Alvor in Algarve

Beautiful Alvor in Portugal is our most favourite place to visit in the Algarve. We love the way it has retained its traditional Portuguese charm with its low rise white buildings and cobbled streets that lead down to the harbour.

Alvor Sunset

The riverfront is fully paved and lined with lovely palm trees and several smart new bars. A favourite pastime of ours is sitting at one of the bars with a cocktail and watching the beautiful sunsets. Or eating (usually that morning’s catch) in one of the interesting restaurants on the harbour.
If we fancy Italian food, we will eat at one of the Italian restaurants. Paesano, in particular, is a favourite as they do an excellent Truffle mushroom lasagne.

Chris eating Fish Alvor

Table of Contents

1 Alvor Beach
2 The Boardwalk
3 Alvor Camping
4 More Information
5 Transport
6 Getting to Alvor from Faro Airport
7 Alvor Car Hire

Alvor Beach

The beaches are, I would say, the best in the Algarve they are gorgeous.

Chris-on-beach-at-Alvor

Afternoons are spent taking lovely relaxing strolls along the beach while dipping our toes in the beautiful cool water. We love exploring the rocks and caves and searching for shells and crabs in the nooks and crannies.

Further along, the eastern end of the beach is the Three Brother’s Beach (named because of the rock formations). This part of the beach is a lot more sheltered because of the cliffs and rocks and is truly picturesque.

Alvor Beach

The Boardwalk

A boardwalk stretches for miles and crosses the wetlands of the Ria de Alvor Nature Reserve, running alongside the beach, lagoons and estuaries through to the caves and tunnels in the other direction. It is perfect for families with prams and those that can’t walk so easily on the sand. There are plenty of seating areas along the way and good restaurants and bars lining the beach which can be reached partially from the boardwalk.

Alvor Beach

We love walking along the boardwalk taking in the gentle scenery, colourful flowers and wild birds.

Many of the streets in the town centre now boast bars with live music and different types of restaurants. There are also several interesting shops to browse around.

Alvor town

Alvor is a very popular area with golfers too and has an 18 hole golf course.

Alvor Camping

Ray cooking our evening meal on the aire

GPS: N37.12456 W8.59413

We have visited Alvor several times over the year and always stay on the motorhome stopover (Aire) which is on the edge of the town. It’s just a large car park on wasteland run by the council for motorhomes and campervans. The Aire has electric, fresh water, waste and chemical toilet disposal. The area is manned during the day between 9 am and 5.30pm although when the warden leaves at 5.30pm, he turns the water off until he comes back the next morning. Therefore, you need to make sure your water is always topped up. The cost is 4 euros per night and an extra 3 euros for electric.

Although there is an ACSI campsite further down the road before you come into Alvor, the Aire is much nearer to both the beach and the town. We can easily walk over to the beach with our recliner chairs for a day sunbathing. During the summer months there are sunbeds and parasols for hire, but as we visit out of season, these are usually packed away for the winter.