Algarve Private Tours
Explore the Algarve with someone who actually lives it.
PRIVATE TOURS IN THE ALGARVE
Let me show you the place I call home.
Private, personalised days in the Algarve, designed around you and led by Olive — a Portugal travel designer, trip leader and local guide.
No groups. No rigid itineraries. No ticking off sights just for the sake of it.
Just a thoughtful day, shaped around what you want to experience.
Private experiences · Local knowledge · Tailored to you
Let me show you the special place I call home.
Choose your experience
The quieter Algarve, east of Faro.
Drive east from the resort towns and the Algarve slows down. Fishing boats come and go from small harbours, tiled façades line narrow streets, and the Ria Formosa lagoon stretches out between the towns and the sea.
Spend a private day with me in a part of the region most visitors never reach. I'll shape the route around your interests, the day of the week and the time of year.
WHERE THE DAY CAN TAKE YOU
Tavira
A graceful riverside town of churches, old bridges and distinctive four-sided rooftops.
Olhão
A working fishing town, with riverside market halls where the day's catch arrives each morning.
Cacela Velha
A tiny whitewashed village above the lagoon, with one of the most peaceful views on the coast.
The Ria Formosa
Protected lagoon, salt marshes and sandy islands, home to flamingos and wading birds at certain times of year. If you'd like to see it from the water, I can arrange a boat trip through the lagoon.
The Salt Pans
Where sea salt is still harvested by hand, much as it has been for centuries.
The Local Table
Fresh seafood and regional cooking, in places chosen for their food, never for their view of the car park.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Private full-day guiding with Olive
A route designed around your interests
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed Algarve area
Lunch reservation and local recommendations
Bottled water
NOT INCLUDED
Lunch and drinks
Boat trip on the Ria Formosa
Entrance fees
Optional tastings and activities
Tips
Personal expenses
Duration: Approximately 8 hours
Private group: Up to 4 guests. Larger groups available on request.
GOOD TO KNOW
The eastern Algarve is often overlooked. That is precisely why I love sharing it.
Expect cobbled streets and short walks through town, so comfortable shoes are a good idea. Tell me what draws you most, whether it's markets, history, nature or simply a long lunch by the water, and I'll plan the day around it.
The Algarve as locals know it, designed around you.
A private walking day through the Algarve, at your own pace.
Most visitors only ever see a narrow strip of the Algarve coast. Walk a little further and the region changes completely: wild Atlantic cliffs in the west, mountain forest in Monchique, quiet limestone valleys inland, and the dunes and lagoons of the Ria Formosa to the east.
Choose the landscape that speaks to you. I'll shape the walk around your group, your pace and the kind of day you have in mind, with time to pause, take photographs and stop somewhere good for lunch.
CHOOSE YOUR WALK
1. The Wild West Coast | Carrapateira and Bordeira
Clifftop paths above empty Atlantic beaches, dunes and small fishing inlets. The Algarve as it was before tourism arrived.
Best for: open space and the untamed ocean.
2. The Golden Cliffs | Seven Hanging Valleys
Limestone arches, sea caves and hidden coves between Praia da Marinha and Benagil. We start early, before the paths get busy.
Best for: first-time visitors who want to see the Algarve at its most iconic.
3. The Mountain | Serra de Monchique
Cork oak and chestnut forest, the highest points in the Algarve, and views that reach the ocean on a clear day.
Best for: those who enjoy a more active day.
4. The Hidden Interior | Rocha da Pena and Fonte Benémola
A limestone escarpment, a quiet stream valley and small villages where daily life carries on as it always has.
Best for: curious travellers who want to see an Algarve few visitors ever find.
5. The Eastern Lagoons | Cacela Velha and Manta Rota
The Ria Formosa lagoon, salt marshes, dunes and a long, quiet beach. Mostly flat and easy underfoot.
Best for: a gentle walk by the water.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Private guiding with Olive
A walk chosen and adapted to your group
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed area
Bottled water
NOT INCLUDED
Lunch and drinks
Personal expenses
Duration: Approximately 6 hours
Private group: Up to 4 guests
GOOD TO KNOW
Every walk can be gentle or more demanding. We agree on the distance together before the day, so there are no surprises. Paths are natural and sometimes uneven, so comfortable walking shoes are essential.
Tell me which landscape draws you, or simply tell me what you enjoy. If you can't choose, I'll recommend the one I think suits you best.
A private day on foot through the Algarve, designed around you.
The wild west of the Algarve, where the land meets the Atlantic.
West of Lagos, the Algarve loses its polish. Resorts give way to fishing villages, the cliffs rise higher, and the land finally ends at Cape St. Vincent, once believed to be the edge of the known world.
Spend a private day with me along this coast. We'll combine the places worth seeing with quieter stops most visitors drive straight past, at a pace that suits you.
WHERE THE DAY CAN TAKE YOU
Lagos
A historic walled town, once a departure point for Portugal's voyages of discovery.
Ponta da Piedade
Golden sea stacks, arches and grottoes, best seen from the clifftop paths.
Luz, Burgau and Salema
Small fishing villages where boats are still pulled up onto the sand. At Salema, dinosaur footprints appear on the rocks at low tide.
Sagres
A fortress on a windswept headland, forever associated with Henry the Navigator.
Cape St. Vincent
The southwestern tip of mainland Europe, where a lighthouse stands above sheer cliffs and open ocean.
The Wild Beaches
Wide Atlantic beaches framed by dunes and cliffs, with far more space than people.
The Local Table
Seafood from these waters, including percebes, the goose barnacles gathered from the rocks along this coast and one of Portugal's most prized delicacies.
ADD TO YOUR DAY
A Clifftop Walk
A short walk along the coastal paths, around Ponta da Piedade or on a section of the Rota Vicentina, adapted to your pace.
A Surf Lesson
The west coast is where Portugal learns to surf. I can arrange a private lesson with a certified local school, adapted to your level and to the conditions of the day. No experience needed.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Private full-day guiding with Olive
A route designed around your interests
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed Algarve area
Lunch reservation and local recommendations
Bottled water
NOT INCLUDED
Lunch and drinks
Optional activities
Tips
Personal expenses
Duration: Approximately 8 hours
Private group: Up to 4 guests. Larger groups available on request.
GOOD TO KNOW
This is your day, at your pace. If you'd rather linger in a fishing village, stop for a swim, enjoy a long lunch or simply sit and watch the Atlantic, we'll do exactly that.
The west coast is windier and cooler than the south, so a light layer is always a good idea, even in summer.
The Algarve at its wildest, designed around you.
A private day through the Algarve's markets, cellars and kitchens.
Most visitors taste the Algarve from a beachfront menu. The flavours that truly define it are found elsewhere: at a market stall where the fish arrived that morning, in a small wine estate in the hills, in a village where almond and fig sweets are still made by hand.
Spend a private day discovering them with me. We'll build it around what you love to eat and drink, and I'll take care of every reservation along the way.
SHAPE YOUR DAY
Choose what interests you most. You can combine two or three.
1. The Vineyard
Small Algarve estates producing wines most visitors never hear about, tasted where they are made.
Best for: wine lovers and curious palates.
2. The Market and the Sea
A morning at a traditional market, followed by seafood by the water, cooked the way the Algarve has always cooked it.
Best for: those who travel to eat well.
3. The Southern Pantry
Olive oil, sea salt from the Ria Formosa, figs, almonds, carob and medronho. The ingredients behind the region's cooking.
Best for: food lovers who enjoy meeting the people behind the product.
4. Villages and Sweets
Quiet whitewashed villages, traditional pastries and a slower rhythm of life inland.
Best for: travellers who want to see how the Algarve lives day to day.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Private guiding with Olive
A food and wine day designed around your tastes
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed Algarve area
All reservations arranged for you
Bottled water
NOT INCLUDED
Lunch
Personal expenses
Duration: Approximately 7 to 8 hours
Private group: Up to 3 guests
GOOD TO KNOW
With private transport, everyone in the group can enjoy the tastings. Let me know about any dietary requirements in advance, and I'll plan every stop around them.
Tell me what you love to eat and drink. If you're not sure where to begin, I'll recommend the combination I think suits you best.
THE FULL EXPERIENCE
For a fully curated day, I can arrange selected tastings, a private lunch and a few additional moments, all included and planned in advance.
Ask me to design your day.
A private taste of southern Portugal, designed around you.
The Algarve inland, where the region keeps its traditions.
Twenty minutes from the coast, the Algarve changes. The road climbs through almond, carob and orange groves, villages gather around a church and a café, and the rhythm of life follows the seasons more than the holiday calendar.
This is the Algarve that shaped everything you see on the coast. Even its name comes from Arabic: al-Gharb, the west. Spend a private day exploring it with me, through its villages, its crafts and the stories that rarely reach a guidebook.
WHERE THE DAY CAN TAKE YOU
Silves
The red sandstone castle of the Algarve's former Moorish capital, above a quiet river town.
Loulé
A lively market town with a Moorish-style market hall, where artisans still work with copper, cane and palm leaf.
The Barrocal Villages
Alte, Salir and Querença. White houses, natural springs and wide views across the hills.
The Roman Algarve
The ruins of Milreu, a Roman villa near Estoi, with mosaics of fish and sea creatures.
The Algarve Chimneys
Delicate white chimneys, each one a small signature of the family who built the house. Once you notice them, you'll see them everywhere.
The Village Table
Lunch in a traditional tasca, with regional cooking that rarely appears on coastal menus.
THROUGH THE SEASONS
Every time of year brings something different: almond blossom in late winter, the cork harvest in summer, orange groves heavy with fruit in the colder months, and medronho distilled in the hills in late autumn. I'll plan your day around what the season has to offer.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Private full-day guiding with Olive
A route designed around your interests
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed Algarve area
Lunch reservation and local recommendations
Bottled water
NOT INCLUDED
Lunch and drinks
Tips
Personal expenses
Duration: Approximately 8 hours
Private group: Up to 4 guests. Larger groups available on request.
GOOD TO KNOW
We'll choose a few places and give each one the time it deserves. Expect cobbled streets and short walks through villages, so comfortable shoes are a good idea.
Tell me what fascinates you most, whether it's history, crafts, food, landscapes or simply the way people live here, and I'll build the day around it.
The inland Algarve, designed around you.
A private day in the Algarve, designed entirely around you.
Some travellers know exactly what they want from a day. Others only know what they enjoy. Either way, you don't need to choose from a list of tours.
Tell me what you love, where you're staying and how you like to travel. I'll design a private day around it and take care of every detail.
WHAT A DAY COULD LOOK LIKE
A morning at a fishing market, a long seafood lunch and an afternoon on a quiet beach.
A slow day through inland villages, with a visit to a small wine estate and time to photograph the late light.
A gentle coastal walk with your family, followed by a celebration lunch overlooking the sea.
A second visit to the Algarve, with none of the places you've already seen.
HOW IT WORKS
1. Tell me about you
Share your interests, where you're staying, your dates and who's travelling with you.
2. We talk
A personal conversation to understand what kind of day you'd truly enjoy.
3. Your proposal
I'll send you a personalised itinerary and price, designed around everything you've told me.
4. Your day
Everything is arranged. You simply enjoy it.
IDEAL FOR
Couples and families, travellers celebrating something special, returning visitors who have already seen the main sights, and anyone who would rather spend the day with a local than on a tour.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
Personal consultation before your day
A personalised itinerary
Private guiding with Olive
Private transport & driver arranged
Hotel or villa pick-up and drop-off within the agreed Algarve area
All reservations arranged for you
Local recommendations
Bottled water
PRICING
Every day is priced individually, according to your itinerary and any experiences you choose. Lunch, drinks, tastings, entrance fees, activities, tips and personal expenses are not included unless agreed in your proposal.
Duration: Typically 6 to 8 hours
Private group: Up to 4 guests. Larger groups available on request.
Not sure which one is right for you?
More Than a Review
An itinerary can tell you where you went. It can't tell you what the journey meant.
Sometimes, clients send a message. Sometimes, they leave a review. And sometimes, they surprise me with something I never expected.
Here are a few of those moments.
“Ode to Jess
Jess walks beside us with a gentle, steady grace,
A warmth that lights each path, each hidden place.
She helps us see the world with wiser, brighter eyes,
Revealing quiet wonders others might not realize.
In Terceira’s breezes she showed us stories deep,
The old army airbase where memories still sleep.
A wine tasting shimmered with laughter and with lore,
Volcanic pools invited us to swim along the shore.
Then Saō Miguel just opened like a flower in her hand,
Terra Nostra beauty we began to understand.
Through hot springs’ steam we felt the island’s ancient glow,
And savored a cozida lunch slow cooked deep below.
At tea plantations stretching out so verdant and wide,
With Jess our teacher, mentor, and guide.
That family farm day lingers sweetest in our hearts,
Where island life revealed to us its finest arts.
Through pineapple rows in glasshouse heat,
Each moment with her made the trip complete.
Then Madeira called with mountain trails to climb,
Her knowledge shared like precious wine through time.
We tasted rum and Madeira’s golden pour,
In Funchal’s charm along its azure shore.
She taught us not just places, but to see
The soul of islands, wild and running free.
Her laughter made the journey deepen day by day.
Her caring presence shaping each step along the way.
She showed us not just landscapes, but the spirit of each land,
And held our learning gently in the warmth of her hand.
So now as our Azorean adventure nears its end,
We know we’ll miss our guide, our teacher, our friend.
For Jess has given memories we’ll carry everywhere,
A testament to all her wisdom, joy, and care.
With deep affection and respect,
Richard, Edie and the whole group”
A Poem They Wrote
Nov 2025
A Song They Made
April 2024
They words they share
Olive can design your entire Portugal journey.
Planning more than a day in Portugal?
Bespoke by Olive
Save time and the risk of deciding alone, every choice has already been vetted with care.
Travel accompanied from start to return, with nothing left for you to sort out.
Discover moments only someone who lives Portugal would know.
Every recommendation comes from local knowledge, not generic search results.