The name Albufeira is of Arabic origin: "Al-buhera" means in fact "the Sea Castle". In town there was once, therefore, a castle - and it’s possible that the entire town was once walled.
The architecture of the region is an eclectic mix of typical Portuguese Algarvean pale white and tiled residential homes, along narrow streets.
Despite the modern achievements and the millions of tourists that visit every year, Albufeira has maintained its Moorish feel and is still the fisherman's village it has always been.
Old Town-
Old town is more relaxed and has a lovely central square decorated with trees and colourful shrubs surrounded by street cafés and restaurants for a quiet meal.The rustic feel is still there in spite of the modern bars and restaurants.It gets quite lively by evening with street performances.There are lot of restaurants with live music and karaoke. A glimpse of the nightlife can be seen
here.
If you are looking for lively nightlife and bars and clubs that are open nearly 24 hours a day then you probably want to stay in the Areias de São João area, home to "the strip" (Avenida Dr Francisco Sà Carneiro), or nearby Montechoro both of which are about 2kms from Albufeira old town.
Beaches-
There are two main beaches in Albufeira itself - "Fishermans beach" (Praia dos Pescadores) is overlooked by a variety of restaurants and there is always the tempting aroma of barbecued fish in the air. Here it's possible to walk straight onto the beach without the need for steps. Adjoining Fishermans beach is Albufeira beach (Praia do Túnel).
We sat for hours everyday on the rocks admiring the beautiful sea whilst soaking the sun.
Food-
There are hundreds of restaurants to choose from.Albufeira is famous for its seafood.Loads of sea facing restaurants which serve some mouth watering sea food with amazing views.Other than that there are a bunch of Indian,Spanish and Italian places.
How to reach-
The nearest airport is Faro.We took a flight from London to Faro.There are buses running every 30 min from the airport to Faro city center from where you can take a bus or cab to Albufeira.It takes 45 min by bus from Faro city center to Albufeira.
The other option is to land at Lisbon and take a bus from there.Buses(Eva buses) run quite frequently and it's quite easy to book tickets.It takes about 3 hrs by road from Lisbon to Albufiera .You can also hire a car and drive.The drive is beautiful .
