Portimão Tourist Traps

I know the photos of the actual Praia da Rocha look great in brochures. The beach is actualy very good, altough if you´re like me and absolutely hate overcrowded beaches don´t even think of coming here in the full summer.
The photos of Praia da Rocha may look great, but what they don´t show you is the absolute architectonical chaos behind the touristic very thought out picked angles for the photos you get to see.
Praia da Rocha is a trully ugly place, right after you leave the beach. Architectonical errors, buildings built not respecting anything you could even consider construction rules and expensive Hotels, wich are fine if you stay in your room or don´t go anywhere besides the beach. If you´re a person who likes to stay in a pleasent surroundings, forget Praia da Rocha.
Praia da Rocha is the perfect example of what more than 25 years of corrupt construction policies can make to a place wich had everything to be a paradise and is now almost ruined by the so called "progress", based on turism.

Unique Suggestions: Avoid anything that appears in brochures. Look for a nice rented room, outside of Praia da Rocha, or rent a summer apartment in Portimão, wich is much cheaper and it´s only about 2km from the ocean.
If you want to be near the water, look for a place in Praia do Vau, (1km from Rocha) or in the coastside small hotels bettween Vau and Alvor, (avoid Torralta).
The idea is to get away from what the brochures recomend. Believe me you can find some great accomodations sometimes right just beside you. Don´t be dazzled by what the turistic operators recomend.

Fun Alternatives: I would recomend leaving the Praia da Rocha/Portimão area and head for the Lagos area. The Lagos town is one of the good turistic places you can find in the western Algarve. Good Nights if you´re into those, and the prices are much more diverse than in "oficial" turism places like Praia da Rocha.
But i would recomend go even further behind Lagos, and explore the coastal traditional beach towns between Lagos and Sagres. There you´ll find plenty of variety in landscapes, prices and accomodations. Overall , my advice, is explore the whole Lagos/Sagres region. It´s everything Praia da Rocha promissed to be but it isn´t.
Believe me. I live in Portimão/Praia da Rocha.