Think about hiking a week in the Algarve, Costa Vicentina and Alentejo regions in SW Portugal. For the first four days you hike along the Atlantic coast, including two days on the Rota Vicentina, the old fisherman’s’ trail that runs along the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Walking along the flat, sandy path on the cliffs you will gawk at rugged headlands, walls of rock and empty crescent beaches pounded by foaming surf. Hike down a steep, narrow trail to a beach and back up again on the other side.

In places you hike through pine forests and wade through streams, soon to be waterfalls, as they rush over the cliffs into the sea. Whitewashed fishing villages break up the wild views every few miles. The trail is easy to follow.

After the Rota Vicentina, a taxi can shuttle you about an hour north and inland to the Alentejo region, a place of lakes, rolling hills and forests of oak and eucalyptus.

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