After Faro the second city of the Algarve. Portimão is more a commercial/industrial centre than touristic. Well-known because of its outstanding fish restaurants and shopping possibilities. The industrial centre specialises in boat building and the canning of tunny and sardines. The neighbouring seaside resort Praia da Rocha contains the town's famous beach.
Between 1930 and 1950 a group english writers and intellectuals settled in Praia da Rocha, since then the little town developed itself to one of the largest and most famous holiday resorts of Portugal.
The old bridge crossing the Arade river was built with iron left over from the Eiffel Tower (1900).

The historic roots of Portimão go back to the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, when this place was a small trading port. Located at the mouth of the River Arcade it provides a natural harbour. During the Moorish occupation this river provided an important sea access to the ancient city of Silves, the former capital of the Algarve.

With the development of the fishing and canning industry in the late 19th Century Portimão became an important economic centre until the recession in the early 1980s. Today Portimão is a busy and modern tourist place with its famous beaches Praia da Rocha and Praia da Vau and an active nightlife.

Just across the river the delightful small fishing village of Ferragudo offers a peaceful contrast, and the well known village of Carvoeiro with its elegant villas and hotels is only some kilometres to the west.