Algarve Portugal Road Trip: Scrapbooking My Travels

A famous Benagil cave in Algarve, Portugal

Over Halloween weekend, many of the auxiliares de conversación in my area had extra long weekends, because our schools were closed for a couple of extra days (for Halloween and All Saints Day). I ended up spending that weekend road tripping in southern Portugal. 

A few weeks before, an aux in Malaga messaged the local aux WhatsApp group explaining that she wanted to organize a road trip through southern Portugal over that long weekend. To lower costs, she wanted to fill all five seats in the rental car, and she had three spots left. My roommate and I quickly messaged her that we were interested, and after a brief video chat, we decided it would be a good fit and we committed to traveling together. 

Please note: Exercise caution when meeting up or making plans with people over the internet. I’m just sharing my experiences here for entertainment purposes. Even though I had a good experience, I do NOT recommend that you make travel plans with people online without meeting them first.

After a few weeks of planning and making the bookings for our trip, the day finally came to begin our travels. Below is my virtual scrapbook of my road trip through Algarve, Portugal.

DAY 1:

My roommate and I woke up around 7:00 am so that we could catch the 8:00 am train from Fuengirola to the Malaga airport. Once we arrived at the airport, we searched for our car rental company: Malaga Car. We looked on Google Maps and saw that Malaga Car appeared to be next to the airport, not inside. After walking through the parking garage with all of the rental cars, we came to a busy road with no sidewalks and had the unfortunate realization that we could not walk to Malaga Car. Turns out, the rental car companies that aren’t located within the airport provide shuttles from the airport to their store fronts. 

Luckily, since the people we were road tripping with (at that point we had not yet met in person) had gone directly to the Malaga Car store front, they decided to grab the car and come pick us up from the airport. But that ended up being quite an adventure, too. We had assumed they would be able to pick us up from the arrivals pickup loop, but we soon discovered that only public transportation, ride share cars, and taxis are allowed into the pickup loop at the Malaga airport. Instead, they had to park the car in short-term parking, which is located by departures. 

We walked upstairs and found them, loaded our luggage into the rental car, and then pulled out of the parking lot. To pay the ticket, you apparently need cash. And to make matters even more complicated, when you pull up to the machine to put your ticket in, there’s no place to pay. It’s really confusing, but after a bit of confused searching around, we figured out that you have to get out of your car and walk up to the nearby ATM to pay. When you pay, the ATM gives you a ticket that confirms the payment. You have to put that ticket into the machine, and it opens the gate to let the car out. Once we figured that out, we were off!

During most of the day, we drove. We stopped shortly at a roadside restaurant for breakfast. Along the highways, you’ll occasionally see places where you can pull off for gas and restaurants, but it’s hard to predict when the next one will be, so if you’re hungry or need gas, make the stop when you see a place. We ate typical Spanish tostada breakfasts, which include bread toasted with olive oil, tomato, and sometimes cheese and/or meat.

We arrived at our hotel in Albufeira in the late afternoon. Even on the Iberian Peninsula, it was too late for lunch, but we needed to eat, so we had a combined lunch-and-dinner meal. I ate vegetarian tofu pad Thai at Thai Phuket. The dish was tasty and provided plenty of food. I forgot to take a picture beforehand, but I ate every bite.

DAY 2:

Praia da Marinha, Algarve, Portugal

On Saturday morning, we went for a hike on the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. From our hotel in Albufeira, it took about forty minutes to get there by car. The Seven Hanging Valleys Trail goes along gorgeous yellow and orange rocky cliffs on the coast of Portugal. The views were incredible—seriously, they were like nothing I had ever seen before.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant that was a little off of the beaten path, in a small town called Guia. The restaurant, named Restaurante y Bar Quinta da Saudade, was completely booked with reservations when we arrived, but the staff was very kind and squeezed our party in anyway. We all absolutely loved our dishes, and a couple of us even agreed it was our favorite meal in Europe so far. The ambience was really nice too. The place had the perfect mix of classiness and homey cottage vibes.

Afterwards, we went into Albufeira’s old town and had drinks at a cute little bar called Portas da Villa Antiquity Bar. The walls are almost entirely covered with shells, giving it a really unique atmosphere. The bar felt cozy and inviting, and the sangria we shared was tasty.

DAY 3:

After eating breakfast from the grocery store to save on expenses, we drove back to the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail area. This time, we met up with some guides at Xplore Benagil Kayak&Sup for a kayak tour of the Algarve Benagil Caves. After a brief orientation with instructions on how to kayak through rough waves, we set off. 

Kayak tour of the Benagil Caves, Algarve, Portugal

I’ll always remember the kayak tour of the Algarve Benagil Caves. These incredible geological features are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. Even when we were outside of the caves, the views of the rocky limestone cliffs were simply unbelievable. I felt like I was on another planet.

I highly recommend Xplore Benagil Kayak&Sup for guided kayak tours. The guides were phenomenal in so many ways. Their knowledge of the caves, tides, and rock formations was astounding. They helped us navigate rough waters around rocks. Plus, every time we docked at a beach or took off from a beach, they dragged our boats (with us inside!). They made sure to push our kayaks off the beach at juuuuuust the right time to avoid large waves. I even saw them jump into the water to help other kayakers (who were not part of our tour group) when their boat got flipped by a wave. The experience would not have been the same—and in those choppy seas it wouldn’t have even been possible—without the outstanding guides at Xplore Benagil Kayak&Sup. 

By the time our tour ended, we were quite hungry, so we drove a bit to Café Fino for lunch. They had great vegan and vegetarian options, and my meat-eating friends enjoyed the food, too. We all ordered burgers (mine was vegan). Afterwards, my friends enjoyed some gelato while I tried my first pastéis de nata, a Portuguese custard-pie-like dessert. I expected it to be super rich and filling, but it was actually quite light. I loved it! 

Pasteis de nata

After lunch, we picked our luggage up from our hotel in Albufeira and drove to our next hotel in Portimão. 

DAY 4:

In the morning, we walked around the Portimão waterfront and grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe. Then we traveled to Lagos to explore its old town. The city has beautiful cobblestone streets and historic fort walls around the buildings on the coast.

We enjoyed lunch at an Italian restaurant in Lagos’ historic area and then continued on to the Ponta da Piedade to watch the sunset (which happened to occur around 5:30 pm that evening). Ponta da Piedade is a gorgeous lookout point with plenty of space to spread out and enjoy a sunset (or sunrise) in Lagos. The spot came highly recommended by our guides at Xplore Benagil Kayak&Sup (the company that provided us a kayak tour of the Benagil Caves). It was well worth the short drive from town!

Ponta da Piedade, Lagos, Portugal

For dinner, we enjoyed sangria and burgers (I ate a veggie burger of course) from Nah Nah Bah. Our guides at Xplore Benagil Kayak&Sup also recommended this place, and again, we were not disappointed. Their sangria was amazing and I loved their veggie burger. My friend, who had one of their meat burgers, even went as far as to say it was one of the best burgers she had ever eaten in her life! If you decide to go, definitely make a reservation, because we went on a Monday night, and even then, they were completely booked. Thankfully, we made a reservation!

DAY 5:

The last day we spent driving back to Malaga. It was quite a long drive, so we had to wake up early, and we only had time to stop briefly for food and gas. At the end of the day I felt soooooo ready for a good night's sleep in my own bed.

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Though spending so much time in a fully packed car is exhausting, road tripping turned out to be the perfect way to explore Portugal’s Algarve region. The car allowed us to visit natural and historic sites, as well as restaurants, that would have otherwise been difficult and/or costly to access.

My first European road trip was a huge success!