Alvor - A river estuary, lagoon and fishing village situated almost exactly half way between Lagos and Portimão in the western Algarve.

History - The Romans gave it the name Ipses and it was used as a port by them for 600 years, there are the ruins of a Roman villa located a little inland from the village. The Moors arrived in the Algarve in 716 AD, and Alvor which they named Albur must have been used both as a port and as a part of their coastal defences during the 500 years of their control of the Algarve.

In 1242 the Moors were finally defeated at Silves and left the Algarve altogether;  sadly any remnants of the Moors' town were destroyed by both the earthquakes of 1532 and 1755. King Dom João II, who is regarded in Portuguese history as one of Portugal's most outstanding kings died at Alvor in 1495 following a long illness.

Probably the oldest building in the town is the 16th century parish church the Igreja Matriz which was repaired after the 1755 earthquake. The town walls and castle were re built in 1300 but sadly there is almost no trace now of what must have been an impressive fortified town.

Recent developments - 20 years ago Alvor was a very small fishing village, since then there has been a considerable amount of construction of hotels and apartment buildings and several golf courses nearby. The waterfront until about 2000 was what you would expect of a small fishing village, since then there have been new restaurants and bars built along a new road, the old fishermen's huts have been cleared away and new wooden buildings constructed for them on the south east side of the lagoon. There are now two pontoons connected to the shore where you can leave a dinghy or small motor boat while you are ashore. I often leave a 6.2 meter Quicksilver on the southern pontoon of the two, shown in the photograph above, while I have lunch at Casa do Rio which is about 3 minutes walk away.

It has been a popular anchorage for cruising sailors for many years and is totally protected from the sea with good holding in mud and sand. Alvor is still relatively unspoilt and has a wide variety of bird life. A sandy beach stretches all the way from the town down to the entrance to the lagoon and then starts again and goes all the way to Lagos, it is approximately 5 nautical miles in length. The western part of the lagoon is extremely shallow and has become a popular venue for kite surfers.

Until about 1990 the Alvor estuary channel up to Alvor was extremely shallow and only suitable for local shallow draft fishing boats, the entrance to the lagoon was then improved with dredging and the construction of two moles. The area just inside the entrance was dredged again in 2009 and now there is a minimum depth of around 2 meters all the way up to the village. Vessels however should proceed with caution particularly at above half tide when it is not possible to identify the edge of the channel.

A very recent developement is the creation of a man made lagoon with four islands in the south eastern corner of the lagoon. Portugal is very strong on conserving the natural habitat for wildlife and it had become clear that with the Alvor estuary becoming popular for visiting yachts, kite sufing, water skiing, diving and pleasure boating in general, that the wildlife must be suffering as a result, this tidal lagoon which is shown in the photograph to the right has been created in the hope that local wild life, in particular birds will adopt this area as a safe haven.

Also shown in the photograph to the right is the new concrete pier with a crane for small boats plus two concrete slipways and a new marina. The marina is small with just three pontoons and is completely full with local boats, most of them used for fishing. Whilst rafting is not commonplace in Portugal it has become the norm at Alvor for the larger fishing boats.

Pilotage - When piloting up this channel I recommend that it is done on a rising tide, but preferably not just before high water springs or it might be another two weeks before you are afloat again!

I strongly recommend anyone visiting by boat and intending to go up to the anchorage near the town that they should have on board the ‘Atlantic Spain and Portugal’ Pilot Book published by Imray for the ‘Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation’.  This excellent pilot book covers all of the harbours and marinas between La Coruña and Gibraltar and can be bought from any chandlery or on line bookshop such as Amazon. There are three pages of information on Alvor with some excellent photographs.

Having passed through the entrance to the lagoon, 3 cables to the north you will see a green starboard hand buoy, leave this to starboard, now you will see a red port hand buoy a little more than 2 cables ahead on a bearing of 050 degs M,  leave this buoy fairly close to port and continue on a heading of 067 degs M towards the highest part of the cliff which you can see just to the right of the red buoy in the photograph below.

Now start taking bearings on the water tower which is behind a large building in Alvor, when that bearing is 098 degs M head towards the water tower keeping it on that bearing. The water tower can be seen in the centre of the photograph below, just behind a large building.

As soon as the northern part of the village comes into view from behind the headland on your port bow, you will see the lifeboat station's red door with ISN painted on it with white letters, when this door bears 085 degs M alter course to head straight for it. Keep it on this heading until there are anchored yachts (not catamarans because they may well dry out at half tide) abeam to starboard before you turn to starboard to go into the anchorage.

For your return trip to the harbour entrance simply line up the lifeboat station doors astern on a bearing of 085 degs M and steer 265 degs M whilst making minor alterations to your course to keep the red doors of the lifeboat station on a bearing of 085 degs M. 

Now start taking bearings on the water tower as soon as it emerges from behind a large building, when the water tower bears 98 degs M turn onto a heading of 278 degs M proceed on that course making minor course changes as necessary to keep the water tower on its back bearing of 098 degs M. 

Red buoy number 2 will now be on your port bow, start taking bearings of this buoy and when it bears 247 degs M turn towards it and leave it to starboard. You now have just green number one on a bearing of 230 degs M to leave to port and you can head straight for the harbour entrance.

I am well aware that the tradition is to quote bearings in true, I have given them in  magnetic because I feel that the pilotage at Alvor is complicated enough without expecting the navigator to be constantly converting from true to magnetic.

Whether you are here at anchor in your own boat, or staying in one of the several hotels or perhaps in a rented house or flat, Alvor is one of the nicest places in the Algarve for a holiday. There is a wonderful long sandy beach, unspoilt country for walking, a multitude of restaurants most offering local fish and shell fish for which Alvor has a reputation as good as Ria Formosa.

Less than 3 weeks since putting this article on this web site I received the following email from Harry and Jacqui Turner, I am most grateful to them for testing my pilotage plan, particularly as the potential for expensive damage to their IPS drives doesn't bear thinking about if I had got any of my bearings wrong! Whilst I was confident that they were correct, I am relieved that Harry and Jackie have found them to be correct. This pilotage plan was made by me on April 27th 2010, because depths and positions of sandbanks do change I will be checking the bearings in this plan on a regular basis and if there are any changes will update this article. Martin.

Please note:  Anyone undertaking this pilotage into Alvor using my directions does so entirely at their own risk, I take no responsibilty for any damage sustained  to a boat as a result of anyone using my directions. Martin.

Hello Martin,

We hope you are well.  Just wanted to drop you to say thank you for your excellent article on Alvor. Since taking delivery of the new boat our trips to Alvor have stopped due to the dredging and the fact I can't lift the IPS drives, which if, I were to ground would result in expensive damage. However all has changed I took her in to Alvor at half flood following your excellent pilotage notes and never had less then 2.7 mtrs. Having done this I went back at just after low water and got in again with nothing less then 2 mtrs. Having done the trip I was then able to take advantage of another of your articles, the restaurant review of Casa doRio - Excellent.

So thank you for reopening a favourite cruising area and introducing us to a great restaurant, through your excellent articles.

We are back in UK til 8th June when we will be back for 2 weeks do  you have a day free so we can do that lunch?

Thank you and kind regards,  Harry and Jacqui.

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