Are you worn out? At the end of your tether? Totally knackered? Contemporary life can be chaotic and challenging. When you don’t know New York from New Year, can’t tell your ass from your elbow and need a proper break before actual madness ensues, the Algarve’s six islands are the complete opposite of ‘real’ life.
These tiny oases of calm will help you unwind, slow down, see your own personal wood for the trees and… relax. Breathe out, breathe in, grab a glass of something nice and read on to see what’s in store for you just off Portugal’s most popular coast.
Heading heaven-wards
Algarve’s six sandy islands are stars in the Ria Formosa Natural Park’s stunning protected landscape. Two are home to little fishing communities, the rest are mostly deserted. Get to them by boat from Faro, Olhão, Tavira or various coastal villages to chill out on miles of tranquil sand with comparatively few holidaymakers, and take advantage of official and unofficial nudist beaches.
Ilha de Cacela Velha
First Cacela Velha, one of the Algarve’s smallest, best-preserved old villages. Standing on a hilltop overlooking the beach, this was a peninsula until 2010 when the tides and a new inlet left most of it surrounded by the sea. The beach is a real stunner, too. The water is spotless and clear and the vibe is ‘desert island’ every step of the way.
There are wetlands to explore on foot on the mainland and it’s possible to walk across them to the sandy island at low tide. In the holiday season you can get there by boat, taking you directly to the beach. The tides make this an unpredictable place because the island constantly changes shape and size, giving the place a strange charm of its own. It might look perfectly peaceful but nature is in charge, quietly moving vast amounts of material as the tides go in and out, in and out.
Culatra Island – Serene Ilha da Culatra
Next, Farol and Culatra. They were once separate islands, now joined into one four mile island. The western end still calls itself Ilha do Farol, at the other end there’s Ilha da Culatra. Farol gets its name from the 1800s Farol lighthouse towering above the village. It’s a delightful place of yellow, white and blue fishermen’s cottages, now second homes for holidaymakers.
The lighthouse end of the beach can fill up in the high season but the further east you go the more peaceful it gets. Follow the boardwalk to Culatra, the other village on the island, where the beach is almost always lovely and quiet. Keep going east and the solitude increases. The landscapes open wide to reveal sand dunes as far as the eye can see set against the huge blue bowl of the sky, and distant dolphins cavort in the spotlessly clean Blue Flag water.
You can get to Culatra Island by ferry with 10 or so sailings a day in summer from Farol and Olhão. For ferries from Olhão go to the main pier. There are two stops, reaching Culatra in half an hour and Farol fifteen minutes later. Once you’re there, enjoy the inspiring one-and-a-half-hour walk from one village to another, half on the wooden boardwalk and the rest taking you along the beach to where you can catch a return ferry.
Armona Island – Romantic Ilha da Armona
Armona Island is a sheer delight with its chocolate box cobbled streets and pristine white sandy beaches, a nourishing, healing escape you’ll hold in your heart for years to come. It’s another island with two names, this time Armona in the west with its fishing village of the same name, and uninhabited Fuseta in the east. At six miles long and around half a mile wide this is a tiny jewel of an island. If you fancy walking from one end to the other it’s a great way to soak in the lovely harmony of the place.
Get there by ferry from Olhão in twenty minutes to explore Armona, built in the 1970s but full of character. Head for the pier area for cafes and bars, and take the main street to a boardwalk over the dunes to the beach at Fuseta, whose fine white sand and clean, clear, shallow water glitter in the sunshine. There are holiday homes to let in the village if you fall in love and want to stay there longer – if you can manage to find one that’s free.
Between Armona and Fuseta there’s an unofficial nudist beach. There’s wildlife in the dunes, including loads of different birds as well as one of the world’s oddest creatures; chameleons. You can see the nearby island of Tavira from the eastern end of Armona, a view so beautiful it’s unreal. There are watersports in these luscious surroundings, with scuba diving and kayaking a popular choice, and three little shops and a supermarket stock the essentials for picnicking.
The Deserted Island – Charming Ilha Deserta
Officially called Ilha da Barreta, the Deserted Island offers an epic seven mile sandy coastline with a nudist beach at the western end. You’ll see a little lighthouse, a wooden solar-powered restaurant and a few sheds, otherwise it’s just blissful peace, the sea birds’ cries and the sound of the waves lapping. A truly divine beach makes it the ultimate in Instagrammable Portuguese destinations.
Travel by ferry from Faro – a 35 minute journey – to enjoy a stroll along just over a mile of boardwalk over the dunes to take in the island. Or grab an expensive private ferry taxi from Culatra if you fancy treating yourself. This place is perfect for bird watchers as well as beach lovers, a location where a host of migratory flamingos, terns and many more interesting birds flock to. Lunch in the legendary Estamine Restaurant seals the deal with what people say is some of the best seafood in Portugal.
Tavira Island – Sublime Ilha de Tavira
Accessed by boat from the Quatro Águas pier in the village of Cabanas de Tavira, the Algarve island of the same name offers seclusion in the sunshine on a seven mile long stretch of perfect sand. The 20 minute voyage takes you to somewhere completely uninhabited, divided into four spectacular beaches, each with its own ambience; Praia da Ilha de Tavira, Praia da Terra Estreita, Praia do Barril and Praia do Homem Nu.
These are some of the Algarve’s finest beaches, hence Tavira’s popularity, and the restaurant connected to the boardwalk is the only building on the entire island. There’s diving and surfing, olive oil tours, bird watching and more to enjoy here on the best-loved island of all.
Praia da Ilha de Tavira is the main beach, where the ferry from Tavira on the mainland drops you off. It has a few places to eat and a campsite. Otherwise it’s endless sand backed by miles of rolling dunes.
Barril beach is famous for its collection of over 100 anchors from local tuna fishing boats, an anchor cemetery sticking out of the dunes facing the sea. They’re rusty and forbidding yet fascinating, surrounded by tufts of razor sharp dune grass. And while the thought of an old tuna factory might not be very scenic your arty shots will go down a storm on Instagram.
Praia do Homem Nu to the west is usually deserted, although it’s officially a nudist beach. The name means ‘naked man beach’, apparently after a lone shipwreck survivor who once washed up here. The sand is genuinely white, an awesome sight against the blue, blue skies. The sea here is usually a couple of degrees warmer than anywhere else, which feels lovely. At the end of the beach there’s a small lagoon surrounded by sand where the water’s even warmer. No facilities, no lifeguards, just sand, sea and sun as far as you can see.
Praia da Terra Estreita lies between Praia da Ilha de Tavira and Praia do Barril where the island narrows down to a beach just 50m wide. You get there by boat from the pretty fishing village of Santa Luzia, a ten minute journey. This hidden beach offers peace and solitude, warm waters and fine sand, along with essentials like a bar and loos, excellent accessibility, lifeguards, and water sports. All this is put together for the summer and dismantled at the end of the holiday season so it’s temporary. Out of season the island is left to the wildlife, only disturbed by the occasional human visitor.
Will one of the Algarve tours you book take you to these unique sandy outposts? If so you’re in for a magical time.
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