Towns and Villages

This village still shows a tranquil and unhurried lifestyle by the friendly local population. The streets of white houses whose ranks are broken only by the lofty outline of the church and its bell tower, the ring of hills around the town that look out on the sea and the mountains are the simple charms of São Brás de Alportel, a typical Algarve town.

The low and white houses, typical of popular architecture, stand alongside more substantial buildings, with their façades decorated with tiles, ornate stonework and cast iron verandas, whose opulence goes back to São Brás de Alportel's prosperity in the years when the cork industry was booming.

The high and low points of the town's changing fortunes are thus written in the stones of its streets and squares, while such details as the baroque mortar decoration of the Passo da Paixão (Stations of the Cross) near the Episcopal Palace and the pretty flower pots in the windows add colour and interest to their story.