The Algarve is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal, with sun almost all year, salt in the air near the coast and rain that falls in a few months. This guide gathers what our town pages say about the region and shows what changes from town to town. For your own place, open the town page: it has the climate, the types of home and local questions.
The region in a few numbers
According to Wikipedia (the Portuguese page “Algarve”), the region has 16 municipalities, eight in the Barlavento (west) and eight in the Sotavento (east), and had 467,343 inhabitants in the 2021 Census. The climate is Mediterranean, with an annual mean of about 18 °C on the south-east coast and in the centre (1961 to 1990 normals). On the coast it rains less than 600 mm a year over much of the area, and more than 800 mm in the Caldeirão hills. The same page records 44.3 °C at Faro airport on 26 July 2004. I did not find tourism figures on the page, so I do not quote any.
What Algarve windows have in common
Sun and heat. Our town pages mention more than 3,000 hours of sun a year in Albufeira, Faro and Portimão, and more than 3,100 in Lagos (Wikipedia). Faro has on average 45 tropical nights a year (nights that do not fall below 20 degrees), according to Wikipedia: the house heats up by day and barely cools at night. Glass with a solar-control coating, shutters on the outside and well-sealed windows help. See double glazing, Low-E and argon.
Salt and sand. Near the sea and the Ria Formosa, salt settles on the hardware and sand fills the tracks of sliding windows. Washing with fresh water and a small brush solves a lot. PVC does not rust; with aluminium, the finish matters.
Rain in a few months. In Portimão Wikipedia gives 300 to 350 mm a year, mostly from November to January. In Tavira, about 576 mm and some 65 rainy days a year, often in heavy showers. After the first downpour, look at the joint between the window and the wall, the sill and the shutter box.
Closed homes and damp. Albufeira reaches about 300,000 people in summer (Wikipedia, in English), and in Portimão about 44% of overnight stays fall in July, August and September (same source). Many homes stay shut for months. Without airing, mould appears. In Lagos, people who live there all year notice a damp winter (about 80% humidity, according to Wikipedia). See the condensation guide.
Old town centres. Faro, Lagos, Loulé, Olhão, Tavira, Portimão and Albufeira have historic centres. Our pages say the same for all: ask the town hall (câmara municipal) whether the facade has rules, and take photos to the installer.
Town by town
Each sentence comes from the town’s own page.
- Albufeira: many holiday homes and flats used only part of the year, almost 30 km of coast and inland villages such as Paderne and Guia, where salt weighs less.
- Faro: the Ria Formosa at the door, tropical nights and the international airport about nine kilometres away, with aircraft noise for homes under the flight paths.
- Lagos: a calm summer and a damp, windy winter, and an almost entirely pedestrian old centre, where it matters how the window reaches the house.
- Loulé: the municipality runs from the coast (Quarteira, Vilamoura) to the hills (Alte, Salir), and the right window depends on the area; the town is about 10 km from the sea and salt weighs less.
- Olhão: low fishermen’s houses with a flat roof terrace (açoteia), where the terrace door and the threshold are weak points for rain, and the island of Armona.
- Portimão: the most populous town in the Algarve, with rain concentrated from November to January and many holiday flats near Praia da Rocha and Alvor.
- Tavira: heavy rain in showers and a lot of sun, almost no cold, and a centre of white houses and old roofs where the window design matters.
The other nine municipalities in the region do not have their own page yet. If your home is in one of them, write the locality in the request.
What to do next
- Build the window you want in the calculator.
- See what usually drives the price: PVC window prices. There are no Algarve-specific prices here.
- In a block of flats or a historic area, start with the Can I replace my windows? test.
- See the grants for windows in force.
- With quotes in hand, check them in the quote checker.
What I could not confirm
- Tourism and second-home figures for the Algarve: the Wikipedia page I read does not have them.
- Whether Algarve windows cost more or less than elsewhere in the country. I have no source.
- Which facade rules each town hall has. Ask yours.
- The age of windows and buildings by Algarve municipality. I did not read the INE data.
- The climate levels on the town pages are classes (low, medium, high), not measurements.
- The nine municipalities without a page.
Sources
All read on 23 October 2026 or, for the town pages, on the dates given in them.
- Wikipedia: Algarve (in Portuguese): municipalities, population (2021 Census), climate, temperatures, rain. The two versions of the page differ slightly on population; I used the value in the demography section.
- Town pages and their sources: Albufeira (en), Faro (en), Lagos (en), Loulé (en), Olhão (en), Portimão (en), Tavira (en).