If you are looking for things to do in Alvor, you are in the right place! Check out this complete guide for some of the best things you can do.
The activity program is very simple: after long hours lounging in the sun and refreshing dips in the sea, find the ideal outfit and take to the streets for a tour that will include food, music and cocktails.
Alvor is a tourist fishing village 12 minutes away from the centre of Portimão, and although it is a calmer and more typical place, its nightlife is not any duller at any age.
Watch the sunset
You can buy a drink on your way, lay out your beach towel, play some music on your phone, sit and enjoy this free daily spectacle that nature offers you. In the hot summer nights, the sky is coated in orange and ocher colours and there isn’t a more relaxing activity than to look into the horizon until the sun slowly hides behind the sea.
At this time of the day, there’s always some fishermen preparing the boats for the night fishing or the next day
Seagulls wander the almost empty sand looking for leftovers and the only sounds you will hear are the sea waves.
If you have never done it, today is the day!
Alvor harbour ist’s also a very peaceful place to watch the sunset while drinking or eating something delicious. Algarve fun suggests you four places to visit during sunset time:
- The restaurant A Ribeira, overlooking the water, is a very picturesque place where you can also have dinner if you want and is located near the roundabout.
- The Yacht Club is a bar with great views, where you can feel the sea breeze while choosing something from the menu.
- Café na Ria is known for its excellent food and friendly service mixed with the harbour beautiful views.
- Restinga Ria is a café that serves fresh food on the harbour front in Alvor. Grab a chair outside and enjoy the orange colour of the Algarve sky.
Cruise the sunset in Alvor
Watching the sunset on the beach is beautiful, but what if you did it from the sea?
You can do this to in Alvor, on a colourful Tagus boat (Lisbon’s river typical boat), a sailing vessel traditionally used to transport cargo.
Onboard you will toast to the sunset with Champagne and strawberries during the hour and a half trip. It is a very safe boat and it is a beautiful place to take pictures of the contrasting blue of the sea.
It takes only ten people, so if you want to reserve just for your family or your friend’s group, it’s cheap compared to other sunset tours around Algarve. It will be much more fun too!
Dining at a great restaurant
A lively night never starts without a nice dinner first. Keep in mind that you are in a fishing village and as such, take advantage of choosing from the freshest options available.
Although Alvor is right next to the lively Praia da Rocha, it is visited by a lot of families, so its nightlife starts a little earlier than in other parts of the Algarve, where you’d never dine before 9 pm.
Look for a restaurant near the harbour or in one of the village’s narrow streets, you will find lots of options.
We leave you with three delicious options:
– Restinga restaurant, in Alvor. Covered in glass and wood, besides being an ecological dream build, it is grilled food paradise. The speciality is fish cataplana and clam spaghetti (harvested in the Alvor river).
– Caniço restaurant at the Praia dos Três Irmãos. When you enter this restaurant you will have a panoramic view of both the pool and the seafront at once. It is an exceptionally nice place, whose speciality is seafood. If you arrive via the beach you will get to the restaurant by an elevator that will bring you up through the cliff.
–Àbabuja restaurant in Alvor. This old fisherman’s house now offers the possibility to eat seafood, by the cost, in the most traditional way. It has a nice outdoor terrace, for the warm summer nights.
A tour around the vila
During the summer, shops are open till later so that visitors can shop and get a souvenir to take home. Enjoy the night lights, the products on show and the bustle of the groups that are going to parties.
Choose an ice cream or a cold drink in one of the many terraces while you enjoy Alvor’s nightlife.
Watch live music
If you enjoy music, you will have no trouble finding a bar in Alvor that has a band playing live.
Of the many available, the one that everyone would recommend is the Bolan bar, in the vila’s main street. It is a very central bar, with excellent music, and a lively environment that serves delicious caipirinhas (a Brazilian alcoholic drink that is also very popular in Portugal).
If you prefer an outdoor space to an indoor bar, Algarve Fun recommends The Venue. A huge bar with several international drinks where you can also enjoy the terrace. Right next to the bar, there is a games area with trampolines for the kids, so that the whole family can enjoy this space.
Go to the Sardine Festival
Sardines are the most traditional fish to enjoy in the Algarve and right next to Alvor, Portimão hosts this famous festival that attracts visitors from all over.
The space has more than 2000 seats outdoors, but still, close to 8 pm it can be hard to get a place outside.
Our best advice is that you go at around 6 pm, and that, while you wait for the most succulent sardines you have ever had, you enjoy a glass of red wine and watch the bustle of the locals that are so very proud of their fresh fish and this very typical event.
Play mini golf
At the Adventure Golf Algarve in Alvor, there is a dinosaur inspired mini golf circuit.
The realistic statues of these animals that once inhabited the Earth are scattered around the site and in a lot of places create an obstacle in the game.
In the summer, this family fun space is open till 10 pm, allowing for a game after dinner, during your stay in Alvor.
Water taxi to Lagos
Lagos is the next city in the West. It’s one of the most significant towns in Algarve and also one the one with the best nightlife. If you are in Alvor, write on your bucket list: Have fun in Lagos.
How to go there? By taxi, it takes around 25 minutes. But there’s not so much fun (and quicker), as grabbing a Water-taxi.
Take the water taxi in the late afternoon or early evening for a night out in Lagos, and get a taxi back off course. The ticket is 25€ per adult and children 10€ or 15€.
Bowling Night
It’s one of our favourites!
Bowling Alvor is a leisure centre where either you can practice the sport of Tenpin Bowling by joining one the house leagues or to having fun with your family and friends.
The place also has billiards, foosball tables, two terraces for hot summer nights and displays all leading sports events.
Bowling Alvor is located 50 meters away from the Alvor beach.
Put your fancy bowling shoes on and have fun!
Cabaret Show in a hotel
Cabaret Show or live music is always a good option for the summer nights.
If your hotel doesn’t have this kind of animation, you can go to other hotels. Ask the reception for the times, dress for the occasion and bring the money for the drinks.
In Alvor, the Pestana Delfim Beach & Golf Hotel has daily shows. You have to buy a 20€ voucher that you can use for drinks, seat and enjoy. Children pay 50%.
It’s always fun!
