The village of PORCHES has two potteries, Porches Pottery and Olaria Pequena, producing their own hand-painted pieces.

LAGOA, a typical, small provincial town, is best-known for its winery, the most productive in the Algarve. Strong, rough and ready red and white table wines, and a little fortified wine as well, are produced from grapes grown in a wide radius around Lagoa. Visitors are welcome, by arrangement, to tour the adega, see something of the wine-making process and sample the end product. Lagoa's banks and shops draw tourists but its not really a tourist town.

No village along the South West coast is totally untouched by tourism, but FERRAGUDO is far less affected than most. Sitting within the eastern breakwater at the mouth of the river Arade, it maintains an air of unpretentiousness. There is a somewhat shabby serenity about it. Unenviously it looks across the river to Portimão and Portimão's beachside satellite, Praia da Rocha.

PRAIA DO CARVOEIRO is the place. Its name is nowadays usually simplified to Carvoeiro. To those who peruse the holiday accommodation classified ads in British national newspapers, Carvoeiro may be one of the best-known places in the whole of Portugal. Apart from its far-flung reputation, it has managed to keep a low profile, having spread sideways rather than upwards.

Suburbs of good quality villas, many of them with private pools, have been built to the east and west of the village. There are a few good hotels in the vicinity, but essentially this is holiday villa land. It is very active in summer, but the villa shutters come down with the first signs of winter in early November and most of the neighbourhood goes into hibernation.

There is one notable area of continued activity throughout the winter and that is west of the village where the upmarket Carvoeiro Clube development maintains two excellent golf courses, the unique double nine-hole Quinta do Gramacho, and the pristine 18-hole Vale de Pinta.


Visit: Câmara Municipal de Lagoa