Why visit in November

It is one of the quietest months here as most visitors delay their trip until Christmas or the new year, and consequently you will find that some of the restaurants are closed for the month or longer. Eating out though is a way of life here and so there is always somewhere you can go for lunch or dinner. In fact if you are in Olhão you’d probably need to go out every day for at least three months before you have visited every restaurant.

There are also still plenty of events of happening. We arrived too late for the Feira da Perdiz (Partridge Fair) and Feira de São Martinho, and unfortunately learnt too late about the Festival do Medronho in Monchique however there is still to come the Festival da Batata-doce de Aljezur (Sweet Potato) and the Food Festivals in Alcoutim and São Bartolomeu de Messines don’t finish until early December.

The ferries to Armona and Culatra may run less frequent than in the summer, but as you can see from the timetables below still frequent enough to fit in a full or half day away from it all.

By the way that little red c) on the Armona timetable means this time is not every day! Running daily in November, then weekends only from 1st December with the exception of the three weeks over Christmas when it is daily again.

You will almost certainly want to visit the Islands at this time of year as they are so quiet and most importantly for northern Europeans escaping the grey cold days, it is still warm enough to stroll in shorts and Tshirts. Well it is if you are in the sun and out of the wind, otherwise you might need a light jumper and trousers that reach your ankles! What you will definitely need though are your sunglasses as the sun always seem to have ‘his hat on’ even at sunset.