Albufeira's old town is a tight tangle of narrow cobbled streets, whitewashed houses, and small squares that most resort visitors never properly explore. The original settlement clung to the cliff top above the fishing beach — the name Albufeira derives from the Arabic Al-Buhera, meaning "the sea castle" — and its layout still has the organic density of a medieval Moorish town rather than a planned resort.
The streets north and west of the main Largo Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco are the most atmospheric: steep, shaded lanes lined with flower boxes, azulejo-tiled doorways, and small restaurants with a few tables outside. The tunnel cut through the cliff connects the old town to the beach and is worth walking just for the sense of emergence into the light and sea air below. In the evening, before the Strip crowd arrives, the old town squares fill with locals and the kind of unhurried dinner that makes you wonder why anyone goes to the Strip at all.