Located in the Arade estuary, Portimão is known for its excellent beaches of immense sands with warm and calm waters, which make it a very seductive holiday destination.

Portimão has a long fishing tradition. This is where most of the buildings we can see along the streets and squares of its historic center, as well as the structure that houses the Portimão Museum, an excellent recovery of a former canning factory that received the Council of Europe Museum of the Year award. Here honors the people and the city that for centuries lived exclusively facing the sea.

Nor should we miss the simple-style Chapel of St. Joseph of Alcalar and the imposing Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição built on top of a hill, standing out in the profile of the city; It was greatly destroyed by the 1755 earthquake but retains its beautiful original Gothic portal.

For a break in the walks, it is best to rest in the shade of the Manuel Bívar Garden trees watching the fishing and pleasure boats go by. Or on the seafront promenade by the Marina, one of the liveliest spots in town both day and night.

About three kilometers from the center, Praia da Rocha is perhaps the best known of the Algarve beaches, and the image of its huge beach is a tourist poster widely spread internationally. A popular beach resort since the early twentieth century, it has a casino and offers countless leisure activities. In the fifteenth century it also had great strategic importance.

For this reason, the Santa Catarina de Ribamar Fortress was built here, which ensured the defense of the port and the population from the attacks of the pirates, making crossfire with the Fort of São João do Arade, just in front, in Ferragudo, next to another extensive rightly called Praia Grande.

Praia da Rocha Fortress is today an excellent viewpoint over the city, the river and the sea, which acquires a special charm in the evening with the light of sunset. From here we can also see some of the beaches following it to the west, starting at Praia dos Três Castelos.

Smaller ones, bigger ones, but always framed by jagged cliffs that embellish the landscape, are followed by Careanos, Vau, Barranco das Canas Beach, João d'Arens, Prainha and Três Irmãos. This sequence ends on the long sandy beach of Praia do Alvor and its Ria, an important lagoon zone for water bird watching.

But to get a full idea of the Portimão area, you have to appreciate it from all perspectives. For example, take a boat trip along the coast to visit inaccessible overland beaches and admire the rock formations. And those who are keen on coarse fishing find the ideal destination here, as in this fertile sea abound large species such as swordfish.

To enjoy other landscapes, we can climb the Arade River estuary to Silves, passing through green hills. Within a short distance we find a diverse panoply of images that will be recorded in our memory.