Budget holiday to... Portugal!

Last week I went on holiday to Faro in Portugal with my partner. I thought I'd share a little of our experience along with a few tips thrown in for good measure!

I don't earn a great deal of money, and never had the opportunity to travel growing up. So when the opportunity arose for me to go on a city break to Madrid last year, I jumped at the chance to board a plane for the very first time and jet off somewhere new. The experience was a wonderful one, and I was instantly struck by wanderlust.

I had strong doubts that I would be able to travel again in the near future, and having had a tough year so far with changing jobs, moving home, the passing of a family member and multiple exams for a professional qualification, I decided to look into a staycation - a short trip to the seaside by train, staying in a cheap B&B and getting lots of fresh sea air. Given that it's England we're talking about, the likelihood of sun was limited (even in June!) but the prospect of grey skies didn't dampen my enthusiasm. Not too much, anyway.

But the deeper I got into organising the trip, the more horrified I became. Train tickets costing over £100 each for a trip down South (going nowhere near London, incidentally)? With a few keystrokes I quickly discovered that it would be cheaper to go on a 4 day trip abroad via budget airline than it would be to go for a 3 day trip to the coast in my own country, by national rail. It was a depressing thought, but an exciting one too. What a great excuse - I can't afford to go on holiday nationally, so I'm just going to have to... Portugal!

Plane tickets were booked (less than £70 per person) and a guesthouse room secured (4 nights for the same price as 3 nights in the UK) and within the blink of an eye, I was counting down the days.

QUICK TIP: Be flexible about locations when looking to book a budget holiday. Go where the best deals take you, instead of getting your heart set on a location that may well be out of your price range and setting yourself up for disappointment. I'd never heard of Faro until I began holiday bargain-hunting. And whilst Barcelona is the popular choice for Spanish city breaks, my trip to Spain's underrated capital city, Madrid was a wonderful adventure and the plane tickets cost less than a single train fare to London from Birmingham.

A couple of pics from my trip to Madrid:

But enough of that, back to Portugal.

The day of the trip finally came, and we saved costs by taking along breakfast and a few snacks so that we didn't have to blow half of our (very limited) spending money on airport food. We were due to arrive by 2pm in the afternoon, but didn't know exactly when we'd arrive at the guesthouse to be able to check in before heading out in search of food. It was a wise move.

We flew by budget airline which I would always recommend if the trip is short - no frills, just basic transport with a seat comfortable enough to bear for less than 3 hours! We didn't even pay extra to sit next to each other (see my post about Ryanair's next seat splitting policy).

On arrival in Faro, Portugal, we decided to get the bus from the airport to the centre where we would be staying. Apparently a taxi would have cost around 10 euros which isn't particularly expensive. But the bus cost just 2.20 per person and took less than half an hour to arrive at the destination. Plus, it was air-conditioned, clean and had comfy seats. Budget holidays should be just that. QUICK TIP: save money on the less important things to maximise spending money for the best bits like food, tickets to attractions and souvenirs.

We stayed at Happy House in Faro which was a cheap guesthouse but had consistently outstanding reviews. QUICK TIP: Don't spurn guesthouses or B&Bs out of snobbery. Until this trip, I was very guilty of this and would never have dreamed of staying in a guesthouse. But the reviews for what was supposedly the 'best hotel in Faro' were inconsistent and my faith in other travellers paid off massively - the guesthouse was possibly the loveliest place I've ever stayed. Full of character, as clean as you can image, a quiet little roof terrace and attentive owners who cared about their customers and the business they'd built up together.

Food dented our very limited budget quite significantly. We tried non-touristy restaurants for locals, but struggled to make ourselves understood and couldn't be sure of what we were ordering. For less picky eaters, this may not be a problem, but for me it just wasn't workable. As such, we missed out on the authentic Portuguese restaurant experience for the most part, mainly ending up in more touristy eateries which were inevitably more expensive. QUICK TIP: make an effort to familiarise yourself with key foods you like and dislike in the language of the place you are visiting. It will make scanning menus much easier and help you to get a more authentic meal alongside the locals (assuming that's your thing)! It will nearly always be cheaper. Alternatively, just don't be as picky as I am! We did get some rather delicious food in the end. Exhibit A:

QUICK TIP: Be wary when ordering fresh lemonade. We were shocked to find that ours was made without any sugar, so we were essentially drinking 'neat' lemon juice! Bit of a shock to our tastebuds, but probably the healthiest drink I've consumed all year...

We narrowed down the sights we wanted to see well in advance to ensure that where we had to pay an entrance fee, we were keen to see what that sight had to offer instead of just going with the flow or getting pushed into touristy extras by persistent street vendors. In the end, we went to the Old Town, a beach island, the shopping district, the marina and two beautiful churches, one of which included an infamous Bone Chapel where the skeletons of monks had been excavated to form the walls and ceiling of the chapel. Pic below, I found it somewhat gruesome but fascinating nonetheless:

And the marina was beautiful:

Since we were by the coast, we made sure to visit of couple of the beaches. We visited the island I mentioned above, known as the 'Ihla Deserta' and the 'Praia de Faro'. The latter beach was just five minutes from the airport (not that you'd know it , sunbathing by the sea!) so we took care to time our trips carefully to save money.

We visited the Praia de Faro on our very last day, you might say 'en route' to the nearby airport. We were going to be heading to the airport at 6pm anyway, so it didn't make sense to fork out euros for bus tickets to and from the beach on a different day, then pay yet again to catch our return flight home. This may not seem ideal to some, but remember- a budget holiday will almost certainly require compromise and sacrifices, however small. We had to take our luggage but we only had a few bags between us so this wasn't problematic. In the end we spent five really special hours on the beach and in the sea, before heading to the airport at a leisurely pace with fresh memories keeping us company on the journey home. It worked out perfectly.

Here we are, happy as can be on the last day of our trip:

Apart from when I broke my sunglasses:

Bleak. But a pretty nice pic came out of that rather unfortunate event...

And one last snap of the beach, because I have no self-control:

On the other hand, the Ihla Deserta could only be accessed by ferry which cost 10 euros each for a return trip. We did this on a day when we had no other particular plans, so it could be the feature of the day and so we could maximise the time we spent on the island, since we were paying 20 euros between us for the trip! We also took snacks and water to avoid paying a small fortune at the island's solar-powered restaurant - the only building on the entire island! This was a wise choice; the prices were extortionate.

The island was stunning, though, and well worth a visit:

Unfortunately, we didn't have chance to pack food for dinner so we ended up paying an awful lot for very little food at the airport, something I had been keen to avoid. But with better planning, this too would have been ideal. Though beware that you will likely have to purchase drinks at the airport, since you can't get through security with liquids of more than 100ml per container. If you can cope without, do. Otherwise, remember to save a little cash for a quick thirst quencher before you fly home.

I hope you enjoyed the post. I loved the trip and am already planning our next budget holiday to Italy in a few months' time. I'm sure that one day I will enjoy a slightly more luxurious holiday to someplace special, but in the meantime, I'm busy - unapologetically making memories that will last a lifetime... on a shoestring budget!