Waking up at 4 am with my eyes half shut to get ready was a challenge, but was made easier by the thought that TODAY WE WAS GOING ON HOLIDAY! I think the most exciting part of going away is getting up at an ungodly hour to head to the airport! I hate it when you have to wait around all day, so I was more than happy to jump in our taxi at 5 am to leave for Stanstead airport!
We were heading to Albufeira in Portugal with my mum, dad, sister and Sam (her boyfriend), and of course Cole! AKA The Simple Six! Previously, my mum and dad had been to Albufeira and my mum had not stopped raving about it and as soon as she was home she was booking us in for this year!! That is how keen she was! So we were all very excited to see this place!
Our holiday was booked through Jet 2 Holidays and we were staying in the old town of Albufiera in a hotel right on the beach called The Rocamar.
We arrived into Albufiera old town after saying bye bye to rainy England at around 1:30 pm and with the heat already making us extremely warm we quickly got changed and headed straight out to explore the town, find some food, and get on the beach!
The town was beautiful, full of cobbled roads and shop after restaurant after bar! It was already so busy in the town in the afternoon, so you could tell that in the evening the place would have a buzzing atmosphere!
To save you from being bored I won’t go through what we did day by day because it all basically consisted off getting up, having an ice cream, going to the beach, swimming in the sea, having another ice cream, going to the pool, and going out in the evening!
The beach and day time activities!
The beach was so so so lush!! (Minus a few shells which stabbed into your foot). We did not bother hiring sun beds as it was very expensive so we all bought lilos and used them as our sunbeds, which were probably more comfy! The beach was also filled with loads of activities you could do such as a inflatable water park/climbing frame in the middle of the sea, and so many water rides which of course we tested!! So, there was lots to do on the beach and the days went by so quickly!
We also headed one day over to a local water park called Aqua Land. And whilst all the rides were very fun, one including a tin slide whereby you slide down on a plastic board and skimmed across the water as you landed, the service was very poor with lots of rude staff, so would not recommend it for that factor. But there were plenty of advertisements all around Albufeira for various water parks such as Zoo marine.
Dinner and evening entertainment!Â
If you have come to Albufeira with the hope of not putting on any weight, you need to think twice! Everywhere you look there is a delicious restaurant and fabulous bars, so we were non-stop eating and drinking – which we were not fussed by at all!! Every evening we had a lovely meal and were full to the brim!
We were eating everything from curry to paella to steak! My favorite restaurants were;
After dinner we would head back down a street which was called Bar Street and back to the square to find a bar for us to get some cocktails and play cards! Due to it being July and being the six weeks summer holidays, it was extremely busy and on the first night it was so busy we was actually at a stand still, so we actually avoided that street for the majority of the holiday. But despite that, there were so many other places which were less busy and equally as buzzing so we headed there! All bars did these amazing cocktails with huge straws and lots of sparklers!
Cole was a big fan of the strawberry daiquiris!
On the Saturday we headed over to the next town called Vilamoura, which was a lovely marina filled with very swanky yachts that did not make me jealous one bit… Here we drank large gins at Lois Figo’s bar named after yours truly and had steak at a restaurant called Prime. Vilamoura itself was around 30 minute drive away from Albufeira but was easy enough to get a taxi too and from.
It was an amazing little holiday with some amazing people! I would 100% go back to both Albufeira and Vilamoura and explore more of Portugal after seeing how beautiful this little part of the country was! I really wish I had had chance to take a boat trip to the amazing caves of the Algarve but to be honest the week just flew past and I was enjoying spending my time on the beach having fun with those who I love. But for anyone whether your a couple, a party animal (lots and lots of bar crawls and party boat things going on), or a family like us, you would really love it here!! There was so much to do day or night and I don’t think you could get bored. I think myself and Cole would go back, me to see the wonderful caves and Cole to play some of their spectacular golf courses!
On an end note we have also put together our first ever video which also shows you some fun we had in Albuferia! Please let us know what you think, we would love to hear your feedback!
Until next time,
India and Cole
Stories of adventure 