The "Kingdom of Algarve" until 1910, Algarve comes from the Arabic for "The West" - Algharb al Andalus, the western part of the land of the vandals... Villages, towns, castles, steeped in history, with rolling hills to the north and an amazing coastline to the south, used to launch global explorations in the 15th and 16th centuries. Algarve has it all, and the climate!!

A historical guide to Algarve

The sea with limits may be Greek or Roman, the sea without end is Portuguese. (Fernando Pessoa, Tavira)

Algarve History

A historical guide to Tavira

An 8th Century BC Phoenician port, Balsa (The Roman port of Tavira) became one of the most important Western ports in the Roman Empire. Tavira has a rich Moorish history, then staged the conquest of Ceuta with Henry the Navigator in 1415.

Tavira History