Tavira Travel Forum

Planning to visit the area in Feb 2006..While browsing this evening I got an overwhelming feeeling that this area would suit me very well as a retiremnet/long stay destination to escape cold winters in northern Ireland. Have looked at property prices and they seem not too inflated..what is the catch? seems to have it all ..peace , beside sea, historic, is there something I'm missing..?

I doubt it - at the moment anyway. Tavira is a delight (it's also on the train line that runs along the Algarve - something else to add to its attraction! :)). Problem is that others react in the same way as you... Albufeira and Portimao are not so far away - and that surplus of holiday makers have to go somewhere. So one day, your retirement home lies in the shadow of the block of 20 storey hotels and exclusive resorts... unless you bought the retirement home where the developers paid you a fortune to get hold of the land.... :) The you could move on to somewhere as peaceful as Tavira is now.. :)

I think the Algarve is not yet so full of houses as the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The problem in the Algarve is some messy urban developments: Quarteira and Armação are messy.
Albufeira is becoming oversized, but it's clean, tidy, and it respects the traditional moorish arquitechture.
Another problem is the run-down Algarve railway and the roads with so many detours. The rest is fine.

The owner of an Irish pub in Lisbon said to a Portuguese magazine: "afterall, the three "W"s were a good reason to live in Portugal"

Also:
http://www.expatsportugal.com/

Shoooosh...............Don't tell anyone