Kampaoh Tavira

The lovely town of Tavira (10 minutes' drive) is likely to be a place where you spend much of your time here – it's a pretty place with cobbled streets, colourful houses, an ancient castle and a couple of museums. Tavira also has lots of restaurants, a great covered market and some nice riverside bars where you can sip a cocktail while looking at views of the ‘Roman bridge’ (which was actually built in the 17th century). Boat trips from Tavira or Cabanas (five minutes) will take you across to either Tavira island or Cabanas island, both of which have long sandy beaches, wilder sand dune areas to walk through and various water-based activities like snorkelling and kayaking (or just chilling in a cool beach bar). A little further along the coast, the little village of Pedras de El-Rei (20 minutes) has a cute little tourist train that runs to Praia do Barril, home to a scenic ‘anchor graveyard'. Back on the mainland, a stroll through the lagoons and salt marshes of the Ria Formosa Natural Park (half an hour's walk) will often mean spotting flamingos and other water birds. For more town wanderings, head to places like little Fuseta (half an hour) or bigger Faro (45 minutes).