If you are already ready for your low season vacation, we have a brilliant suggestion for you: Sagres Bird Watching and visiting in October 2018.

What’s the occasion? The new edition of the Sagres Bird watching festival, which is bound to take place between 4 and 7 October. You might be wondering what that is and if a bird watching event is what is sounds or… and the answer is yes, year after year, bird lovers gather to this part of the lovely Algarve to watch migratory birds flying by in an exotic and wonderful dance. Trust the Portuguese to organize such a gentle and touching event, in honor of nature and the variety of life.

The birds, including hawks, eagles, storks, vultures, falcons and owls, but also an amazing variety of seabirds, are making a last wonderful display before fleeing to the much warmer reams of Africa. A lot of photographers and biologists take a great interest in this event, so they are expected to come to the festival this year as well. They are the experts at work and on holiday here.

But that’s not to say that if you are not necessarily an avid bird watcher or if you have never attended such an event you are less welcome to join the Sagres festival. Quite on the contrary, it’s pretty much “the more, the merrier”, so you can come and see if you like what you see.

How to get to the festival venue? Just book a Faro Airport transfer and the driver will take you there with no delay.

So what is in store for those who enjoy bird watching but also wish to try other activities? Experiences available include bird ringing, field and boat trips, exhibitions and activities meant to entertain kids, diving, paddle boating and surfing, but also dolphin watching and more relaxing activities, such as therapeutic sessions and long walks in nature.

Or at least that’s what a recent ‘tourist satisfaction study’ released by Turismo de Portugal says. The overall level of tourist satisfaction is very high, stating that 34% of respondents enjoyed a holiday that was above their expectations, and a solid 85% percent of those asked said that they would certainly or probably return to Portugal within the next three years.

The Brazilians are the happiest of nationalities who visited the Algarve, however it is the Brits who are most likely to return, but this can be due to the fact that the United Kingdom is closer to Portugal.

When it comes to the reasons why tourists like it here, eighty-four percent answered with ‘nature and culture’, and that the landscapes and beaches are top notch, which is rather true it has to be said, with hospitality coming in second thanks to the ‘pleasant nature of the local population’.

The other tourism-related areas, which include activities, infrastructure and tourist information, rate somewhere about fifty percent, however the study does highlight that ‘tourist information’ and ‘rent-a-car’ companies were actually ‘below expectations’. This view of the Algarve car rental companies might be in part due to the introduction of the A22 toll taxes and such, since those have created quite a bit of issues when it comes to contracts.

The Algarve received forty-six percent of total region tourists, while Lisbon forty-two percent, so the capital is a major pull still, and for good reason.

When it comes to planning their break, forty percent of visitors found the Internet to be the main research tool, followed by recommendation of acquaintances, friends and relatives with thirty-one percent.

The study involved asking more than eight hundred individuals at national airports with tourists from Spain, UK, Germany, France, Holland, Ireland and Brazil.