Portugal was a new country for both of us, hence a must to visit when we’re this close. We didn’t plan to stay in Portugal too long, so we decided to skip climbing to get some rest and be 100% tourists for some weeks. First stop after crossing the border from Spain was the beautiful Algarve coastline.
Driving skills & wild camping
We quickly learned that camping (with a large caravan), and driving on the motorway in Portugal wasn’t quite as easy as Spain. The drive from Tarifa to Portugal was almost too long for us to do in one day, but we had found a campsite that seemed very nice. We also had a plan B with some other campgrounds in the area. We ended up trying all of them – none suitable for our Airstream! Christoffer got to test his backing skills in a very steep entrance with a sharp turn, and uneven ground. It seemed possible, so we tried, only to discover that it wasn’t. Luckily, Christoffer is an excellent driver (ref. the management of the campsite), so he managed to get us safely out of it.
It started to get dark, and we were exhausted after driving for the whole day, so we found parking close to the beach and ended up wild camping instead. Wild camping in Portugal is not unusual, a lot of people, especially in vans and motorhomes, do it. When we have a van too, this will be our choice of preference, but with a large caravan, like our Airstream, it’s difficult and almost impossible. Luckily, we found another campsite with large enough pitches and entrance the next day already.
Lagos
While researching Portugal, pictures from Lagos always came up, and we wanted to experience it with our own eyes. Lagos is situated on the beautiful Western Algarve coastline. The beaches in Algarve are just spectacular, and we loved the cozy little town of Lagos. Worth a visit if you’re here!
Good to know – Driving on the motorways in Algarve
If you’re driving on the motorway and crossing the border in South of Portugal, you have to pay toll electronically. You can also pay it in a post office after driving on it, which we ended up doing, but we strongly recommend you to avoid it because it’s a real hassle. Instead, get the EASYToll just after crossing the border! It’s an automated payment solution for the electronic tolls. Read more about it here.
Camping Canelas, Lagoa
After trying three different campsites on the Algarve coastline, it was such a relief to find this one. Finally, easy to park the Airstream!
- Large and easy entrance
- Large pitches – park wherever you want (low season)
- Good price
- Nice and helpful staff
- Ok sanitary facilities – Clean
- Not always leveled ground, but we found one that was ok
- We parked on grass – not the best when it rains, but it worked for us
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