arthurgodoy2

Winter in the Algarve is the region's best-kept secret, and we're only slightly reluctant to give it away. Here's the scene in, say, early February. The hills are properly green — greener than in August, when everything is bleached gold. Almond trees are coming into blossom across the countryside, white and faintly ridiculous. The sun is out, as it usually is, and it's about 18°C in it. The coast road is empty. And in a cellar in the hills behind Lagoa, a winemaker has poured you a third...

Everybody's first idea is the sunset. And fair enough — the Algarve does a spectacular one, most evenings, for free. But here's what we've learned after years of designing days for couples: the sunset is shared with two hundred other people holding phones. The moment you'll actually remember happens earlier, somewhere quieter, with a glass in your hand and nobody within a hundred metres. Why a Vineyard Beats a Restaurant for Romance Nobody is waiting for your table. A romantic dinner lasts as...

Come over the hill from the coast and Silves announces itself all at once: a red sandstone castle on a green ridge, a cathedral beside it, whitewashed houses spilling down to a river, and orange groves in every direction. It's about half an hour from Albufeira. Most people on the Algarve never go. Their loss — and, for one afternoon, your gain. The Capital That History Quietly Demoted This sleepy town of a few thousand people was once the most important city in southern Portugal. As Xelb,...