HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO TRAVEL TO THE ALGARVE?

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Portugal is a fairly cheap country and its southernmost region, the Algarve, is no exception. If you plan to spend the holidays here with a limited budget you will have no problem finding options that fit your needs. And if your budget is something more generous you can enjoy small great luxuries! In this article we will give you some standard prices so you can know How much does it cost to travel to the Algarve.

Eating is quite cheap, especially if you do it in local restaurants, without many pretensions. If you eat a Dish of the day (for example sardines or frango / chicken piri piri) the price will be around € 5-7.

In the city of guide For example, we paid € 19 for a plate of rice with turkey, grilled sardines, bread and olives, two drinks, two half-liter beers and a coffee. In Silves We paid € 15.60 for two menus that included a plate of chicken piri piri with chips, a plate of grilled mixed fish with potatoes and vegetables, 1 water, 1 beer, 1 drink, 1 coffee and 2 desserts. For € 1.50-3 you can eat sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and bifanas (beef sandwich) at any bar.

A very cheap option is to eat the soup of the day. It should not cost more than € 1.5-3.

If you want to eat something more elaborate, like the famous cataplana, calculates about € 30 (for two people) or about € 8-13 (per person) in the case of fresh fish dishes with garnish (potatoes and vegetables). The seafood stews are delicious, the portions are generous (even if they say they are for 2 people, they can eat 3 quietly!). Depending on the sites, rice is € 9-13 per person.

Drinking, unless you go to glamorous sites, is not expensive. For example, coffee only costs about € 0.60-1, coffee with milk € 0.90-1.30, drinks (coke, fanta, cold tea) € 1-1.50, a cane 1-1 € 50, a half-liter beer € 2.60-3.50 and cocktails from € 4 on non-tourist sites up to € 6-10 in more chic and busy places ...

On our trip to the Algarve we do not spend anything, since for 12 days we were doing a housesitting, but we are going to give you some indicative prices of accommodation.

Double rooms in cities and tourist villages are around € 30, while in Airbnb, you can find apartments or private rooms somewhat cheaper (€ 20-25). Look at cheap accommodation options in the Algarve.

We have noticed that there are not many campsites around the area and if you want to spend as little as possible, maybe you can look for some couchsurfer (you can also experience what it is like to live in the Algarve from the local point of view).

Although we believe that the car is almost essential On a trip to the Algarve, if you don't have it you have two options: move by train or bus.

In the case of train, you have to know that there is a railway line that crosses almost the entire Algarve and that goes from Vila Real de Santo Antonio to Lagos. For example, the trip from Faro to Lagos takes approximately 1.5 hours and costs about € 7.

Something cheaper is the bus: There are several routes that cover practically every corner of the Algarve. The Faro-Lagos trip costs about € 6 but takes about 20 minutes longer than the same train ride. Faro-Tavira costs about € 4 and Albufeira-Lagos about € 5. You can check schedules and prices here.

There's a tourist pass € 25 covering unlimited bus trips, for 3 days. Although, unless you don't want to spend the day riding a bus, we don't think it's worth it ...

If you decide to travel by car you should know that the highway A22, which crosses the Algarve, requires paying tolls. To be able to drive on the A22, all you have to do is stop at a toll booth similar to having crossed the Ponte do Guadiana, which separates Spain from Portugal. These booths have electronic machines where you will have to register your car, there you must insert your bank card and automatically the system will associate the registration of your car. As you travel on the A22, tolls will be debited from your bank account associated with your card.

To get an idea of the amounts, from the beginning of the A22 (Ponte Internacional do Guadiana) to Faro, the toll costs about € 4, to Lagos about € 10. To avoid taking surprises, you can check the price of all tolls here.

Can you avoid paying the Algarve toll? Yes: you can move for free through the Algarve using the road N125 and the other secondary ones (although keep in mind that, in high season or weekend, it is possible that what you save on tolls you spend on time and gasoline!). To enter the N125 you must follow the A22 until the turnoff for Castro Marim.

If you want to save money, we advise you to buy in supermarkets such as Aldi, Lidl, Pingo Doce or Minipreço (on Portuguese Day). We made our first purchase in Continente and we found it quite expensive, so you better put it aside.

Here we leave you with some type prices Commodity (June 2016):