Just back from a week in Alvor and feeling really chilled and relaxed. We had a great time and, wth the exception of the storm on the Monday we arrived, we were blessed with excellent weather. I really liked Alvor as it seemed to cater to a mix of tastes - you had irish pubs and kareoke bars but you also had lots of traditional places to eat and drink, which suited us perfectly as we love to try the local food wherever we go.

The food and wine were exceptional. The quality of local wine was superb - we never had a 'dud' bottle. And the food - where do I start? We ate in the following places -
Restaurante O Alcaide - this is down a small side street and is set in an old winery. The portions were huge, very tasty and great value.
Vagabondo - excellent service, great menu. The fish was wonderful.
Lusitania - great pasta, OK service.
Galeria Restaurante - this was really special, it's quite small and seems to be run by just the two people (one serving, one cooking). We could see into the kitchen from where we were sitting and it was a joy to watch the food being cooked. The quality and taste was excellent.
Goodville - this place is quite large when you get in but the service still feels personal. Be warned, the meat and fish dishes served on the slabs are huge. You won't have room for pudding!!
Por do Sol - we booked ahead on advice and were so pleased we had as even at this time of year it was full. The service here was the best we had all holiday and as for the food - well, my prawn cassolet was to die for. Well recommended.
Villa 45 - we tried the fish cataplanas here and it was fabulous. That was all we had between us, with some bread to dip in and it was a feast.

We had day trips to Loule, Silves and Monchique. Loule was just OK, we found the tourist signage around the town a little confusing but the market was nice. Silves was a lovely place, we had a good wander around the castle battlements and would be interested to see what he renovations and improvements look like once finished. The museum was interesting (more signs in English would have helped us enjoy the displays more) and the streets were a delight to wander around. My favourite day was Monchique. We stopped in Caldas on the way up - it's beautiful and well worth the stop. We had the recommended chourico sausage in bread in the square, it was fresh from the oven and was simple food at it's best. We then travelled onto Monchique and spent a pleasant couple of hours there, including a stop at the Loja chocoate shop (the strawberry and pineapple chocolate kebabs were delicious) on the way up to the convent ruins. Finally we drove higher up to the view point at Foia.

If you're going to Alvor, pick up one of the free maps around town, they are great for getting to grips with the town layout and have great info on bars and places to eat. Also we found the guy in the travel shop really helpful as we had a car for the week and just wanted info for days out etc. and even though he knew we wouldn't be booking any trips with him he still made sure we had what wanted, which was nice.