Algarve holiday luxury Portugal villa

Algarve - The major tourist resort in Portugal

The Algarve has been the country's major tourist resort area since Faro airport opened in the 1960s, leading to a flood of package tours from the UK and, increasingly, Germany and France. The big attraction? Almost year-round sun, great beaches and plentiful tourist facilities.

Those are still the Algarve's major selling points, though rampant development during the late 1970s between Lagos and Faro destroyed much of the coastline's picturesque quality. In recent years tourism has gone upmarket, with more environmentally conscious developers and luxurious villa resorts complete with designer golf courses and marinas.

The biggest and liveliest summertime resorts along the Algarve's 270km coastline are AIbufeira and Lagos. But you don't need to go far to find quieter villages and beaches -between Lagos and Sagres are several lowkey coves. North of Sagres stretches the rugged, wild coastline of the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina.

And east of Faro (Algarve's capital)is a string of sandy offshore islands that make up the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, a favourite haunt for birds and other wildlife.

And then there are the wonderful inland Iattractions: the forested slopes of the Serra de Monchique and wild Serra do Caldeirao; the ancient Moorish fortified town of Silves and market town of Loulé; and the remote feeling-frontier with Spain, curving northwards beside the lugubrious Rio Guadiana.