Albufeira, Portugal Part 3: A bus tour and the most colourful marina

It was day four of my trip and my last full day here in Albufeira, but if you read parts one and two of my posts, you may have noticed I’ve not really posted anything yet about Albufeira itself. My last post was about my safari trip, which was in the Algarve countryside just outside of Albufeira.

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Hop on hop off bus

On this morning, I decided to do the hop-on, hop-off bus. It’s not really something I’d usually do, but I hadn’t seen any of Albufeira, so I thought this was the most convenient way to see it with such a short time left.

I paid €22 for a ticket that was valid for 48 hours since they often only last 24 hours. I’m not sure why it might have been due to the season, but it was nonetheless encouraging to hear because it meant I could use it the following morning before leaving for home.

On board, I was handed a free map and tour itinerary, along with some earphones.

You could plug your earphones in on the bus and choose from twelve different languages to listen to the commentary, although I did have to fiddle around with it for a bit and adjust it again whenever there was a bump in the road, which I found quite amusing. The commentary had lots of information, but sometimes it didn’t tell the bus what stops we were at. So most of the time, I didn’t know where I was.

I wasn’t really planning anything, but I knew I wanted to visit Marina de Albufeira.

I decided to stay on the bus and enjoy the scenery up until this point because the Marina was the farthest away.

Marina de Albufeira

I can’t really tell you much about Marina de Albufeira apart from the fact that it was developed in 2003, is said to be the safest and most protected marina in Portugal, and is the most colourful marina I’ve ever seen.

It is a tourist attraction and development complex with several hotels, apartments, villas, restaurants, and leisure centers, although with only 5000 hash-tagged posts on Instagram, it appears to be a not-so-known little gem.

If you do get a chance to visit Albufeira, add a bit of colour to your day and visit this lovely marina. 

Nosolo Italia restaurant

It was around lunchtime upon my arrival, so I had thought it would be a nice place to stop for lunch with the intention of sampling some Portuguese food, but since this area is primarily a tourist area, there was no option for that, so I settled for an Italian restaurant called Nosolo Italia which is a lovely, affordable place with friendly staff and is perfectly located on the Marina.

My choice was the cheese omelette with salad, a side dish of chips, and a large glass of red wine, which all went down a treat.

Afterwards, it was a lovely walk around the Marina before catching the tour bus back.

Pau da Bandeira

Pau da Bandeira was the next stop I hopped off the bus at, and funny enough, unbeknownst to me until I took this bus, it was just a short 10- to 15-minute walk from my hotel.

Pau da Bandeira is known for its stunning panoramic viewpoint of the old town and Praia de Pescadores beach and is the most popular area of Albufeira and a must visit. If you didn’t see this on a visit, then you didn’t go to Albufeira.

I spent the rest of the day catching rays at the beach and then watched the beautiful sunset, which was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

I hope you enjoyed my post today.

Thank you for visiting.

Stay blessed 🙏🏾 

Natalie ❤️