HAVING A BEACH BALL
SALLY McLEAN With beautiful bays, fantastic food and great weather, the stunning resort of Alvor in Portugal is a must-visit
GOOD flight times make all the difference when you’re jetting off to the sun.
A 7.35am flight out of Glasgow may mean you have to set the alarm for about 4am – but think of the bonus at the other end.
With Jet2.com it means arriving in beautiful Portugal for mid-morning, breezily picking up the hire car, checking into the apartment in stupendous Alvor at 1pm, and at 1.30pm you can pick your spot on the huge beach.
So it is day one of your holiday and, when you sit down to dinner in the evening, you’ve already had a full day to take in the sights and hone that tan.
A 12-night break really does mean 12 days and nights.
With Jet2.com you can book a seat with extra leg room, pre-book a breakfast on board and the flight is just short of three hours.
We opted to hire a car when we arrived, booked via HolidayExtras.com.
We were ferried from the airport – luggage in the back – in a small bus which must have travelled less than quarter of a mile before delivering us to the office which sits on the main boulevard on the approach to Faro airport.
Within half an hour, we were all set for the 50-mile trip to Alvor in a low-mileage, new-ish Volkswagen Polo. A small extra charge put two drivers on the insurance, rather than just one named driver.
And although the A22 motorway running east-west across southern Portugal is a toll road, the tolls are electronic with no need to stop, and the car was fitted with pre-paid recognition technology.
It means we went through the tolls with just a couple of “beeps” from the dashboard, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful drive.
Accommodation in Alvor is up to the high standard you would expect.
A two-bedroom apartment with balcony and sea view is very reasonable and easy to book.
We chose one with just a short walk into the village.
Alvor itself is a hidden gem. To the west of Portimao, it snuggles the coast just round the bay from Lagos.
Its huge expanse of beaches mean you can literally pick your spot – even though the village itself is busy.
The beaches have lifeguards during the day and there are lots of activities on offer if you don’t fancy sunbathing all the time. There’s even a water taxi to Lagos for a day out.
Walking in Alvor is easy and we found the car was used mainly for trips to the supermarket.
The old village was not built for traffic but you can leave your vehicle at a large car park which is a five-minute walk away.
The number and quality of the
restaurants has to be seen to be believed.
Seafood is a speciality and the range and quality on offer is second to none. Monkfish skewers, swordfish, king prawns, mussels, king prawn pasta, calamari, sardines and a local delicacy, fish soup, are just some of the delicious options on the menus.
The weather in early June was superb, sun every day with temperatures as high as 35C.
In the evening, the warm breeze was just right for hitting one of the many restaurants that offer outdoor seating so you can hear and smell the sea as you eat. And although the Brexit result means you get less for your pound, restaurants in Alvor are reasonably priced, so eating out is definitely do-able and recommended.
Alvor has managed to retain its heritage as a historic fishing village, while at the same time offering great places to eat and plenty of shops for strolling about.
It even has its own ruined castle, which was once significant in the wider context of the nearby vast medieval fortress at inland Silves.
But it is fair to say that few people will think “castle” when they book a trip to Alvor.
It offers plenty of bars too – some selling pints for 90 cents – but the village is very much couples and family-orientated rather than cheap booze-motivated.
Supermarkets tend to be compact – and filled to the rafters, with little shoulder room, but the prices and quality are generally very good, which is ideal if you’re self-catering.
Jet2.com flights out of Glasgow and Edinburgh are the way to go.
Easy to book, great flight times, great extras and great cabin crew. We’ll be back.