Caldas de Monchique

In a green valley below Monchique, hidden from the coast roads that climb towards Fóia, the village of Caldas de Monchique gathers around its thermal springs: white buildings, camellia gardens and the steam of warm water that has drawn visitors to this corner of the Algarve for two thousand years.

The waters and the king

Tradition gives the springs to the Romans, who knew the value of warm water in the cold months of the mountain. Their most famous patient came at the end of the fifteenth century: King João II, ailing, travelled to the Caldas in the last year of his life hoping for a cure. The village grew around the baths, and its park of subtropical trees keeps the air of a 19th-century health resort.

The thermal park today

The spa remains in operation, with thermal pools and treatments set in the valley gardens, and the walks of the Serra de Monchique begin at the village door: the road to Fóia, the highest point of the Algarve, climbs directly from the Caldas through cork woods and scrub.

What to see

• The thermal springs and pools of the parque termal
• The subtropical gardens of the valley
• The 19th-century spa architecture
• The road up to Fóia from the village
• The cork woods of the Serra de Monchique

Practical information

The Caldas lie in a valley about six kilometres south of the town of Monchique, in the western Algarve, reached by narrow country roads from Portimão or Lagos. The air is cooler than the coast; bring a layer. Spa access and treatments are organised by the resort — check official information.

Image credit: Parque termal Caldas de Monchique by Wilrooij — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.