Staying at home until the new year is not going well. After we got back from our quickly arranged trip to Germany we realised we’d never last until a short break at  Christmas.

Well if its under 10° in England and you’re over sixty the only obvious thing to do is go somewhere warm as fast as you can for as long as possible. Hence ten days in the Algarve, known to travel agents as the Algrave exactly because sensible OAP’s love it there between  November and March. It really is near to heaven.

Albufeira

We chose the busiest resort, Albufeira, because out of season we did want to find things to do. A few years ago I wouldn’t have considered wasting holiday time and money on somewhere so  seemingly unexciting. It may be old age talking but I think I was wrong. Ten days of sun,22 ° in the middle of the day, was perfect.

The Algarve and Albufeira in particular is all things to all people. It has the loud brash strip for the stag and hen parties. Beautiful beaches for families and the old town for the more sedate. There’s even a little archaeology museum. Its tiny but the staff are great. While we were there a temporary exhibition of local painters was worth a look.

 

 

 

The tourist train will take you down to the sea front and back but we walked most of the time.

A mostly coastal walk takes you to the marina.

 

Once you’ve exhausted the town its easy to visit the beautiful towns and villages nearby. The is a big bus station or you can visit one of the many ticket shops to chose a tour.

Choose carefully though, the cheaper ones pick up from more places than you would think possible before you actually go anywhere!