If You Go: Portugal Algarve Coast

   Since our trip to Lisbon last January, I have always thought Portugal was the most underrated country.  The people are friendly, the food is fabulous, the sites are stunning, and it's crazy cheap.  We lucked out with a $25 round trip fare to the southern coast of Portugal in December and had an unexpectedly amazing time.  This place so was incredibly picturesque! Here are the places to know:

Hotel 

Hotel Marina Rio: This hotel was very convenient - with easy access for parking and a big street for getting out of town.  It was definitely not the nicest hotel we've stayed at, but was adequate and we had a lovely view of the marina.  It was also mega cheap ($72/night) - so it drove our total cost for the trip very low!

Restaurant 

Tasca de Kiko: Best advice I can give you - go to this restaurant!  We went our first night and booked in for a second visit - potentially the best food we had in 2016.  The restaurant is in a weird place - it's inside a marina and a bit dark and weird to get to...but once you are there, the place is warm and modern.  The food is unbelievable - we ordered about 6 tapas dishes and they were all incredible.  The octopus salad - amazing.  The tuna, fantastic.  The beef, excellent.  Can't say enough about this restaurant

Tasca Jota: We had booked reservations here before we left.  This was also a tapas restaurant.  The food was ok, but quite heavy and the ambiance left something to be desired.  It also paled in comparison to Tasca de Kiko.

Itinerary 

Day 1

Ponta da Piedade: This is a well-built out tourist spot about 10 minutes from Lagos - it has stunning rock cave formations that you can walk down stairs to see.  There are probably 6-10 of the rock caves that you can see if you walk the trail around this area.  This is must visit!

Pedralva: We drove to a small, white-washed village in central Algarve to have lunch and explore.  This town was very small, but picturesque.  There were only two restaurants though...this should only be a stop if you have time.

Praia do Amado: This was P's most favorite beach that we visited.  The red beach had large waves and was nice and long for walking.  It also had these stunningly beautiful easter-egg colored rocks.  This is a bit out of the way, but ruly stunning

Sangres: We watched the sunset over the fort here.  By the time we visited, the historic fort had closed, but we got to see the lighthouse turn on!  This is the most western tip of western Europe and is the start of the Mediterranean.

Day 2

Prainha Beach: We started our morning here - these were huge cliffs with beautiful views of turquoise waters.  Stunning. Don't come here with small children. This is hard to find and you have to drive / walk a dirt road, but beautiful.

Praia dos Três Irmãos: I call this the "secret golden beach" - you drive into a beach resort to get there and walk down a set of stairs to this tiny, beautful, golden beach.  Recommend!   

Portimao: This is a largest city not far from the two beaches above.  There are lots of restaurants here to stop for lunch!

Silves: Our last stop was a castle in the town of Silves.  Originally a Moorish castle, it has been well preserved.  The views of the castle from afar are actually more interesting than inside, but it' still a cool stop.

We HEART the Algarve