DK Travel : The Algarve : Outdoor

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Monchique-Fóia-Monchique Circuit

The 11-km (7-mile) walk begins in the town square and takes in the ruins of a Franciscan convent. Shady woodlands echo in summer to nightingales and cuckoos, and are full of butterflies tumbling through the air. The ascent steepens before the cluster of antenna prickling Fóia’s summit come into view.
Nature Safaris

Specialist guides can help you appreciate fully places such as the Parque Natural do Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, a beautiful and rugged landscape of cliffs, isolated beaches and undulating hills.
Palmares

Beaches fringing Lagos in the near-distance make this par 71 layout a year-round holiday favourite, and the course features five links holes that take you into dunes close to the ocean – a beguiling challenge.
Parque da Floresta

Built on hilly coastal terrain, this challenging par 72 can be exposed to stiff breezes, so club selection can vary considerably in the unpredictable winds. Never more so than on the short 5th, which is played from hilltop to the crown of a hillock.
Parque Natural da Ria Formosa/São Lourenço and Quinta do Lago Trails

Two one-hour nature trails reveal a rich coastal wonderland of salt marsh, woodland and freshwater lagoon. The winter months are very rewarding with huge flocks of greater flamingo and spoonbill mingling with pintail, gadwall and teal. The prize attraction, though, is the rare purple gallinule, a striking member of the coot family.
Penina Academy Course

A compact, 9-hole course laid out amid the Championship fairways. The ease of play should relax even the most nervous of players, and the adjoining golf academy offers individual or group tuition.
Penina Championship Course

A par 73 layout designed by the great golf-course architect Sir Henry Cotton in the mid-1960s. Le Meridien Penina hotel (see Luxury, Five-Star Hotels), overlooks the course, which stretches over parkland terrain, its sweeping fairways dotted by water hazards. Two of the great holes are the dogleg 5th, with its canal, lake and contoured green, and the alarming 13th, shadowed by water from tee to green.
Penina Circuit

A real hike in the hills that will appeal to the experienced hill walker. The region is a protected area of outstanding natural beauty and bristles with aromatic lavender and rosemary. Nativecistus species are the dominant shrubs. The walk passes two ancient defensive walls and the Cave of the Moors.
Penina Golf

The masterpiece 18-hole, par 73 Championship course was designed by golf guru Sir Henry Cotton and has hosted the Portuguese Open.
Pinheiro Altos

This par 72 is very much of two halves. The outward nine snake lazily through lofty pine wood, while the back nine skirt some daunting water hazards. The course falls within the Ria Formosa nature reserve, making it an especially attractive course.