Southern Portugal

The Algarve is the obvious draw, but the Alentejo above it is what makes Southern Portugal worth a real trip. Cork forests, white-washed villages, some of the best wine in Europe outside the famous regions, beaches that get wilder the further west you go. Warm without being oppressive.

Fly into Faro or Lisbon and rent a car the same day — this is a driving trip. A good week splits between the western Algarve (Lagos for the cliff coves, Sagres for surf and the end-of-Europe sunsets) and two nights inland in the Alentejo, eating black pork and drinking reds from the plains around Évora. Beaches fill the days; long dinners are the event. Outside high summer, your money mostly goes on the car and the wine.

The catch is the Algarve in July and August: packed beaches, doubled prices, and a strip of package resorts around Albufeira that could be anywhere. The Atlantic is cold — this is not Greek-island swimming, even in summer. Public transport is thin, so non-drivers will struggle. Skip the strip, come in May, June, or September, and you get the same cliffs with better restaurants and half the stress.