Day 1 (9/29/2021) Portimao, Portugal

Costs for Flight and Day 1 Costs in Portimao

Day 1 – Portimao

Our first stop is Portimao, Portugal in the sunny southern region!! I will try to document our travel as well as costs for others who may find it helpful from a budget and logistical perspective.

For our flights we used Airlines Mileage Points so our flight had a couple stops (33k Miles + $29.80 USD per person). We had +2 checked bags at 70lbs per person at $0 since we are Silver Premier with United due to points. However, I had to pay $175/bag each for my oversized surfboard bags (I brought two 5’9″ surfboards). We flew from Chicago, IL to Newark, NJ to Brussels, Belgium and finally landed in Faro Airport in the Algarve region of Portugal. Flying time was 12 hours and we had about 3.5 hours in layovers. The airport was fairly small and the baggage and customs process was extremely fast. I think it only took us 15 minutes to exit the airport. We had pre-booked our driver who arrived on time and was very professional – dressed in a suit and tie and driving a Mercedes V-Class (large 5 person vehicle since I brought my surfboards). He drove us 71km west from Faro to our Airbnb in Portimao, Portugal and the cost was $128 USD. Afterwards, we found out that Uber and Bolt both operate in Portugal with Bolt being the less expensive option. I saw that Uber or Bolt XL costs would have been between 99-100 EUR (116 USD). However, we checked with a All Travel and they said they could book an airport transfer in a large vehicle for 68 Euros (map, website).

Our Airbnb is a small studio about 2 blocks from Praia da Rocha and Praia dos Tres Castelos beaches and you can see a sliver of the ocean from the balcony since it is on the 9th floor. The building is older and a bit worn but is secure requiring an entry code at the front door. The studio apartment is clean and well kept. Costs are $68.41 USD/Day since we are only renting for 3 days.

Here is the Listing on Airbnb

Praia dos Tres Castelos is ungroomed but Praia da Rocha is groomed daily (removal of seaweed/etc. from the beach).

The water temperature right now is 20C/69 F which means it is fairly cold. Here is the water temp chart each month of the year for your information. People are swimming around in the water but, I would suggest a 2/3 mm wetsuit to be comfortable for any length of time. The water visibility today is very murky. It does not seem like snorkeling would be good in this area but we will see how it looks in the following days.

We ate a late lunch/dinner at a little place called Super Juice near the beach which was delicious. Cost was 22.10 Euros for both of us. That included a Hello Mango smoothie not pictured.

First impressions of Portimao are that it is a warm, sunny place with cool/cold waters, nice beaches and good food. There is a significant aging population of apparent retirees so the atmosphere is mostly relaxed and slow paced.