Portugal: Évora, the Alentejo Coast and the Quiet Algarve

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Lisbon

   Lisbon Airport to your hotel in central Lisbon

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Lisbon
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), about 7 km north of the centre, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the short ride to your hotel. Check-in is from mid-afternoon, so if you land early, leave your bags and walk down to the river at Praça do Comércio, or ride a yellow tram up towards the castle. Lisbon is only the starting line on this trip: if you want time for Belém, Sintra and the old quarters, add a night or two before, or pair this trip with our Lisbon, Porto and Douro route. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: how the walking days work, what to carry in a day pack, and why we finish in Faro rather than back in Lisbon. Then we walk to a small restaurant in the old town for a welcome dinner. Plan to land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing comfortably.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Lisbon Airport (LIS)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in the old town

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

2. Jour 2 : Standing stones and Évora

   Lisbon across the Tagus to the Almendres Cromlech, then Évora

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Évora
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Lisbon after breakfast over the Vasco da Gama Bridge, more than 12 km across the Tagus estuary, and drive east into the Alentejo, a country of cork oaks, olive groves and wheat. About 15 km before Évora a dirt lane leads to the Almendres Cromlech, a field of roughly a hundred granite standing stones raised in stages from about the sixth millennium BC, on a slope looking east. Early in the day we usually have it almost to ourselves. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Évora, where we stay two nights inside the walls. In the afternoon your guide walks you through the town, listed by UNESCO in 1986: the columns of the Roman temple, the cathedral with its walk on the roof among the turrets, and the Chapel of Bones in the church of São Francisco, its walls lined with the bones of thousands of people. We end in the arcaded Praça do Giraldo, and the evening is yours.

   Compris

   • The Almendres Cromlech
   • Sit-down lunch in Évora
   • Guided walk of Évora: the Roman temple, the cathedral and its roof, the Chapel of Bones and the Praça do Giraldo

   Option plus facile : Rest at the hotel after lunch and join the group at the cathedral, a short flat walk from most of the old town.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Évora

   Activité : About 4 km on foot on cobbles, with narrow stairs to the cathedral roof.

3. Jour 3 : Monsaraz and an Alentejo wine lunch

   Évora to Monsaraz, then a wine estate near Reguengos de Monsaraz and back to Évora

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Évora
   Détail du jour 3

   We drive about 50 minutes east to Monsaraz, a walled village of whitewashed houses on a ridge above the Guadiana valley, with Spain on the far side. We arrive in the morning, before the day visitors and the heat, and walk its two main streets to the castle at the end of the ridge, where the walls look down on the Alqueva reservoir, a lake of drowned valleys and small islands filled after the dam closed in 2002. From there it is a short drive to a family wine estate in the Reguengos area for a tour of the vines and cellar, a tasting, and a long sit-down lunch with the estate's wine. Some Alentejo estates still make wine in clay talhas, a method the Romans used here, and we ask to see it where it is done. We are back in Évora by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day free to walk the aqueduct or sit in a square.

   Compris

   • Monsaraz with your guide, including the castle walls
   • Wine estate visit with a cellar tour and tasting
   • Sit-down lunch with wine at the estate

   Activités en option

   • Evening stargazing with an astronomer in the Dark Sky Alqueva area, about an hour from Évora (price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Stay in the village square in Monsaraz while the group climbs onto the castle walls.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Évora

   Activité : About 3 km on foot on steep cobbles in Monsaraz; the castle walls have no railings.

4. Jour 4 : To the coast and the Fishermen's Trail

   Évora to Vila Nova de Milfontes, then a walk on the Rota Vicentina

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Vila Nova de Milfontes
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Évora after breakfast and cross the Alentejo plain to the Atlantic, about two and a quarter hours with a coffee stop. Vila Nova de Milfontes sits where the Mira river meets the sea, inside the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, and lunch is a sit-down meal near the river. In the afternoon we walk part of the Fishermen's Trail, the coastal path of the Rota Vicentina. A small boat takes us across the river mouth to Praia das Furnas when it is running (otherwise we drive round by the bridge), and from there we follow the path south along the clifftops, over sand and low scrub, with coves and fishermen's ladders below. The easy version is about 6 km, and our vehicle meets us where a track reaches the coast. Walkers who want more carry on to Almograve, about 13 km from Furnas. Back in Milfontes the evening is free; the river mouth faces west, so the sunset is over the sea.

   Compris

   • Sit-down lunch in Vila Nova de Milfontes
   • Boat across the Mira to Praia das Furnas (seasonal)
   • Guided walk on the Fishermen's Trail of the Rota Vicentina, about 6 km

   Option plus facile : Skip the walk and spend the afternoon on the river beach in Milfontes, or walk the first 2 km to the first viewpoint and ride back.

   Option plus active : Walk the full stretch from Praia das Furnas to Almograve, about 13 km and 4 to 4.5 hours on soft sand in places.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Milfontes

   Activité : Sandy paths are tiring underfoot; bring shoes with grip, water, sun protection and a windproof layer.

5. Jour 5 : Down the Costa Vicentina to Sagres

   Vila Nova de Milfontes to Zambujeira do Mar, Odeceixe and Sagres, then Cabo de São Vicente

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sagres
   Détail du jour 5

   A short drive south brings us to Zambujeira do Mar, a fishing village on a cliff, for a coffee and a walk along the clifftop path to the small chapel of Nossa Senhora do Mar above the waves. We continue south and cross the Seixe river at Odeceixe, the border between the Alentejo and the Algarve, then stop for a sit-down lunch in Aljezur, the old market town under its Moorish castle. The road runs on through the natural park, with the surf beaches of the west coast a few kilometres to the right, and reaches Sagres in the middle of the afternoon, where we stay two nights. After time to settle in, we drive out to Cabo de São Vicente, the south-western tip of mainland Europe, where the lighthouse stands on cliffs about 75 m above the sea. We stay for sunset, then dinner is your choice in Sagres. Sunset falls from about 6:30 pm in March and late October to about 9 pm in June, so on early-sunset dates we go to the cape first and check in after.

   Compris

   • Zambujeira do Mar and the clifftop walk to the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Mar
   • Sit-down lunch in Aljezur
   • Sunset at Cabo de São Vicente

   Temps libre : Evening free in Sagres

   Activité : About 3 km on foot; the cape is windy and cool at sunset even in summer, so bring a warm layer.

   

6. Jour 6 : Ponta da Piedade, Lagos and the Sagres fortress

   Sagres to Luz and Ponta da Piedade, then Lagos, and back to the Sagres fortress

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Sagres
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Sagres at about 8:30 and drive east to Luz, a fishing village turned small resort, and walk the clifftop path over the Rocha Negra headland to Ponta da Piedade, about 6 km, where golden sandstone stacks, arches and caves rise from green water. In the late morning a small boat takes us into the grottoes, where it can slip through arches and into caves that the clifftop path only looks down on. Lunch is your choice in Lagos, a walled port town with a long history, including the museum on the site of its 15th-century slave market. In the afternoon we drive back west to the Sagres fortress, on the flat headland that Prince Henry the Navigator is linked with in the 15th century. By late afternoon most coach groups have gone, so we walk the walls above the cliffs, see the great stone wind rose on the ground and the small church, and look along the coast to the cape. The evening is free in Sagres.

   Compris

   • Guided clifftop walk from Luz to Ponta da Piedade, about 6 km
   • Small-boat trip into the Ponta da Piedade grottoes (sea conditions permitting)
   • Time in Lagos old town
   • The Sagres fortress in the late afternoon

   Activités en option

   • A surf lesson on one of the beaches near Sagres in the afternoon (price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Ride from Luz to Ponta da Piedade in our vehicle and walk only the short path along the headland to the lighthouse.

   Temps libre : Lunch free in Lagos; evening free in Sagres

   Activité : The walk climbs about 100 m over the Rocha Negra headland; the steps down to the boats at Ponta da Piedade are steep. If the sea is too rough for the boat, we spend the extra time on the Ponta da Piedade headland and viewpoints instead, and refund the boat cost.

   

7. Jour 7 : Across the Algarve to Tavira

   Sagres to Tavira on the A22, then Ilha de Tavira

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Tavira
   Détail du jour 7

   We leave Sagres after breakfast and cross the Algarve on the motorway, about an hour and three quarters, passing the resort coast without stopping, to Tavira, a quiet town on both banks of the Gilão river near the Spanish border. Your guide walks you up to the ruined castle walls and the church of Santa Maria do Castelo, then into the old water tower, where the Camera Obscura projects a live view of the rooftops, bridges and salt pans onto a white dish. Lunch is a sit-down meal of local fish or a cataplana by the river. In the afternoon we take the small ferry from Quatro Águas to Ilha de Tavira, a long sand island in the Ria Formosa Natural Park, for an hour or two on the beach and a walk on the boardwalks. Back in town there is time to rest before a farewell dinner together, a short walk from the hotel.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of Tavira: the castle walls and Santa Maria do Castelo
   • The Camera Obscura
   • Sit-down lunch in Tavira
   • Ferry to Ilha de Tavira and time on the beach
   • Farewell dinner

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activité : About 5 km on foot, flat apart from the climb to the castle.

   

8. Jour 8 : Tavira to Faro and home

   Tavira to Faro Airport

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   The morning is free for a last walk in Tavira: the market by the river opens early, the old bridge over the Gilão is quiet before the cafés fill, and the salt pans east of town are good for birds, with flamingos often feeding in the shallows. Late morning we load the vehicle for the half-hour drive west along the coast to Faro Airport (FAO). If your flight leaves later in the afternoon, we can stop first in Faro's walled old town, the Cidade Velha, for a coffee in the square by the cathedral. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to travel with the group. If you need to leave earlier, we arrange a separate transfer at no extra cost, and if you want to stay longer in the Algarve or go back to Lisbon by train, ask us when you book.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Faro Airport (FAO)

   Temps libre : Morning free in Tavira

   Activité : Book a flight leaving Faro after about 1 pm; earlier flights get their own transfer.

Faune et météo : Spring brings wildflowers along the Costa Vicentina and white storks nesting on the sea stacks; the Alentejo is green until about May. July and August are very hot inland and busy on the coast, so the trip does not run then. September and October are warm, with the grape harvest around September and the sea at its warmest.

• Lisbon1 nuit
• Évora2 nuits
• Vila Nova de Milfontes1 nuit
• Sagres2 nuits
• Tavira1 nuit