historically important for the many people who have  settled and mixed there over the centuries, the Algarve can be divided into three distinct geographical and natural environments. Its coastline is one of beaches of white sands,coves enclosed by rocks and cliffs and dunes which stretch as far as the eye can see.

The hinterland is an  agricultural belt of orchards, farmland and fertile meadows in a rural environment with its own particular charm and pace, while further inland the mountains, a natural frontier with the Alentejo region to the North, contrast sharply with the rest of the landscape with their traditional villages clinging to the mountainside and their terraces dotted with almond and fig plantations.

Facing North Africa and theAtlantic Ocean, the Algarve has long been both a departure point and a destination on sea and land routes.

The Algarve became part of Portugal in the 13th  century,when it was conquered from the Moors. It remained a strategic link in trade between southern Europe and Northern Africa and was  important as a starting point for the Portuguese Discoveries. Even today, many of its towns -Sagres, Lagos, Faro, Tavira, Cacela- -a-Velha,  Castro Marin,Silves testify to the importance and vitality of a region whose agricultural belt contrasts with the lively and bustling atmosphere of its seafaring communities. As well as being an important trade and maritime centre, the Algarve has also played a vital role in the administrative and religious history of Portugal.

The regional capital, Faro, lies midway between the Barlavento to the West, with its small, rocky beaches and rugged inlets which range as far as Cape S.Vicente and Sotavento to the East, the Sotavento, with its warm, calm sea and long expanses of beaches and dunes stretching as  far as the Spanish border.