Useful information

Sea and beach

The beach flags

There are five, not four — the fifth is not a warning, it is a marker. The wording is from the Beach Notice, the document displayed on every Portuguese beach.

• Green — Bathing and swimming are allowed.

• Yellow — Caution, swimming is forbidden. You may go in up to waist height, without swimming.

• Red — Danger, entering the water is forbidden.

• Blue and white chequered — Beach temporarily unsupervised — the lifeguard is away.

• Red and yellow (pennants) — Not a warning: two pennants at the water’s edge marking the supervised area. Swim between them.

Bathing season and lifeguards

The bathing season is not one single date across the Algarve — it is set beach by beach. Most run from 1 June to 30 September, but almost all of Albufeira’s coast (Oura, Peneco, Falésia, São Rafael, Salgados, Olhos de Água) runs from 15 May to 15 October.

What the season decides is not whether you can go to the beach — it is whether there is a lifeguard. Outside it, supervision is not guaranteed, even on a sunny day with a flat sea.

Source: APA

What to check before you go

We do not repeat numbers here that change every day. We explain what matters and send you to whoever measures them.

• The sea at today’s beach

  IPMA publishes a beach forecast for the Algarve — Albufeira, Armação de Pêra, Carvoeiro, Quarteira, Vilamoura, Alvor, Salema, Altura and Monte Gordo. It gives wave height, direction, wind and water temperature.

  Worth checking the day before a boat or kayak trip: the swell is what decides whether it sails.

  Check · IPMA ↗

• Tides

  In Portugal the tide is semidiurnal: two high tides and two low tides a day, on a cycle of about 12 hours and 25 minutes — which is the same as saying the tide arrives some 50 minutes later each day. The official table is the Instituto Hidrográfico’s and the digital version is free.

  It matters more than you would think: there are Albufeira beaches where high tide eats almost all the sand, and the springs that give Olhos de Água its name only show at low tide.

  Check · Instituto Hidrográfico ↗

• Jellyfish sightings

  GelAvista is IPMA’s programme recording sightings of jellyfish and Portuguese man o’ war along the coast, and helping identify them.

  If jellyfish showed up at the beach yesterday, they are likely still there today — the wind does not turn overnight.

  Check · GelAvista · IPMA ↗

• Blue Flag beaches

  An international award for environmental quality and services, given each year. The list of awarded beaches is published at the start of the season.

  Blue Flag is about water quality and services — it does not say whether you can swim today. That is the flag on the mast.

  Check · ABAAE ↗

Sun and weather

• UV index

  The scale runs from 1 to 11 or more. Up to 2 no protection is needed; from 3 it is. From 8 upwards add shade and limit children’s exposure; at 11 avoid the sun as much as possible.

  In the Algarve, between May and September, it often goes past 8 — and wind does not bring the index down.

  Check · IPMA ↗

• Weather warnings

  Colour-coded warnings by district for thunderstorms, coastal swell, rain, wind, heat, cold and fog. The Algarve is the district of Faro.

  An orange coastal swell warning is, almost always, the reason a boat trip does not sail.

  Check · IPMA ↗

Getting here and around

A22 with no tolls

The motorway that runs the length of the Algarve stopped charging on 1 January 2025.

Since 1 January 2025 the A22 (Via do Infante), which crosses the Algarve end to end, no longer charges tolls — Law 37/2024 removed them. The gantries are still there, but they do not charge. If you came to the Algarve before that and remember the payment hassle, it is gone.

Motorways further north still have tolls, and some are electronic-only (A24, A25, A28). If you are driving up, or entering from Spain, it is worth sorting that out before you set off.

Source: Diário da República

From Faro airport to Albufeira

It is about 32 km, and the Aerobus runs from the airport to Albufeira.

Faro airport (FAO) is about 32 km from Albufeira. There is the Aerobus, linking the airport to Faro city, Albufeira, Lagoa, Portimão and Lagos, plus taxis and ride-hailing.

There is no train station at the airport — to take the train you have to get to Faro station first.

Source: Turismo de Portugal

Train to Albufeira

The station is Albufeira-Ferreiras, about 7 km from the town.

The Algarve Line runs 140 km between Lagos and Vila Real de Santo António, with 30 stations — Tavira, Olhão, Faro, Loulé, Albufeira, Silves, Portimão. Since July 2026 it is fully electrified, with more services and direct end-to-end connections.

⚠ Albufeira’s station is called Albufeira-Ferreiras and sits about 7 km from the town — arriving by train, you still need a bus or taxi to the centre.

Source: CP

Buses across the region

The regional network is VAMUS, with a 3 or 7-day tourist pass for unlimited travel.

The regional network is VAMUS — Transportes do Algarve. There is a 3 or 7-day tourist pass with unlimited travel, which includes the airport Aerobus.

It is the cheapest way to move between towns without a car, but services thin out outside high season.

Source: VAMUS Algarve

Driving in Portugal

Drive on the right; 50 in towns, 90 on open roads, 120 on motorways.

Drive on the right. Limits are 50 km/h in built-up areas, 90 on ordinary roads and 120 on motorways — but signs always take priority, and Algarve roads such as the EN125 have lower limits.

Alcohol: the limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l in the first three years of holding a licence. You must carry a reflective vest and a warning triangle, and put the vest on before leaving the car at a stop. Daytime running lights are not compulsory for cars.

Source: ANSR

Breakdown or accident

Hi-vis vest on before you get out of the car; triangle 30 metres behind, so other drivers see you in time.

The vest is required of whoever gets out to signal, repair or move the car — so it has to be within your reach, not in the boot. The triangle is required whenever the car is stopped on the carriageway or the hard shoulder, and must be visible from at least 100 metres.

Both are the vehicle’s own legal equipment, hire cars included — worth finding them before you set off.

Source: Código da Estrada, art. 88.º

Good to know

Money, plugs and the time

Euro, two round-pin sockets — and Portugal is one hour behind Spain.

Currency: the euro, and cards are accepted almost everywhere. Sockets: 230 V, two round pins, as in the rest of mainland Europe. Tap water is drinkable — in 2024, 98.86% of tests in mainland Portugal returned safe water.

⚠ Mainland Portugal is one hour behind Spain and France. It is the mistake that makes people miss flights and bookings when they drive in across the border.

Source: Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa

The couvert on the table

The bread, olives and cheese that arrive at the table are usually good — and if you do not want them, you can send them back.

It is called couvert and it is the custom in Portugal: it arrives without being ordered, and if you keep it you pay for it. The price list is required to state that no dish, food item or drink, including the couvert, may be charged if it was not requested by the customer — sending it back untouched is normal and nobody minds.

It is worth tasting before you decide. It is where many places show off the local bread, cheese and olives.

Source: ASAE

Withdrawing cash without a fee

With a debit card there is no fee to withdraw cash in Portugal, at Multibanco machines.

What costs money is withdrawing on credit: that counts as a cash advance, with a fixed fee plus a percentage, and sometimes interest. If your card carries both functions — MB, Visa Electron or Maestro on the debit side; Visa, Mastercard or Amex on the credit side — the cost depends on which one the machine uses.

That is why the same machine is free for one person and expensive for another. If the screen lets you choose, choose debit.

Source: Banco de Portugal