Albufeira

Game meat and a wine list well beyond the usual. This is the place for a meal that is the evening itself, not a stop between two things.

The other game restaurant around here, and another serious wine list. You go for the cooking and stay for the bottle.

Fresh fish and seafood every day, with music and the sunset up on the rooftop. You eat facing the sea without leaving the area.

A table right on the beach in the old town. The Albufeira classic for fish, and still where you take someone on their first visit.

Another one by the sea, a few steps away. A good alternative when the beachfront places are full and you would rather not go far.

Everyday Portuguese food at the price paid by people who eat there out of habit. It fills up at lunch with locals — quick, authentic, and with no frills.

Same idea: dish of the day, no ceremony, no waiting. Where you eat well when lunch is not meant to be an event.

The third of the same kind: traditional, generous, honestly priced. A local crowd, which is usually the best sign there is.

Crepes, waffles and artisan gelato made in house, with plenty of local ingredients, and Algarve orange juice. With seating and a small terrace right on Rua 5 de Outubro: the sweet stop before the beach, or the reward on the way back.

A beach club and a Thai kitchen in the same place. The one for a beach day with a proper table, when it is not another grilled fish.

One of the best places around here for cocktails. The stop to start the evening with something properly made, instead of another terrace.

It runs down from the old town towards the sea and ends in a tunnel through the cliff, with Peneco beach on the other side. A short walk that finishes on the sand, with Maresia and Crepe da Baixa along the way.

Brightly coloured buildings around the water, west of the old town, with restaurants and terraces beside the boats. Many of our boat trips leave from here, but the marina is worth a visit in its own right, even without going aboard.

A 12th-century castle raised in Moorish times near Paderne, the traditional village inland from Albufeira, with the old arched bridge below. Only a short way from the coast, and already another Algarve: fields, silence and old stone.

Inside, it opens only on certain Wednesdays, on a schedule the town council sets each year; on other days you see it from the outside.

Fresh fish on the stalls, local fruit and vegetables and regional produce, in the town's municipal market. It is where people here really do their shopping, and where the stalls tell you what is in season.

The fish and fruit stalls are open from the morning until early afternoon. From October to May it is closed on Mondays.

Small, at the entrance to Olhos de Água, with fresh fish, fruit and vegetables and a craft shop. If you are staying on this side of Albufeira, it is the unhurried morning shop.

The fish and fruit stalls are open from the morning until early afternoon. Outside summer it is closed on Mondays.

Maresia is the Portuguese word for the scent of the sea, and the sea runs through everything here: bikinis and beach essentials, plus jewellery and collections inspired by it. On Rua 5 de Outubro, on the way to the tunnel.