Portugal Road Trip: Vila Nova de Milfontes

We saved some of the best accommodations for last! At this point we were nearing the end of the tip and kind of tired from changing locations every 2-3 nights. We knew we wanted to check out Vila Nova de Milfontes based on the surf forecast, but all the places left to stay were looking like duds. I probably would have given up and stayed anywhere at that point. But Bryan never gives up. He kept checking and refreshing booking websites until a diamond appeared in the rough. Apparently, someone had canceled last minute and there was an opening at a beautiful house called Casa do Lado.

We left the tiny streets of Alvor and headed back to the west coast, stopping at a nice beach bar for lunch on the way.

After about a two hour total drive, we made it to Milfontes. I had to work right away (are you sensing a theme here?), but the room was luxurious. It was nice on its own, but it was extra nice after coming from a journey of shared bathrooms and kitchens and sometimes single beds. There was a fruit bowl, tea, and glass water bottle in the room, for goodness sake. It felt like all of our needs had been accounted for.

In the morning, Thomas the owner (with his sister Mariana) served us an amazing breakfast in the garden.

It was a lot to eat before surfing, but we were not about to pass up such a wonderful breakfast! Then we got lucky and found some fun waves.

It was a Saturday, so we spent the rest of the day exploring some nearby surf spots and the town of Porto Covo.

We surfed a couple days, and the one day there weren’t any waves, we went for a coastal hike to a secret beach.

At night, we found a few nice places to eat—a really good vegan spot, a casual pub, and, on our last night, a highly recommended seafood restaurant.

One night, walking back through the town, everyone was out and about and we came across both a clown show and a musical performance in the streets. It was fun to see everyone out and about on a summer night.

I definitely started to feel like Milfontes should be added to the list of places we could stay longer term. I hope to make it back again someday!