Buying Guide Details
Buying Property on the Algarve
Overview
The Algarve was one of the destinations at the forefront of the European package holiday boom in the early Sixties and has remained a firm favourite destination with visitors from the UK ever since. Many of those holidaymakers have subsequently become property owners along this marvellous coast, which accounts for around 90 per cent of all UK purchases for property for sale in Portugal.
The Algarve has a terrific, year-round climate, lovely beaches and a staggering collection of golf courses, along with many other sports facilities on land and sea. For the purposes of searching for property for sale on the Algarve, the coast is often considered as three separate parts – Eastern, Central and Western. While some stretches have succumbed to overzealous property and tourist development, mainly in the central area, there has been a much more sympathetic approach at its eastern and western ends in recent years.
Partly this is due to protection of areas of natural beauty and partly down to appealing to a more discerning, and affluent, property buyer who values high-quality, low-density schemes and environmental conservation. Overall, the Algarve is by no means a cheap second home destination but property buyers are assured of a great selection of properties and first-class amenities.
Where to buy property on the Algarve
The western end of the Algarve coast has been on the ascendancy for overseas property buyers in recent years, and the area is now home to a number of quality developments. The Via do Infante highway now brings the Sagres, the popular resort at the tip of Portugal’s southern Atlantic coast, within an hour’s drive of Faro airport, a key factor in the area’s growing popularity with property buyers flying in from the UK and Ireland.
The craggy coast has a number of excellent sandy beaches and coves punctuated with fishing ports and harbours – the seafood here is sensational. The Atlantic breeze makes for excellent windsurfing and sailing conditions for water sports fans. The town of Lagos is perhaps the best known in this part of Portugal, combining a modern port and marina with a delightful Old Town of winding streets and whitewashed buildings.
Coastal towns such as Portimao, Burgau and Luz have retained much of their charm, while inland, the mountain spa town of Monchique shows another side to the region. A large area around the coast to the west of Burgau is given over to the Costa Vincentina Nature Reserve, a protected wildlife habitat that will ensure that this part of Portugal will not be subject to overdevelopment.
Golf is, as with the more developed central Algarve, a major draw for property buyers in the area. There are a number of high quality courses already established in the region and there are more planned. There is a wide choice of properties on the courses themselves but wherever you buy property you are never far away from a course or three.
East of Faro, where the Algarve - Faro & East coast stretches up to Vila Real de Santo Antonio close to the Spanish border, property buyers have had a limited choice of properties until quite recently. Much of the coast is set aside as a protected wildlife area, the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, a tidal lagoon that is protected from the sea by splendid sand flats known as ‘ilhas’. These can be reached by ferry from small harbours such as Olhao.
There are beaches further up the coast as good as any on the Algarve - Faro & East, among the most notable, Cabanas and Praia Verde, and it is still easy to find a great, deserted stretch of white sand. Towns such as Tavira and the small fishing ports like Santa Luzia have retained their traditional charm and local property styles.
There are, however, a number of new property developments on the Algarve - Faro & East now, with golf proving to be as popular here as in the rest of the coast. For those who prefer traditional properties away from the tourist developments, inland, towns and villages such as Alcoutim and Castro Marim remain untouched by the schemes aimed at overseas property buyers and still offer beautiful examples of unspoilt Portuguese life.
There's also a range of articles for you to read about buying property in Portugal:
as well as overseas property news stories affecting the property market in Portugal or view our range of property for sale on The Algarve.
