Albufeira is located in the central area of the Algarve coast, on the southern coast of Portugal and part of the Faro district and the Algarve region. The city and the municipality of the same name, is simultaneously a place full of history, traditions and a cosmopolitan leisure resort. You can do almost anything in Albufeira. Play golf, practice water sports, discover the natural heritage and monuments, taste the excellent gastronomy, watch popular customs such as the traditional procession at sea, in which fishermen pay homage to their patron saint.

“On a rock that the sea washes by foot”, as the chronicler Henrique Fernandes Serrão said in 1607, there is Albufeira, white, almost obnox, and in Fisherman’s Beach, we can glimpse the picturesque artisanal fishing boats that lie by the sea, and remain there until today, despite today al Buera, (the fortress) as the Arabs would say, being one of the largest tourist resorts in the Algarve today.

In the early 1960s, Albufeira began to be the beautiful girl of Algarve tourism, attracting visitors from all over the world and development forced her to go outside the historic center and create other areas of attraction in Montechoro to the north, the Areias de São João to the east and the famous Oura to the south.

To the west, the city expanded to the Orada plain, where the Marina and the port of shelter were born, for fishermen’s boats, which helped connect the city to Galé Beach and Salgados Lagoon, a protected natural area.

The place we know today as Albufeira, is one of the favorite tourist destinations in Europe, for the fantastic climate, the beauties of nature and the entertainment that the city always has.

In the historic center of the city, on a tour in search of details, we will find the dome of the mother church of Albufeira, once a mosque and that the earthquake of 1775 destroyed, although the reconstruction maintains the same architecture.

A wonderful walk is discovering the little streets with whitewashed houses; pass the “Arco da Travessa” near the main church, a beautiful example of Arab architecture. Nearby comes the Clock Tower, with an extravagant iron crown that holds the hour bell, considered the ex-libris of the city.

The uniqueness of Albufeira is breathed in the museums, in the art galleries, but also in the colorful artisanal fishing boats anchored on the fishermen’s beach or during the animated and cosmopolitan nights.

The beaches are one of the most beautiful natural heritages of Albufeira. They stretch out on golden sands, sometimes with coffered rocks, each with its own beauty. Albufeira offer to those who visit, small paradises.

Here is the extensive sandy beach of Falésia, starting with The Rocha (Rock) Baixinha, just after the marina, sands limited by a magnificent cliff where the Barranco das Belharucas stands out, which has gained the name of the birds that like to stay there. Olhos d’Água, Santa Eulália and Oura, are sands of beaches that arise when the cliffs are interrupted.

São Rafael, or the beach of Castelo and Evaristo, west of Albufeira, are niches hidden by rocks shining in the sun, here in shades of ochre, there dyed by the green of plants that insist on growing, despite the salty breeze. The beach of Galé and the Salgados Lagoon would emerge, where the coast changes again, the cliffs transformed into dunes, the ochre replaced by the golden.

The colorful artisanal fishing boats anchored on the fishermen’s beach, bring in a daily basis from the sea the fish that goes directly to the grill of the restaurants perched on the cliff.

Many of these boats also take trips to discover the beautiful natural heritage of the coastal cliffs, to appreciate their capricious shapes and be surprised by the flight of the birds that nest there. Along the way, you’ll hear the picturesque stories of the city that fishermen delight in sharing.