Vila Natal and Giant Nativity Scene, Vila Real de Santo António

Cacela Velha Sandbar

A tiny whitewashed hamlet above a lagoon where, at low tide, locals wade across to an empty white sandbar. Cacela Velha is barely a dozen houses, a church and an old fort on a bluff at the eastern end of the Ria Formosa. The magic is below: when the tide drops, the lagoon empties to warm shallows and you can walk out to a long ribbon of white sand with clear Atlantic water on the far side. Oysters are farmed in the channels, and the view from the churchyard wall is one of the finest in the east Algarve. Park at Fábrica or above the hamlet, check the tide table before you go, and carry everything you need, as the sandbar has no shade or facilities.