Site Seeing

Casa da Figueira is an ideally located vacation rental in Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal. You can relax at the villa's private pool, enjoy the tropical gardens, take a stroll on the sandy beach, play a game at many of the fabulous golf courses nearby, or enjoy an afternoon of wine tasting. The Algarve has many traditional fishing village and citadel towns where you can experience the traditional Portuguese way of life as the New York Times reported. From storybook medieval castles to unmarked surfer beaches to mom-and-pop seafood joints, can be explored by anyone at low cost. To book your stay at Casa da Figueira please book the villa's HomeAway website.

There are also plenty of opportunity to explore the area. Here are a few half or full-day trips that I recommend:

• Walking or biking west of Praia da Luz on the nature trail adjacent to the cliffs gets you to Burgau, a working fishing village, and Salema with a beautiful beach.
  
  
• Driving West of Praia da Luz towards the “End of the World”
   
  • About 30 km past Praia da Luz you reach Sagres with its Fortaleza which School of Vasco da Gama from where the Portuguese discovered half the world. A couple miles past the Sagres Fortaleza is Cape St Vincent which is the most westerly tip of Europe, called the “End of the world”. The coastline running North from Cape St Vincent is undeveloped and wildly beautiful. It faces onto the open ocean with nothing but the Azores between here and the East Coast of the United States.
    
    
  • The west coast of Portugal has a magnificent coastline with several secluded beaches. The Atlantic Ocean is normally colder and wilder then the Mediterranean coastline where Casa da Figueira is located, but because of the spectacular views it is worth a day trip. One of our favorite beaches and trails is located close to the village of Carrapateira (between Vila do Bispo and Aljezur). There are also a couple fantastic restaurants located in Carrapateira.
    
    
    
• Driving East of Praia da Luz you can visit many other towns and villages of the 160 kilometers long Algarve. There are too many interesting sites to mention and many excellent tourist guides and web pages can give you more info.
  
  
  • Just a few miles inland and you are in a time wrap, life is much as it has been for centuries. Drive into the hills and you reach Caldas de Monchique, a haven of tranquility and has been a spa for 2000 years. Further up, the hill town of Monchique is surrounded by steep terraced fields and forests. Still further up, above the tree line at just 900 meters (3300 feet) you can stand on the summit of Foia with much of the Western Algarve at your feet.
    
    
  • The historic town of Silves is definitely worth a visit. It has a medieval castle and cathedral and is proud of its heritage as a former Moorish capital city.
    
    
  • Driving back to the coast in the direction of Portimao you reach Porches, a small town known for it’s colorful porcelain and pottery  . The oldest and best known pottery is called Porches Pottery and is located on route 125 Alqueves, Porches. We own several wonderful handpainted pieces from this pottery in our Boston home. They also make very unique tiles.
    
    
  • Portimao: the second largest town and port in the Algarve is a commercial city with a very large flee market that operates once/month.
    
    
  • Keep driving east and you’ll pass Faro where the airport is located (about 1 hour from Casa Figueira), and end up in Spain might also be worth it. The border is only 1.5 hours from Casa Figueira. Make sure to stop in the beautiful coastal town of Tavira along the way.
    

Enjoy exploring the area around Casa da Figueira. In Casa da Figueira you'll find several tourist guides and books that describe the Algarve and other parts of Portugal. You can also search the web and find a lot of interesting information on this amazing place.