Comporta
Unspoiled enclave of protected pine forest, white sand beaches, rice fields & fairy tale whitewashed fishermen’s cottages. Unpretentious but quite the spot – known as the Hamptons of Portugal! Still super chill & not very touristy.
This time of year, May, all over the coast, the storks are breeding and you can see them on their big nests on top of telephone polls, chimneys, rocks and even electrical towers. If you are lucky, you will also get to see their chicks in the nests. I could not get enough of them!
At the small town of Comporta, eat at Gomes Casa de Vinhos & Petiscos [very charming wine bar & restaurant] São João [simple restaurant, loved by locals & great for lunch. Order the seafood cataplana – seafood stew cooked inside a copper pot] Colmo Bar [go any time in the day; serves coffee, fresh juices, healthy lunches and cocktails at sunset] Cavalariça [restaurant inside an old horse stable; we did not get to eat there, but the ambiance looked great]
BEACHES Comporta Beach [like all beaches in the area, it has uninterrupted white sand sandwiched between dunes and a beautifully blue ocean. If it’s not windy, which can be crazy at times, you cannot ask for a more perfect beach] Pego Beach [same as Comporta – eat at Sal – very charming restaurant right on the beach, serving fresh & delicious seafood] Carvalhal Beach [also similar to Comporta & Pego beaches. Dinis is a restaurant right on the beach, and while we did not eat there, I cannot imagine it wouldn’t be good with the abundance of fresh seafood in the area]
TO DO Cavalos na Areia [horse-back riding through the rice fields, over the dunes covered with pine trees and finally on the completely deserted white sand beach. Beautiful 1 ½ hour experience] Sado Estuary Nature Reserve [home to dolphins, flamingos & nesting storks. Hire a canoe and explore the estuary]
STAY Sublime [beautifully designed hotel in the midst of pine trees. It has a very good spa & very nice restaurant. It is however a bit pricey]
Costa Vicentina
It’s a natural park that’s runs along the whole west coast of the Alentejo & Algarve regions. Due to this park, this is a more wild, less developed coast than the Algarve in the south. The golden sand beaches are beautiful and almost deserted. There is a trail that runs along the coast – ROTA VICENTINA– that used be an ancient smugglers’ route and fisherman’s pathways. It offers superb views of the coast. Some people hike the whole length of this trail and sleeps in the small towns along the way.
PORTO COVO [another traditional & charming whitewashed village, still not overwhelmed by tourism. The nearby Samoqueira beach with its turquoise water is not to be missed]
VILA NOVA DE MILFONTES [one of the loveliest towns along this stretch of the coast, Vila Nova de Milfontes has an attractive, whitewashed center, a beautiful beach alongside the sand edged limb of estuary of the Mira River]
EAT/DRINK Choupana [very simple restaurant in an old fishermen’s wooden shack, directly on thebeach. The fresh grilled fish is always delicious, but get used to it, it will inevitably come accompanied with boiled potatoes and a salad of lettuce and tomatoes. That’s pretty much the case everywhere] O7 Ocean Drive Beach Club [on the south side of the river, at Furnas beach, is this quirky bar, a great spot for a drink]
CABO SARDÃO [a lighthouse that is nothing special, but we did the walk along the Rota Vicentina from here to Zambujeira do Mar and it was quite beautiful. About 2hrs walk (not a loop, out and back – we parked the car in Zambujeira and got a ride to Cabo Sardão). You can eat at a Barca Traquitanas in Zambujeira, at the end of the hike]
PRAIA DA AMÁLIA [from the Herdade Amalia Guesthouse near Azenhas do Mar village, follow a path through thicket and down rough-hewn steps to Praia da Amália. Jagged black cliffs bookend this picture-perfect beach, named after Amália Rodrigues, an orange-seller turned into an iconic fado singer, who learned to swim there]
ODECEIXE [a lovely old village tucked into a river valley with an old windmill at the top of the hill. But the biggest attraction is its wide awe-inspiring beach with the river Seixe running along one of its side and the sea on the other. This river is also the divider between the Alentejo region to the north and the Algarve to the south]
STAY Casa da Diná [lovely B&B near Odemira, run by a Portuguese lady – Diná – and her Uruguayan husband – Walter. They are incredibly warm hosts; Diná is a great cook so the breakfasts are a treat and I highly recommend you ask her to cook dinner one night. We ended up hanging out with them quite a bit and they were a lot of fun! It felt like we were staying at a friend’s house and not at a hotel. We were sad to have to leave]
