Portugal has been the goal for us and we are going to explore and tourist like crazy. We wanted to be close to Faro and found a great camping in Olhao “Camping Olhao”. The Algarve has so much to offer and who knew that they had a huge camping here that is also cheap?! With almost 600 places for cars and caravans – this is a big place.

Camping Olhao in Portugal

It took us a while before we found our spot here in paradise. Well, it was Mini that wanted a sunny spot. And he wanted a place that was flat. And while we are on the subject he also wanted a place so that we could be close to our friends (that we met in Sevilla). With 600 spots to choose from and a lot of them occupied – it took some time. But finally, we got our perfect spot. A nice spot in the sun and on flat ground and with our friends as neighbors.

During our stay, there were a lot of campers there. Most of them were French and Swedes. England was also high up on the list. Camping Olhao is really close to the Ria Formosa nature reserve. In fact, it is within walking distance. And it takes about 15 minutes to walk into the city center where you can catch the train to Faro.

 

 

 

Great priced camping near Faro in Portugal

Most campings have different pricing depending on whether it is a high-season or low-season. December is low season in Portugal so the camping was at its lowest during our visit. We paid 2,80 euro for the car per night. If our motorhome would have been over 6 meters it would’ve cost 4,10 instead. For electricity, we paid 2,10 euro per day and for us, we paid 2,40 euro per person. So the sum is just above 9 euros. And in the price, we have all the facilities we need.

So 9 euros is a great price to feel safe and it felt ok to leave the motorhome when we went exploring the surroundings. But let’s play with the idea that we would have come here during high peak season. That is between July 1:st and 31:st of August. For the motorhome, we would have paid 5,30 euro, 2,10 for the electricity and 4,20 per person. That makes a total of about 16 euros per night. That is still a lot cheaper than some of the campings that we have been to during low-season.

 

The facilities

Doing laundry costs 4,50 euro. The washer and dryer are not that big – compared to other campings. However, they get the job done and that’s what matters. And there is a library too. A place where you can leave the books you have finished reading and borrow something else. The books and magazines that are left here are in different languages.

 

Swimming pool, Tennis court, and Football field at a camping!

Ok, so there are several campings that have swimming pools. But not that many can provide a tennis court and a football field. And at Camping Olhao you also have a supermarket inside the campsite area. One store is selling magazines – and lots of international magazines. I didn’t find any in Swedish but there were loads in English and German.

 

Hot shower, cold shower is it a problem?

My pet peeve is the showers. I need them to be able to give me really hot water. At camping Olhao the showers were ok, but not more. The problem we had with them was that they had extremely hot water one second and then it was cold the next. It was almost impossible to get a consistent temperature on the water so no long showers during our stay here :). But there are way bigger problems in the world than a “not perfect” shower.

 

Our new friends from camping Olhao

So how about the people at the camping when we were there? The people we got to know were more then great! We had the best neighbors ever! Marita and Göran. And after our friends Fritte and Taina left for new adventures – we got new Swedes as neighbors. They were Lisa and Janne from Gotland. We love making new friends and meeting new people. Sometimes it feels like we are all one big happy family!

Getting to the city from Camping Olhao

Like I wrote before – it takes about 15 minutes to get to the city center of Olhao. We used our bikes and then it took us about five minutes. Usually, I prefer to walk but in this case, the bikes were better. The way you walk to get into the city center is not that nice and there is somewhat heavy traffic so bikes are to prefer.

Getting to Faro

The train station is located in Olhao. The timetable for the train is about every two hours and the ticket cost 2,90 euro per person (2017) but that also include the return ticket. The train is not a brand new modern one but it is still a great way to travel and it only takes about ten minutes to the city center of Faro.

 

Information about Camping Olhao

Address: Pinheiros de Marim/Ap 300 8700-914 Olhão, Portugal
Connected to the ASCI (a discount card you really need).