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Times
a day ago
- Times
22 best things to do in the Algarve
It really needs no introduction as a sun-drenched holiday destination; Brits have been flocking to the Golden Coast since the Sixties. Surfers, golfers and clubbers can all find their version of Portuguese paradise here, while waterparks and sandy coves keep families entertained. You could easily stick to the shore your whole trip, exploring its iconic limestone rock formations — all soaring arches and scalloped bays — via clifftop footpaths or boat trips. Visitors who venture beyond its seaside resorts, however, will find Algarve has hidden depths and quieter corners. Roam Moorish fortresses and Roman ruins, cool off in woodland waterfalls or watch flamingos strutting through salt pans. Find inspiration with our list of the best things to do in the Algarve. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue Tourists aren't the only migrating species in the Algarve — birds flock to the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa's marshes, salt pans, mudflats, freshwater lagoons and barrier islands. The 60km-long reserve stretching east from Faro is home to resident and visiting species of waders, gulls and waterfowl, and even a population of flamingos. Short walking trails run from the Marim Centre of Environmental Education and from the beach of Quinta do Lago. For the full experience take a boat trip heading out to some of the islands, including the deserted Isla Barreta. • Discover our full guide to Portugal Even if you're staying in the more gentle eastern Algarve, a day trip veering west to see the waves get bigger, the winds stronger and the landscape wilder is a must. Visit the bustling port town of Lagos, where whitewashed houses with colourful woodwork line the patterned pavements and you'll find some of the best beaches in the Algarve. The village of Sagres has a pretty fishing harbour and is overlooked by an imposing sea fort on the nearby headland. Cabo de Sao Vicente, meanwhile, has a lighthouse and stirring views. Many visitors go no closer to Faro than the airport — and they're missing a trick. The city has an attractive historical centre, with cobbled passageways lit by cast iron street lamps and circled by city walls. Don't miss the ornate Arco de Vila gate, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1755, the charming 13th-century cathedral and the Igreja do Carmo. Beneath this glorious church lies something a little more macabre: Capela dos Ossos, a chapel lined with human skulls and bones. A deep underwater canyon off the shore of Portimao drives nutrient-rich seas to the surface and attracts pod after pod of dolphins. Keep your eyes peeled for friendly fins on a dolphin-watching boat trip; there are loads and the odds are definitely in your favour. Both common and bottlenose dolphins swim off the coast of the Ria Formosa's barrier islands and, if you're lucky, you might also catch a glimpse of sea turtles, sunfish, sharks or a minke whale. The rolling Serra de Monchique range provides a stark contrast to the Algarve's beaches. Hiking trails penetrate the woodland of the lower slopes, and one goes all the way to the top of the highest peak — the Foia Trail to the summit of Foia, at an altitude of 902m, is around 7km long. Pair a climb with a visit to Monchique itself, a sedate but attractive market town noted for its handicrafts, and neighbouring Caldas de Monchique, which has been famous since Roman times for its healing alkaline waters. Sitting on the banks of the Gilao River in the tranquil east of the region, Tavira is arguably prettiest of all the towns in the Algarve. It's designed for ambling and people-watching, with a central plaza lined with cafés, whitewashed houses decorated with colour-popping azulejos, and an arching medieval bridge (somewhat confusingly known as the Roman bridge). The highlight is the ruined Castelo, partially destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. Views stretch over the town's terracotta-tiled roofs and churches to the sea, and the battlements shelter a shady garden blooming with jacaranda, oleander and bougainvillea. The crenelated cliffs of Ponta da Piedade rise high above the crystal-clear sea outside Lagos and, to do these intricate rock formations and caves justice, you need to view them from the clifftop and the water. Tours by boat, kayak or stand-up paddleboard provide the best angles on the sea stacks and caverns, and to fully appreciate the scale of the promontory you should also amble along the cliffs — sticking carefully to the path. Views are particularly stirring at sunset. While the wine industry here is yet to reach the heady heights of the Douro or the vinho verde-producing Minho, investments over the past decade have resulted in some high-quality wines from 30 producers, many of which have cellar doors offering tastings. Booking an organised tour is a no-brainer, leaving you free to drink as much as you like. Some itineraries include lunch, and others feature a visit to a Medronho distillery to try the local firewater too. With mountain ranges, sea-battered cliffs and wildlife-packed wetlands, the Algarve has a lot to offer hikers of all levels. There are well-signposted short walks, such as the 3km amble along the Alvor boardwalk, where you can spot birds and native flora. For a full day hike try the Percurso dos Sete Vales Suspensos, which winds through seven valleys with dramatic coastal views over around five hours. Tour operators offer walking holidays along the Algarve's long distance trails — the Rota Vicentina snakes up the west coast, and the Via Algarviana stretches all the way from Sagres in the west to Alcoutim on the Spanish border. It's taken 20 million years, but the sea has done a spectacular job of redesigning the Algarve's coastline. Waves and weather have eroded the limestone, creating a series of caves and stacks in shades of terracotta and caramel. The most dramatic cavern is at Benagil, a soaring space with its own indoor beach, two yawning mouths facing the sea and a round skylight, like a natural version of the Roman Pantheon's oculus. Boat tours run from a range of resorts, but for a more personal experience book a guided kayak tour. • Best affordable hotels in the Algarve• Best all-inclusive hotels in the Algarve Loulé is a traditional Algarve town, with a Moorish indoor market, a small castle and numerous churches — yet something more surprising hides beneath the surface. The Mina Sal-Gema rock salt mine reaches 230m underground, and after riding down in an open cage lift, take a two-hour guided tour through the walkways and corridors of the still-active mine to bone up on historical and current production processes, and see geological formations that are 230 million years old. Children must be six or over to visit. Portugal's biggest and most famous waves are found further north than the Algarve, but the sunny south has plenty to recommend it as a surf destination. Waves here are much more manageable for beginners than the giants found off the central coast, and they're reliable too — with a southern and a western coast to choose from you'll always find somewhere with good conditions. There's a higher concentration of surf schools towards the west; head here if you want to do a longer course rather than a one-off lesson. If there are any water sports you've been itching to try, the Algarve is the place to do it. Jet boats, jet skis, stand-up paddleboards and kayaks can be hired at water sports centres all along the coast, and water skiing and wakeboarding sessions are available. A couple of bigger outfits in Albufeira and Vilamoura also offer flyboarding — don boots fitted with high pressured water jets and be prepared to be thrusted up to 20m into the air. Or have a go at coasteering — a combination of cliff jumping, swimming and climbing. • Best hotels in Albufeira• Best villas in Vilamoura There's nothing like a waterpark to add extra thrills to your holiday. Aquashow features one of the tallest freefall slides in Europe with a huge watercoaster alongside a wave pool, splash park and lazy river. Slide and Splash has a tube which plunges you into pitch darkness, a Disco River ride with music and lighting effects and a Jacuzzi for mum and dad. Visit Aqualand for flying carpets, a surf pool and an extensive area for littler ones. One of the staple dishes of Algarve cuisine is the cataplana; the name signifies both the stew itself and the clam-shaped copper pot it is heated in. The shape and the conductivity of the metal forms a sort of slow pressure cooker that's perfect for seafood and fish, sometimes combined with meat — there's a classic version with pork and clams. Learn to rustle up your own at a cooking class, heading to Faro market to buy ingredients, before rolling up your sleeves for a hands-on lesson and tucking into a lunch to test your efforts. As the Guadiana River winds through the plains of southern Portugal and prepares to discharge into the Gulf of Cadiz, it creates areas of marshland and salt pans, where high-quality sea salt has been produced for hundreds of years. Now, in the nature reserve just outside Castro Marim, outdoor wellness centre Spa Salino lets you apply salt mud — which contains 80 different minerals — to your skin before floating weightlessly in the bath-warm water, dubbed locally 'the Portuguese Dead Sea'. Espargosa Monte de Baixo & Art hotel is a ten-minute drive from Spa Salino. The Algarve's golf courses rival any in the world. The most prestigious is Monte Rei, a challenging Jack Nicklaus-designed par 72 where each hole can't be seen from the next and it feels as though you have the whole thing to yourself. Keep an eye out for the 16th hole on the Val de Lobo Royal Course — it features a 218m carry between two clifftops to reach the green from the championship tee. Quinta do Lago is a golf-focused resort, with three courses and a Paul McGinley Golf Academy offering lessons for adults and kids. Limitezero, the world's only cross-border zip line, can be found in the Algarve, dangling high over the Guadiana River between Sanlucar de Guadiana in Spain and Alcoutim in Portugal. You'll zoom along the 720m route at speeds of around 50mph, and will even travel through time as Spain is an hour ahead of Portugal. Brave it and keep your eyes open the whole time: you'll forget about your jelly legs, but not the views. Riders must be over 14; anyone too young or too scared to zip-line can climb up to the 14th-century castle above the town. You'll see sardines on most menus in the Algarve — often served grilled and accompanied by a salad and new potatoes. To locals they're more than a mere ingredient. They've been fished off the coast since Roman times, and canning and exporting sardines became the most significant industry in the region from the mid-19th century. Housed in a former cannery, the Museu de Portimao first traces the Algarve's ancient history, and interactively explains the sardine industry using original machines. It's surprisingly fascinating and will leave you with a new-found respect for your lunch. The Algarve's coolest art exhibition lies 12 metres beneath the Atlantic, a mile off Albufeira harbour. Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils (who is a former Banksy collaborator) created the sunken sculptures out of scrap metal from defunct power stations. Now, in their watery new home, they'll become an artificial reef ecosystem colonised by marine life, as well as providing certified divers with a novel art-viewing experience. Keen to take the plunge? Book a visit to EDP Art Reef with a licensed local tour company, such as Easydivers or Algarve Charters. This region has its own breed of sheep, Churra Algarvia, and they're a distinctive looking lot: twisting horizontal horns, coarse fleeces, panda-like eye markings. A handful of enterprising farms (and the luxurious Viceroy at Ombria Algarve hotel) now invite tourists to walk in a local shepherd's shoes for a few hours, learn basic sheepdog commands and get an insight into rural life. In the hills of Serra do Caldeirão, Portugal Farm Experience and Algarve Food Experiences do the same with cheeky Algarvian goats, with experienced goatherds leading a morning hike, picnic and artisanal cheesemaking class. We've given you a range of options that don't mention the beaches. But if you do fancy them then here are some tips so you know exactly which golden sand stretches to swoon over. Spoiler: there are more than 100 to choose from, so hire a car if you can. Praia da Marinha and its arching rock formations often steal the limelight, while Praia da Falesia's already apricot cliffs glow an intense red at sunset. Then there's family-favourite Praia da Ingrina, with a small, sheltered cove where kids can splash in the shallows. You'll find fewer crowds on the west coast, and the horseshoe beach at Odeceixe is extraordinary, with a calm river lagoon on one side and Atlantic surf on the other. • Best beaches in the Algarve• Best villas in the Algarve Additional reporting by Imogen Lepere and Estella Shardlow
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Zoo flamingo breeding delayed by dry spring
The start of a zoo's flamingo breeding season has been delayed for the longest time on record by dry spring weather. Blackpool Zoo said it had shipped in four tonnes of sand to encourage the birds to construct their nests but it was only since the rain had returned that they had begun building. The nests, which are mounds made of sand and water, need to be located where they can stay wet as the flamingos continually build them throughout the incubation period. Keepers said it was "a sight to behold" when the birds finally began nesting and once the "most confident flamingo" decides to lay an egg the rest follow. Luke Forster from the zoo, said Caribbean flamingos were very social birds known for their "elaborate" nesting behaviours. "They build their nests in large colonies, carefully shaping the mounds to protect their eggs, which are incubated by both and male and female birds," he said. "Both genders also produce crop milk to feed the chicks once they have hatched and, in some cases, pairs of the same sex will take on the responsibility of incubating and raising a chick, even if the egg isn't theirs." When the chicks hatch they will have grey-white down and a straight beak. They develop their pink colour over a few years as they consume foods rich in the carotenoid pigments that make some plants, algae and crustaceans red, orange, pink and yellow. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. Blackpool-born gorilla starts new life in India Zoo's delight at birth of endangered orangutan Blackpool's tourist numbers on the rise Pelican rescued after being found 65 miles from zoo Blackpool Zoo
BBC News
08-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Blackpool Zoo flamingo breeding delayed by dry spring
The start of a zoo's flamingo breeding season has been delayed for the longest time on record by dry spring Zoo said it had shipped in four tonnes of sand to encourage the birds to construct their nests but it was only since the rain had returned that they had begun nests, which are mounds made of sand and water, need to be located where they can stay wet as the flamingos continually build them throughout the incubation said it was "a sight to behold" when the birds finally began nesting and once the "most confident flamingo" decides to lay an egg the rest follow. Luke Forster from the zoo, said Caribbean flamingos were very social birds known for their "elaborate" nesting behaviours."They build their nests in large colonies, carefully shaping the mounds to protect their eggs, which are incubated by both and male and female birds," he said."Both genders also produce crop milk to feed the chicks once they have hatched and, in some cases, pairs of the same sex will take on the responsibility of incubating and raising a chick, even if the egg isn't theirs."When the chicks hatch they will have grey-white down and a straight beak. They develop their pink colour over a few years as they consume foods rich in the carotenoid pigments that make some plants, algae and crustaceans red, orange, pink and yellow. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
CBC
23-05-2025
- Science
- CBC
Flamingos create water tornadoes to trap and suck up their prey: study
During the pandemic, Saad Bhamla watched the flamingos at the zoo perform strange head movements as they ate, and found himself wondering: "What the heck is going on?" The birds would submerge their heads in the water, with their beaks by their feet, while stomping their webbed feet, walking sideways and moving their mandibles, splashing water everywhere. Bhamla and his colleagues decided to study the movements. It turns out, he says, the flamingos use their necks and beaks to create a vortex in the water to trap and slurp up their prey — an evolutionary practice apparently distinct to them. "We couldn't believe our eyes," Bhamla, an associate professor of bimolecular engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "When they raise their heads underwater, they create a tornado, which traps these tiny shrimps and tiny invertebrates living in the water that they want to feed on, and makes their job easier to sift them through the mud and muddy things that they feed in." The findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that these bright pink, spindly-legged birds stand out not just for their whimsical aesthetic; but also for quirky foraging habits and unique evolution. How do flamingos eat? As part of their research, the team observed 3D-printed models of the flamingos' feet and beaks, and studied the skull of a deceased flamingo. But the real stars of the study, Bhamla says, were Marty and Mattie, a dynamic duo of Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) from the Nashville Zoo. Thanks to their willingness to be fed in controlled conditions, the research team could observe these flamingos as they ate with their heads upside down and submerged in the tank. Footage from a high-speed camera and other devices captured the velocity of these motions. WATCH | Compiled simulations of flamingos' foraging behaviours: The team confirmed that their head's anatomy — particularly their L-shaped beaks — help in creating this whirlpool effect as the birds quickly pull their heads out of the water. "They're moving their heads in tens of milliseconds," Bhamla said. "And they're doing this constantly, over and over again." The team also observed two other feeding techniques: chattering and stomping. Chattering is when the birds clap their upper mandibles, or jaw bones, underwater. Mattie and Marty also chattered their beaks when they stood still, or as they stomped their feet to stir up the sediment below. Stomping with their asymmetric webbed toes helps flamingos generate complementary vortexes to catch small prey and then easily swallow them with their beaks positioned near their feet. The Bhamla Lab website lists a detailed breakdown of each of these techniques, including video clips and a comic book illustration. 'They're not doing a funny dance' Jerry Lorenz, former research director of the bird conservation organization Audubon Florida who was not involved with this project, said the team "did an excellent job looking at the various flow patterns and movements" of both bill and tongue. "We've known that flamingos had a very interesting way of foraging and that their mouth parts were just kind of a bizarre thing," he said. "But the way they put it together to make sense of the evolution that created this … was just really astounding. I was actually delighted by the whole thing." From a conservation perspective, Lorenz says these findings are significant to understanding how flamingos interact with their environment to know how to best preserve it. "Evolution doesn't do accidents. If they're doing a behaviour and you don't understand why, there is an evolutionary reason for them to be doing that," he said.
New York Times
12-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Flamingos Summon Mini-Twisters to Suck Up Prey
If you've ever really looked at how flamingos eat, you know how captivatingly peculiar it is. They bob their inverted heads in the water and do a kind of waddle cha-cha as they inch their way across shallow water, filter-feeding small crustaceans, insects, microscopic algae and other tiny aquatic morsels. Victor Ortega-Jiménez, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, remembers being fascinated by this behavior the first time he saw it in 2019, during a trip with his wife and child to the Atlanta zoo. Ever since, he has been wondering what, exactly, was going on beneath the surface. 'The birds looked beautiful, but the big question for me was, 'What's happening with the hydrodynamic mechanisms involved in flamingos' filter feeding?'' he said. Back home, he was surprised to find no explanation in the scientific literature — so he decided to produce one himself. Several years of meticulous research later, he and his colleagues arrived at a surprising discovery, described Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Flamingos, they found, are active predators that harness the physics of how water flows to sweep up prey and funnel it directly into their mouths. 'We are challenging the idea that flamingos are just passive filter feeders,' Dr. Ortega-Jiménez said. 'Just as spiders produce webs, flamingos produce vortices.' Dr. Ortega-Jiménez's collaborators included three exceptionally cooperative flamingos from the Nashville Zoo: Mattie, Marty and Cayenne. Zookeepers trained the birds to feed in a clear container, which allowed the researchers to record what was happening using high-speed cameras and fluid dynamic methods. The scientists generated oxygen bubbles and added food particles to measure and visualize the flow of the water as the birds fed. After initial observations with the live birds, the team built a 3-D model of a flamingo head and used it to more precisely explore the birds' biomechanics. Flamingos, they found, frequently and quickly retract their heads as they feed. Each of those motions creates a tornado-like vortex and an upwelling of particles from the bottom toward the water's surface. Further observation and experiments with the mechanical beak revealed that chattering, in which flamingos rapidly clap their beaks while their heads are lifted but still underwater, is responsible for causing the mini-twisters to flow directly toward the birds' mouths, helping them capture prey. Their bent, L-shaped beaks were also critical for generating vortices and recirculating eddies as they fed at the water's surface, reaping the rewards of those engineered flows. Another 'amazing finding,' Dr. Ortega-Jiménez said, was what the birds do with their feet, which the researchers explored using a mechanical flamingo foot and computational modeling. The dancing-like motion of their webbed appendages underwater produced yet more vortices that pushed additional particles toward the birds' waiting mouths as they fed upside down in the water. Taken together, these findings suggest that flamingos are 'highly specialized, super feeding machines that use their entire body for feeding,' Dr. Ortega-Jiménez said. Sunghwan Jung, a biophysicist at Cornell University who was not involved in the study, praised the work for being 'an outstanding demonstration of how biological form and motion can control the surrounding fluid to serve a functional role.' Alejandro Rico-Guevara, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, also not involved in the work, agreed that the new paper puts to rest the notion that flamingos are passive in the way they filter feed. 'There have been many hypotheses surrounding how their odd bills could work,' he said, 'but until recently we didn't have the tools to study it.' In addition to solving that mystery and revealing 'a uniquely evolved way to capture tiny and evasive prey,' he continued, the research suggests another evolutionary reason for webbed feet in birds, beyond just being good paddles. Now that Dr. Ortega-Jiménez's curiosity about flamingo-instigated fluid dynamics has been satisfied, he plans to turn his attention to what is going on inside the birds' beaks during feeding. Taken together, such findings could eventually lead to bioinspired technologies that capture things like toxic algae or microplastics, he said. 'What's at the heart of filter feeding in flamingos?' he said. 'We as scientists want to understand both the form and function of these fascinating and mysterious birds as they interact with their fluid environment.'
