Algarve

The Algarve runs across the southern coast of Portugal from the Spanish border at Vila Real de Santo António to Cabo de São Vicente, the south-west tip of Europe. The tide here drives the Ria Formosa lagoon system that sprawls along the central coast — Faro, Olhão, Tavira — separated from the open Atlantic by a chain of sandy barrier islands. Mean range at the inlets is about 2.0 metres, semidiurnal, with spring tides pushing close to 3 metres and neaps near 1.0. The narrow inlets — Barra Nova, Barra de Faro-Olhão, Barra de Armona — concentrate flow, and the current at each runs sharper than the height swing implies. Salt pans, mudflats, and the channels behind the barrier islands transform across the cycle. Flamingo and spoonbill watchers head out at the bottom of the cycle when the flats are widest. Open Atlantic-facing beaches at Praia da Marinha and the western coast around Sagres run an open-coast signal closer to the Cascais reference. Instituto Hidrográfico is the authoritative Portuguese tide source.