ice Tea and we ordered margaritas. They weren’t the best we’d ever had, but they were certainly festive and super cheap!

It was a picture perfect day on the beach. It would have been nice to have a massage on the beach in that tent.

The afternoon got hot and it was time for a little ice cream to cool down. A lot of "American” terms are used here, ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes. Portugal does cater to the English speaking tourist for sure. Everyone speaks perfect English. Unless you speak Portuguese, speak English, not Spanish. It’s not the same language at all and it is perceived as an insult.

We came across these great sand sculptures at the edge of town. The whole town was quite modern compared to some of the very historic parts of Portugal we’d seen elsewhere.

One last look down at the beach in Albufeira. We are so happy we got to have some adventures along the Algarve Coast in Portugal!