Stuart Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Does anyone have any comments on the sites at Olhao and the one at Quarteira for a few nights next wek please? Thanks in advance Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Stayed at Camping Olhao in autumn '05. Site quite large and generally sandy. Pitches slightly sloping, about adequate size and well defined. Site generally well organised and cleaned. Has smallish, but reasonably adequate "supermarket" on site. Other shops rather distant to walk. Facilities rather elderly and not fantastically well maintained, though clean. Manned gate/barrier. Olhao a bit of a dump, and don't expect a pretty Algarve style beach - it's as flat as your hat that end. Fair value for a recovery stopover, but not really a very interesting area. Best to arrive well stocked. However, that's my opinion, there are loads of folk who spend all winter there but I'm sure I'd go stir-crazy. Maybe they all are :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daismarg Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I stayed in Olhao for 4 nights over the New Year, visiting friends who had been there since October. My first impression that it was a site that was frequented by all the British who had come to Portugal for the winter sun! The site is large with motor homes everywhere, even with RV's parked on the roads but saying that we found the site clean and with a bus stop right outside the gate which took you into town. Five minutes from the site is a nature park which we walked around one morning and the 4 euros we paid was worth while the money and the sites amazing. All in the all the site is good and clean which is the main priority in my book and the only down side was the trains which tend to go past at the bottom of the site!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Highe Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 On Olhau, this is a well run site which attracts a lot of northern Europeans to stay for the winter. There tends to be 'villages' of each nationality and they are all very sociable. The site shop is surprisingly well stocked and they take an effort to stock things that long term visitors ask for and the bread is good too. The railway runs past the site and you can tell the time by the trains - but they don't run at night. One advantage of the railway is that if you walk into Olhau (about a mile) you can get a train into Faro and other Algarve towns.On the way into Olhao alongside the railway you will spot a large Hypermarket on the other side of the tracks and on the seafront in Olhau is a large and well stocked market split into two, one is the fish market (Olhau is the largest fishing port in Portugal and the centre of the salt cod industry) and the other is the meat and vegetable market. There are a number of very good fish restaurants opposite. Olhau itself has a range of shops.The park by the campsite towards the sea has, amongst other attractions, the only remaining swimming poodles! They have webbed feet and used to be employed to catch fish. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Highe Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 She who must be obeyed reminds me that we have also stayed in the Orbitur site in Quarteira. Its on the edge of the substantial holiday resort. Like all the Orbitur sites it is well run and the beach in Quarteira is magnificent with a new promenade. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daismarg Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Hi Peter Think your swimming poodles are actually Portugese Water Dogs and I have enclosed a photo of them that I took whilst there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Highe Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 daismarq Funny how the memory doesn't work as well as you get older... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daismarg Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Been trying for an hour to put on a photo but keeps coming up Server Error so will have to give up, sorry!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Highe Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 These they? http://www.portuguesewaterdogs.org.uk/ Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olley Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 hi just came back from 6 days at Quarteria during our trip to Portugal. all the best pitches are taken by the clubs and its full of mainly english snowbirds. There were spare pitches but they are a bit small, and mostly on sloping ground but you should be ok in a eurovan, very clean facilities and the biggest showers I have seen. Shop and pool are closed. good english spoken at reception. Part of the ACSI system so 1 van plus 2 people stay for €12 per night :-D this is one of the few pitches we could get on, the other caravans you can see are not in the clubs, they are either like us on their own, or are unoccupied seasonal, of which there are quite a few. Olley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betsy Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Hi, We have been staying at Camping Olhao on and off during the winter months for about ten years. When we had a caravan we would stay longer because the rates drop dramatically after a month. Now we have a motorhome we basically go there the do our chores/charge up etc. As others have said, it is a big site with a large number of long-term residents at this time of year. Whilst I have to agree that the facilities are not top-notch they are always clean and have unlimited hot-water. The electric hook-ups can power everything that you have in your motorhome - all at the same time! Large parts of the site are under bushy pine trees and these pitches are really not popular during the winter (best to have a walk/drive around after you have booked in). If you have a dog with you look out for the processional caterpillars that are about at the moment. We feel that you should just take the place as you find it and we meet many folk that , like ourselves, have been using the place year after year - including a number of Brits who used the place whilst having villas built and who still return there for the social life. We will be there with other pals whom we took there last year (and who enjoyed it) for about a week starting 23/2 If you have bicycles you will be able to enjoy what the town has to offer a lot more. The Saturday market is well worth visiting but the twin market buildings are open every day and the strawberries at this time of year are a great buy. The seafront has loads of restaurants and whilst we have tried a number of them we always go back to Ria Formosa (there are a number of establishments with the same name - ours is the one on the eastern side of the seafront next to a small camping shop/general store) - you can always tell it in the evening as it is full of locals - a sure sign of good food/value. If the fishing fleet it due in, watch out for the working-girls in the evening near the docks - just interesting to see life. In Olhao overnight parking is tolerated at this time of year at the very western end of the main seafront. There is another campsite in nearby Fuzeta - also pretty crowded. When we are in Fuzeta we usually stay overnight on the praia right next to the water but NOT the night before market day. Talking of markets, both Fuzeta and Olhao are sites for the "quirky" Algarve flea market which moves around from week to week. A tourist paper or the helpful girls in Camping Olhao will tell you when they are scheduled to be held. Enjoy your stay Dick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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