Loads of lovely beaches nearby badfish, Salgados, Cohelo, and Gale are all good, not sure about watersports, but I think you can rent jet-skis at Albufeira marina, and they do paracending on albufeira town beach. Most hotels can arrange bike hire for you.

Two restaurants not to be missed in the nearby area are Jompra and Museu do Salgados, both very classy and very good, not cheap, but worth eery penny in my experience.

Have good time!

thanks a lot, ill look out for those restaurants. Going to a villa though so was on the lookout for anywhere I could rent a good road bike.

Looking forward to the marina and beaches!

Hi Stu,

You could try http://www.almotos.com/alugueres_eng.asp. They seem to have some push bikes for hire.

Here's a website about water sports at Praia da Oura, which is on the coast below the Strip area. Lovely beach but I'm not sure how crowded it will be in September.

Albufeira.com is an excellent place to find all sorts of info about the area and you can check out the beautiful coves and beaches on their beach guide.

Have a great time!

I might lend you my bike, £$£$"£%$ thing.

I will check when I go into town later whether Easyrider is still open and still rents bikes.

You will enjoy riding up the hill into Albufeira - suggestion, turn off the main road opposite a restaurant the name of which I forget and there is a little road running almost parallel with very little traffic. Then go through the marina and along the old road up the hill into town. I do that run and it is not as steep as the dual carriageway and a lot less dangerous!

Luckily most of the territory around Vale de Parra is as flat as it gets here.

turn off the main road opposite a restaurant the name of which I forget

The restaurant is called Luau, unless it's changed its name since the change of owner. Anyone been there recently? We'll be giving it another try in September. It used to be excellent so hope it still is. Lovely setting with great views, particularly if you can sit outside, weather permitting!

Thanks a lot for the advice guys, Ive had a wee look and found a couple of places that hire out bikes. Lookin forward to cycling around the place, hopefully itll be a bit breezy, but not getting my hopes up
Was initially quite worried that the place would be very busy, but a few people have said that Vale de Parra is actually quite quiet. Thanks again guys, if you can think of anywhere else that is worth a visit please let me know. cheers - Stu

You might want to try the Casa da Ovo restaurant for authentic Algarve fayre at a reasonable price - 15 euro for set three course with the specials changing daily. Its on the road from Vale do Parra to Guia. Also Guia has a number of restaurants popular with tourists and locals. Have visited the are in May June and October and its very quiet then - but then thats how we like it.