Albufeira Old Town

Historic Quarter

Albufeira's old town occupies the slopes above Praia dos Pescadores, the fisherman's beach, a crescent of sand at the base of sandstone cliffs. The area is a tangle of narrow, steep streets lined with whitewashed buildings, many of them converted into restaurants, bars and small shops, but retaining enough of their original character to recall the fishing village that existed here before mass tourism arrived in the 1960s.

The Rua 5 de Outubro, the main pedestrianised street, drops steeply from the Largo Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco to the beach, passing through a tunnel cut in the cliff rock. This tunnel, originally opened in the nineteenth century to connect the upper town with the beach, is one of Albufeira's distinctive features. The streets branching off it are quieter and more atmospheric, with bougainvillea cascading over balconies and cats dozing in doorways.

The old town's restaurant scene is centred on the Largo and the streets radiating from it. Grilled fish, cataplana and arroz de marisco are the staples, served at outdoor tables where diners sit within earshot of the waves. The quality varies, and the best establishments tend to be those favoured by Portuguese visitors rather than the tourist-facing places on the main drag.

Albufeira's name derives from the Arabic al-Buhera, the lagoon, and the town's Moorish heritage is visible in the layout of the old quarter, though little survives above ground from that period. The 1755 earthquake and the subsequent tsunami destroyed much of the lower town. The rebuilt streets follow the old pattern but the architecture is predominantly eighteenth and nineteenth century, whitewashed in the Algarvian style and punctuated by the ornamental chimneys that are a hallmark of the region.