Alentejo – portugal’s next big thing?

Alentejo in Portugal has terrific potential for investors, and the developers are moving in, reports the Sunday Mirror...

There’s space to spare and peaceful countryside in Alentejo, a beautiful, untouched regionn of Portugal that is a world away from the the busy beaches and tourist resorts of the Algarve.

The Alentejo starts only half an hour north of Faro but, compared with neighbouring Algarve, this huge stretch of Southern Portugal is almost untouched by tourism. You won’t find any golf courses, apartment complexes, Casinos or aquaparks here – yet.

But there is talk of a new airport to open the region up to low-cost flights and the developers who have turned so much of the Algarve into a suburban sprawl are already eyeing its green fields

Development ‘imminent’

Big-time tourism hasn’t got here yet – but you can almost hear the rumble of earth-moving equipment heading this way as the property developers of the Algarve look for new fields to conquer, so now’s the time to visit.

A lot of the Atlantic Coast is protected by the Parque Natural de Costa Vicentina do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina (Southeast Alentejo and Vincentine Coast Natural Park), a vast spread of wild moorland, sand Dunes and huge sandy beaches that attract droves of surfers from all over Europe in summer.

The Alentejo’s other beach magnet is Zambujeira do Mar. Like Praia da Bordeira, it’s within the Parque Natural and so, despite fantastic views and equally smashing sands, it too has escaped development.

But all that could be changing as the developers move in, which is why investors should keep an eye on this region of Portugal.