What city should I stay in the Algarve?

Hello,

I am doing a road trip to the Algarve with a friend. We are single women in our early thirties and we want to stay in a city that has great nightlife not overrun by 20 year olds and is also by the beach to use as our home base while we drive to various towns. We will be driving down next weekend so I know this is last minute but any recommendations would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Try looking on www.booking.com for some ideas, but postings on here over the last couple of weeks would appear to suggest that the Algarve is even busier than usual.

Lagos comes up a few times on here regarding nightlife, but as self and GF are no longer night-owls and veer towards live music rather than clubs, we've tended head to quieter places such as Tavira.

Can anyone add to this?

Honestly, I'd just browse through booking.com and try to find anything that isn't a complete ripoff or falling apart, irrelevant of which town its in.

Tavira is not by a beach, and getting to open sea is quite hard. It also doesn't make for a good base, because all the best attractions are in the western part.

There is of course Ilha da Tavira - a short ferry ride away from the riverside in Tavira.

If you want nice restaurants and lively but not full on nightlife then Tavira would be my choice. Ilha de Tavira as mentioned above is a wonderful beach, short walk from Tavira and take a boat. Lagos is a nice town/city with a nice old centre (i have never been in the middle of summer) but it is said to be a bit party central.

Take whatever accommodation you can find at such short notice. Places are fully booked, so you may not have much choice.

Lagos has a range of ages and unless you are staying up until the early hours, it won't feel like party central. Plenty of families there at this time of year. Try the usual booking.com, Airbnb and Owners Direct.

How many days?

If more than 3 than I would split my base between Lagos and Tavira, as they are more than 100km apart

Ig no more than 3 days, then Lagos has a better nightlife

Thanks everyone! We are staying in Lagos for 2 nights and will check out tavira for one night. This has been very helpful and I appreciate it!

Hope you enjoy your stay!

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