The Algarve
Portugal's warm south: golden cliffs and barrier-island lagoons, whitewashed towns that smell of orange blossom, and an ocean that stays gentle long into autumn.
Begin with a conversationBeyond the resorts the postcards sell, another Algarve waits. The wild west coast where storks nest on the cliffs, the still lagoons of the east, and hill villages where lunch lasts all afternoon.
We keep you on the quiet side of it. The empty beach at the end of the boardwalk, the boat that leaves before the crowds wake, the table under the fig tree.
A few of the Algarve's quiet privileges
The wild west
The cliff paths and wide, empty sands of the Costa Vicentina: Portugal's last untamed coastline, walked at your own pace with the Atlantic roaring below.
The lagoons of the east
By private boat through the Ria Formosa, among flamingos and oyster beds, to barrier islands made of sand, sea and very little else.
Whitewashed Tavira
The Algarve as it was: a riverside town of bell towers and tiled façades, a Roman bridge, and a castle garden for the end of the day.
The caves and the coves
The sea caves and hidden beaches of the central coast, timed early and reached by private boat, before the day fills.
Cataplana, opened at the table
The south's great dish: clams, fish and a garden's worth of good things sealed in a copper cataplana and opened at the table in a cloud of steam. We know where it is still done properly, and we will point you there.
The Algarve, in a day
The Algarve rewards the unhurried. Here is how a day in the east might feel; yours will be drawn entirely around you, and there is a west coast waiting for another.
Out on the water
Slip out onto the Ria Formosa as the light comes up: flamingos in the shallows, an oyster raised straight from the bed, and an island beach with your footprints first.
A town taken slowly
Tavira for a long lunch and a wander: the river, the lanes, a pastry in a shaded square, and nowhere you have to be.
A beach kept late
The boardwalk down to a west-facing beach, a glass as the light turns amber, and dinner near the harbour, the day's catch chalked on a board.
The Algarve pairs beautifully with the Alentejo.
Fly into Faro, drift along the coast, then turn north through the cork country to Évora and on to Lisbon: the open-jaw journey we design most often, and one of the great slow drives of Europe.
Behind the dunes, among the orchards
We place you in small coastal addresses and country quintas: a farmhouse in the orange groves, a house above the west coast cliffs, pools shaded by carob trees. Never the obvious choice; always the right one for the way you travel, with the best rooms kept for you.
Let's design your journey
Tell us where your imagination is pointing (the Algarve, and wherever else in Portugal it leads), and your travel designer will shape a private proposal, just for you.