Visiting, travelling, holiday making, touring, tasting. For a tourist there are many ways to visit Portugal. We could say as many as there are tourists. Or ways to make bacalhau. But that's besides the point.
Most people coming to Portugal for the first time will be attracted by Lisbon, of course. And then Porto, of course. Then, probably, the Algarve, maybe, but not certain. Then there is the rest of the country, the Alentejo, with its own charms for sure, but attracting a very different type of tourism. Lets just say this is too far off the trails for most people, rightly or not.
Come to think of it, it is how many people approach holiday travel to any country. We start by saying we are going to country 'x'. But not many whole countries can be visited in a week or so, even if some do exist. Most holiday stays will be more focused and fall into one of three general categories: Capital/city hopping, Regional/area touring or Activity driven. The main difference is time, how much you have and what you want to do with it. Someone with 3 days or a long weekend would certainly have enough time to cover Lisbon, or Porto, but not both. That would take a week.
But that same person could just as well spend 3 days playing golf, or surfing, or just laying on the beach in the Algarve. But not visit the Algarve. That takes a week. So someone with one week holiday could do a city tour combo, or a week in the Algarve, but not both. That would take 2 weeks.
And this is what makes Portugal a perfect holiday destination for northern europeans. It's only a short flight away, but the weather is a world away already, and it is still quite cheap. The combinations are endless, but you can cover the "whole Portugal experience" in 2 weeks, or break it down into a couple stays. See the old stones, the culture, the cuisine, the sites. Do the tours. Follow the paths beaten by centuries of travel. Or spend your time holiday playing golf, every day on another course, or spend everyday on the beach, every day another beach or another of the countless sporting activities available. You can visit Portugal and tick all boxes by breaking it down into week end visits and/or stay of a week, or more of course!
But whatever combination you make, if you intend on spending a week in the Algarve, then you should make it the last week of your holidays. Then, strategically base yourself in the best spot, from where you can cover the entire region from one central location. To find out where and why, keep reading.
The Algarve is not about visiting big museums, historical sites, castles or monuments. That's the city tour above. It's not because the region is big, you can go end to end in a couple of hours on the A22 Highway. You will need a car in the Algarve. Some do it on bikes, but we count that as seriously activity driven. So it's small, but you need a car to visit... because there is nothing to see?? Yep.
Nothing in the sense that what you see is still mostly what you should see, which is what should be there, which is nature and the Sea. No skyscrapers, no industry, zero. Small coastal towns and cities from old to very very old to new. Friendly people, Clean air, Fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, Endless beaches, Idyllic country sides, Beautiful views...That's what you'll see most.
But really, the best way to visit / tour the Algarve in order to see all this for yourself is to follow "Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations". It's a list of towns/ cities, with directions to sites and services, things to do, to see, to taste, and the best day trip combinations.
There are places to visit, see for a few minutes, take pictures, then go immediately elsewhere, visit, have a stop here, a meal there, enjoy the music or a siesta between this and then. Then something else the other half of your day. Some places are only really worth going to if you go somewhere else. There are viewpoints, and hours of the day, the options, budgets, the weather and a good set of plan B's just in case. Sylvie makes sure you can make the best combinations through which, in a week, you will not only visit the Algarve, you will have taken the time to spend time enjoying your time, because it was just so easy and simple.
That's the point. That's the Algarve. That's the visit. It's not about what you see, even though that's an eye full of charming beauty in itself, but the experience as a whole. The slow pace. The wine, the food, the people, the sun. No rush, slow queue, no stress. It's not about driving for hours or filling a bucket list. Spending time enjoying time because it's all just so enjoyable.
Here at Monte-Bougainvillea is where the best spot really is, but also really the only spot you can get les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations. It's probably also the only place that includes fresh Algarve Oranges in your fridge welcome pack. There is an electric juicer in each apartment... Taste that juice! How sweet the Algarve can be...
Monte-Bougainvillea rents out self-catering holiday apartments. That means each apartment has its own fully equipped kitchen. Everything you need is there, even some basic complementary supplies like salt pepper, spices, oil, coffee, tea, soap, towels, etc. There is an honesty bar on site with fresh drinks, water, wine and a freezer with basics, just in case. But otherwise the closest one can find food is at the local café 800m from here. So that does mean you will need to buy your supplies and food. That's a 10 minute drive to small local shops or big brand stores.
Having to cook is not the first thing that comes to mind when planning a holiday. But it may be the first mistake. The kitchens are there, and fully equipped at that, but to use them is an option. There are other options. People do not stay at the villa all day, every day, for every meal. There are so many better things to do than to cook. Then again, many good things to cook too!
Many of our guests never cook here except for light breakfast and the odd evening meal/BBQ. That is because there are a wide variety of restaurants of all sorts all around. Of which many many "churrasqueira" offering open air fresh grilled food. Al fresco dining is the norm. And again, prices are cheap, so people decide not to cook, preferring the adventure of taste. A full lunch time meal in local eateries average lower than 10 euros per person. You can find good food in the evening at that price too, but the average will be around 15-20 (often including wine, coffee, desserts). One of the best burgers in Faro is a beach terrasse. Honest prices with spectacular sunset over the sea views included for free. At the other end there are many Michelin starred restaurants too. And tourist traps in between, but les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations has you covered!
In general people really enjoy the local authentic portuguese eateries, and the prices. These are not massive tourist trap frozen food flashy places. Very humble, often not well decorated, but great food and very honest prices. Here at the local café a full english breakfast (but really made by english people) starts as low as 6 euros for small plate (fried egg, tomato, beans, hash brown, blood pudding, bacon, sausage, toast, coffee). Why cook breakfast? 6 euros is why not.
Finding the next good meal while visiting the Algarve. It's part of the tour, each place to visit will have recommended places to eat some speciality or another. Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations will have you covered East to West and back not only for the sights and activities, but also for what to eat where while you are there.
All this to say: Cooking is for fun and adventure, otherwise restaurants are good and cheap. The rest is a question of taste. We can recommend specialties like the best octopus in the region made by Germans in one town worth the visit, or the best steak on stone from Uruguay in a traditional portugal grill not far from here or even four different levels of pizza from street food to gourmet in one small town 10 minutes away. If you want mass tourism, ambience, people and beach food...that's only 15 minutes further away :-) These are just a few examples. There are options all around, the kitchen is only one of them.
The Algarve is very small and you can visit the whole thing in a week. Or pick up the lifestyle and stay longer. But to find the right place at the right time in the right order, you'll need "Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations".
Our basic offer at Monte-Bougainvillea is about being able to do it all in a week, with half day excursion combinations and day trips you can cover the Algarve East to West, visit the main cities and villages, taste and enjoy the best local produce fresh and cheap, dine at whatever budget, eat every meal outside, rest, read a book, work on your tan, enjoy the pool and insert whatever activity, not just once. By the end of the week your rhythm settles. It's easy, simple, affordable, welcoming, helpful, warm, relaxing. See?
Because there is so much to see, yet not much to sea, the best visit is to go with the tide and taste it. It just takes a week for the waves to settle. And that's when you can finally say "I visited the Algarve and the Algarve gave me the time to do it, so I brought myself along and we enjoyed it."
That's why it's important that the Algarve, unless it's your only week, must be your last week of holidays. We've all said "ah, a week is just the time I needed to wind down, should have taken a few more days", or maybe not.
But with "Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations" you'll get a lasting taste of the slow life (and maybe even her homemade strawberry jam) that will follow you home at very least 20% longer than any other guest recommendation list ever. Says me, but sincerely.
It is a piece of paper, a single sheet with notes. At first they were carefully hand written and customised depending on the guest / tastes, but after a few times she decided to just write decent text, scan the document , give printouts and take the time to explain it. I would provide a copy here for you to read but that would be revealing the recipe to the secret sauce and who knows what eyes lurk between the lines here. If anyone does lurk though, just saying, please let us know (i.e. press the LIKE and SHARE buttons wink wink).
So the only way to see the list of "Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations" is to get your hands and set our eyes on a fresh original copy of the scanned document straight off our printer, only available here at Monte-Bougainvillea.
I did mention you need a car* in the Algarve, and I did just spell out our name... Those who know us see me coming with cars (sic)...but those who do not know should add a .com to our name and check out our website, see what the car is about, then understand why the Algarve is known as value for money.
You won't see Sylvie's list on our website, but you might very well end up booking a week and that, by contractual agreement, means you will soon have your own original copy of the precious document along with Sylvie's very own face to face personally customised explanations****** (*mine may be substituted occasionally), (**my face, not her explanations, I just repeat hers, they are the best) (***because without the explanations it's just a document without a face).
So you can already start relaxing. No need to be here yet, just the knowledge of a confirmed booking at Monte-Bougainvillea and you will have that soothing effect of already knowing part of the booking includes "Les bons conseils de Sylvie's best recommendations" and a lot less cooking than you might have thought.
Peace of mind. Part of the package ;-)
Book it now!
S&jc
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