Today's edition lands on a national holiday: the 5th of October is Portugal's Republic Day, the day the country marks the proclamation of the republic in 1910, and most banks, government offices and many local shops observe it. The week ahead, however, is anything but quiet. The easyJet cabin crew strike affecting Faro Airport has one more day to run after today; from Thursday, three days of international illusionism take over the Lagoa municipality; and Saturday evening offers two of the most satisfying closers the autumn cultural season could stage, as the fado series at Portimão's Antiga Lota plays its farewell concert and the Lagoa Magic Fest closes with its Grande Gala. Somewhere in between, there is a film festival in Portimão, ancient music in Lagos old town, and a 19th-century wooden ship slowly giving up its secrets on the bed of the River Arade.

This week in the west

easyJet cabin crew strike at Faro Airport ends Tuesday 6 October

The five-day easyJet cabin crew strike that began at Faro Airport alongside its counterparts in Lisbon and Porto on Friday 2 October runs until Tuesday 6 October, with around 500 flights at risk across the Portuguese network over the course of the action. The timing, coinciding with the long October public holiday weekend, increased its impact on leisure travel. Travellers arriving into or departing from Faro today or tomorrow should check their flight status with easyJet before leaving for the airport; those whose flights are cancelled or delayed by more than three hours are entitled to compensation and assistance under EU261 regulations. A second strike period has been announced for 19 to 23 December, which will affect Christmas travel.

Cliff fall near Sagres: a reminder for coastal walkers

Emergency services in Vila do Bispo recovered the body of a 64-year-old German woman from the base of a cliff near Sagres on Saturday 3 October, after she fell approximately 20 metres while walking a path between Tonel and Beliche beaches. A high-angle rescue team from Vila do Bispo Volunteer Firefighters, the Maritime Police from Lagos and an INEM emergency medical team attended the scene. The incident is a reminder that the coastal paths of the western Algarve are among the most spectacular walking in Portugal and also among the most serious. Cliff edges here are often unfenced and the ground at the lip can be loose, particularly after recent rain. Stick to marked paths, keep well back from exposed edges, and take particular care around the headlands between Sagres and Beliche where the drops are severe.

A 19th-century vessel on the bed of the River Arade

A wooden ship resting on the bed of the River Arade near Ferragudo has been the focus of fresh research by the National Centre for Nautical and Underwater Archaeology, with the latest findings presented at the Museu de Portimão on Thursday 1 October as part of the MUSA underwater heritage project. Around 25 metres of the vessel's timber structure remain visible on the riverbed at the GEO 5 archaeological site; researchers have mapped the exposed remains in detail and created a three-dimensional photographic model of the hull. The ship is believed to date from the 19th century based on its construction, but where it came from and what purpose it served are still unknown. The hull has never been excavated: the first planned excavation is not until May 2027. For visitors to the Museu de Portimão, which sits on the riverfront in the centre of the city, the MUSA project and its records of the Arade estuary's submerged heritage make for an absorbing additional reason to visit.

What's on this week

VII Sons d'Aquém Mar, Igreja de Santa Maria, Lagos, Monday 5 October

The seventh edition of Sons d'Aquém Mar, a festival of ancient and early music performed on period instruments, opens its October programme at the Igreja de Santa Maria in the heart of Lagos old town this evening at 6:30pm. The series places historically informed music into old churches and intimate spaces across the Lagos area, and the Santa Maria church, whose broad square overlooks the former covered market, is among the most atmospheric venues the city offers. Entry is free.

ARTURb 2026 now open at LAC Lagos, free through the end of October

The 15th edition of ARTURb, the international urban art residency at the LAC Laboratório de Actividades Criativas in Lagos, opened its public exhibition on Saturday 3 October and runs through the end of the month. Artists spent the weeks of the residency creating work for the LAC building and painting murals at points around the old town streets; the exhibition makes the studio results visible alongside the street interventions that anyone walking through Lagos will already have started to notice. Entry is free. Workshops in street art techniques are also planned later in the month for visitors who want to go beyond looking.

Lagoa Magic Fest'26, Lagoa municipality, Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 October

The 6th Lagoa Magic Fest returns to the Lagoa municipality from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 October, billing itself as the only international illusionism festival in the Algarve. On Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October, three illusionists each perform a pair of free pop-up shows at locations around the municipality, bringing street magic to squares and public spaces across Lagoa. The festival closes on Saturday 10 October with the Grande Gala at the Auditório Carlos do Carmo at 9pm: a full evening of stage illusions under the artistic direction of Lagos-born magician Paulo Cabrita. Tickets for the Grande Gala are 10 euros, with reductions for Cultural Passport holders, and are available online, at CTT, Fnac and Worten counters, and at the Carlos do Carmo Auditorium box office. Lagoa is 12 kilometres east of Lagos on the N125.

Festival de Cinema de Portimão, TEMPO Teatro Municipal, Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October

The second edition of the Portimão Film Festival runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October at TEMPO, the Teatro Municipal de Portimão on the Arade riverfront. All sessions are free to attend on collection of a ticket from the box office. The programme is organised around three themes across three days: being, resisting and belonging, played out through short and feature-length films by Portuguese and international directors. A workshop on visual narrative runs at 3pm on Sunday 11 October for those who want to extend the weekend beyond the screenings. TEMPO is in the centre of Portimão, 24 kilometres east of Lagos on the EN125.

Ha Fado na Lota: series finale with Luana Velasques and Cecílio Santos, Antiga Lota, Portimão, Saturday 10 October

The Ha Fado na Lota series closes its 2026 run at the Antiga Lota on the Arade waterfront in Portimão on Saturday 10 October at 9pm, with fadista Luana Velasques joined by guitarist Cecílio Santos and the accompanying musicians Vítor do Carmo, Nuno Martins and José Santana. Six free Saturday concerts have run across September and October at this restored fish market beside the river, accompanied throughout by an exhibition on fado's history and its UNESCO inscription, which continues at the venue into mid-October. For anyone who has been meaning to make the trip to Portimão for the fado and not yet managed it, Saturday 10 October is the last chance. Entry is free, as it has been every Saturday of the series.

Coming up

Autumn Mediterranean Garden Fair, FATACIL showground, Lagoa, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October

The Mediterranean Gardening Association Portugal returns to the FATACIL showground in Lagoa on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, 10am to 5pm both days, with free admission throughout. More than 60 exhibitors are expected, including over 20 plant nurseries offering Mediterranean and native varieties suited to conditions in the western Algarve. Free talks on gardening topics run across both days. FATACIL is well signposted from the EN125 and has ample free parking on site.

Algarve Classic Festival, Portimão circuit, Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November

The Iberian Peninsula's biggest historic motor racing weekend returns to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve at Portimão from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November, bringing more than 300 historic cars and 500 drivers from over 20 countries to the circuit. Categories span pre-war grand prix cars through to 1970s endurance prototypes, historic touring cars and Formula Ones from the turbocharged era. Entry for children and young people aged 3 to 16 is free. The circuit is 12 kilometres north of Portimão city centre.

Concierge corner

The best week is the one nobody books

Everyone comes in August. I understand why, the children are off and the sea is warm, but I have lived through enough Algarve summers to let you in on a quiet secret: the coast is at its best right now, in October, when almost nobody is here to see it.

Start with the sea. It spent all summer storing the heat and it gives it back slowly, so the water in October is often warmer than it was in June. You can still swim, and you can do it on a beach where you are not negotiating for a square metre of sand. Praia da Luz, Burgau, the little coves past Salema: walk down at eleven and you may have the whole thing more or less to yourself.

Then walk. This is the month the coast path comes into its own, because in August it is simply too hot to attempt before dusk. Take the boardwalks out to Ponta da Piedade from Lagos, go early, and watch the light come sideways across the cliffs. The stone turns the colour of honey and the boats are still asleep in the water below. It is the photograph everyone takes in summer and nobody gets, because in summer there are forty other people standing in it.

The towns breathe again too. You can park in Lagos. You can get a table at the restaurant you walked past three times in August because the queue put you off. The waiter has time to talk to you. The menu has not changed, but the evening has.

A couple of honest notes. The days are shorter, so plan the big walk for the morning and keep the afternoon loose. And bring one layer more than you think, because the moment the sun drops behind the cliffs the air remembers it is autumn, even while the sea is still pretending it is summer.

Here is the part I tell the owners whose villas I look after: the guests who come in October are the ones who leave saying they found something. Not the Algarve of the brochures, the other one, the one that is still a place people actually live in. If you have been thinking about coming and telling yourself you missed the season, you have the season exactly backwards.

Mark

The week's weather

The week opens unsettled, with showers possible on Monday and a higher chance of rain through Tuesday before conditions improve markedly from Wednesday onwards. The middle of the week should be the most reliable stretch, with clear skies and mild temperatures working into the mid-twenties as Thursday and Friday arrive, which is well-timed for the Magic Fest street shows in Lagoa. Saturday may bring some cloud and a returning chance of showers by the evening; conditions through the morning and afternoon should remain manageable for the fado finale at the Antiga Lota.

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