Kayak the Guadiana from Alcoutim downstream toward Vila Real de Santo António, on the river that forms the border with Spain

Take the small ferry across the Guadiana from Alcoutim to Sanlúcar de Guadiana in Spain

Walk the grid of Vila Real de Santo António, the town laid out on a Pombaline plan in 1774, at the river's mouth

Paddle the Guadiana border river past Spanish villages down to the Pombaline town of Vila Real de Santo António

Guadiana Kayaking: Alcoutim to the Sea

Walk to the Pulo do Lobo, the 'Wolf's Leap' waterfall and gorge on the Guadiana, in the Guadiana Valley Natural Park, created in 1995

Walk Mértola, the town on a hill above the Guadiana and the Oeiras stream, and see its castle and Vila Museu

Visit the abandoned Mina de São Domingos, the 19th-century copper mine near Mértola, and swim at the Tapada Grande river beach

Take a boat trip on the Guadiana from Mértola

Explore the rugged beauty of the Guadiana Valley

Guadiana Valley Natural Park Adventure

Walk the trails of the Castro Marim Nature Reserve, the salt marsh and salt pans on the Guadiana, and look for flamingos and avocets

Buy flor de sal at the salt pans of Castro Marim

Watch birds of prey migrating over Sagres and Cabo de São Vicente in autumn, at the Sagres bird festival in October, if in season

Visit Castro Marim Castle, the 13th-century fortress above the salt marsh

Watch flamingos in the Castro Marim salt marsh and raptors migrating over Sagres

Castro Marim and Sagres: Algarve Birding

Walk the first stage of the Via Algarviana from Alcoutim to Vaqueiros, at the start of the 300km trail across the Algarve to Cabo de São Vicente

Walk through Cachopo, the village in the Serra do Caldeirão on the route of the trail

Walk to Alte, the whitewashed village on the route, and its Fonte Grande spring

Walk the ruins of Salir Castle, the Moorish castle on a hill on the route

Walk stretches of the long Via Algarviana trail through the Algarve's hill country

Via Algarviana: Alcoutim to Cachopo and Alte

Eat cataplana de marisco, the seafood stew cooked in a hinged copper pan, at a restaurant in Tavira

Walk through the Mercado Municipal de Olhão, the red-brick market halls of 1916, and buy fresh fish from the stalls

Eat percebes, goose barnacles cut off the surf-battered rocks, at a restaurant in Sagres

Go to the Festival do Marisco in Olhão, the shellfish festival held each August, if in season

Savor the flavors of fresh Algarve seafood in picturesque fishing towns

Algarve Seafood Gastronomy Trail

Taste Queijo de Serpa, the protected-origin raw sheep's milk cheese, at a producer in Serpa

Eat açorda alentejana, the bread, garlic and coriander soup topped with a poached egg, in a Serpa tasca

Eat migas with Alentejo black pork, carne de porco alentejano, the protected-origin pork of pigs that feed on acorns in the montado

Go to a matança do porco, the traditional winter pig slaughter of the Alentejo, if in season

Savor the authentic flavors of Alentejo cuisine

Alentejo Traditional Gastronomy Tour

Go into the monastery and work out what the friars here actually did for Columbus's project

Find the room where the plan was argued over, and who else in this building backed it

Go down to the Muelle de las Carabelas and aboard the replicas of the three ships

Work out who else passed through here — Cortés, Sandoval and Pizarro, coming back

Do the rest of the Lugares Colombinos: Palos de la Frontera and Moguer, both within a few kilometres

Columbus came to this Franciscan house at Palos de la Frontera years before he sailed, when his project was being turned down everywhere, and the friars here took him in and argued his case. Hernán Cortés, Gonzalo de Sandoval and Francisco Pizarro all came here too, on their way back. The building went up in the 14th and 15th centuries, though the order's own 16th-century historian dated the foundation to 1261 and tradition puts St Francis himself here with twelve disciples. It is the heart of the Lugares Colombinos, with the Palos quay and Moguer a short way off.

La Rábida: The Monastery That Argued for Columbus

Walk from Sagres to Cabo de São Vicente, along the clifftop road and trail

Stand at the Cape St Vincent lighthouse, the lighthouse at the south-western tip of continental Europe

Walk the Fortaleza de Sagres, the fortress of the Infante Henry the Navigator, on the promontory, with its huge stone compass rose

Visit the Fort of Beliche between Sagres and the cape

Hike to the southwestern tip of Europe and its historic lighthouse

Cape St. Vincent Lighthouse Trek

Taste Lagoa wines at Quinta dos Vales in Estombar, the winery in the Lagoa wine region

Visit Adega do Cantor near Albufeira, the winery founded by the singer Cliff Richard

Walk through the almond groves of the Algarve hills in January and February, when the trees blossom, if in season

Eat Dom Rodrigo, the egg-thread and almond sweet, and figos cheios, the almond-stuffed figs, from a pastry shop in Lagoa or Silves

Experience the Algarve's wine culture and beautiful almond blossoms