アルクティム：アルガルヴェで最も孤立した町（そしてなぜ訪れる価値があるのか​​）

アルクティム：アルガルヴェで最も孤立した町（そしてなぜ訪れる価値があるのか​​）

Well, hello there. It’s Nick here from Algav Addicts. Alouting is part of my Algav unlocked series where I’m filming around 50 towns across the Algav, starting with the tiniest and working my way up to the big bustling ones. Now, why are some of the towns below in red? Well, I filmed those already, and you can find them in my Alggo Unlocked playlist. If you’re looking for a specific town I haven’t included yet, you can always dive into my past video map at algavadics.com/vide. But there’s one place that really stands out from the rest, like an island all on its own, and that is Aling. It’s located in one of the most least densely populated areas of Portugal. There less than 14 people per square kilometer there, as opposed to like 820 or so in Lisbon. And you’re going to want to drive to Alcoting as there’s no railway, but you could take a bus. It’ll take about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Villa San Antonio. Or if you’re taking a car, that’ll be 30 minutes from VRSA. Some other car distances are Faro airport 1 hour, Beijra 3 hours, and Lisbon 3 hours and 10 minutes. We’re currently helping over 50 fantastically fun people relocate to the Algo and we’re helping them find homes here in the Algo through our very own real estate agency cuz we operate a buyers agency. So that’s headed up by Nick Smith and Dwart. So get in touch if you’re up for it. But some of them are jumping onto our video podcast which we release every single Wednesday. And it’s great to have our extended family chatting about life in the Algo, how they made their move and everything. So don’t miss that. All right, back to our coutine. [Music] Alcing is where it is for one simple reason, the Guadana River. Historically, rivers were the lifeblood of trade, transport, and defense. And the Guadana is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. Alcatine sits on its western bank directly across from San Luca de Guuana in Spain creating a natural border. Now this strategic position meant that Alcatine played a key role in controlling river traffic and also defending Portugal’s interior from Spanish incursion. So they could obviously just jump on boats and cruise up and go and invade. While other Algav towns were shaped by the sea and tourism, Alcatine was shaped by the river, trade routes, and its borderland identity, a quiet sentinel at the edge of the Algarve. The practical stuff now 424 people are currently living and resident in Alcatine. The government health center or central Sud is situated here in the newer northern part of the town. The nearest international clinic is 35 minutes away in Verel San Antonio. A pharmacia or a pharmacy or a chemist complements the medical facilities, but that’s down in the old town, which we’ll get to in a bit. There’s an escola basic or a basic school next door catering for kids up to 14 years of age. Now, slightly to the west is a daycare and old age home for 74 elderly people. It’s a large and modern building having having opened in 2013 and also operates a home support service for seniors. So, it’s great to take care of the older generation um because as as you probably imagine, a lot of them live in the interior. Now, heading back towards the river, we pass a restaurant bar called Alcatia with a massage acupuncture spot below. A little further along the road, there is a building dedicated to the Associated Association of Lower Guadana Lands. Basically, these guys manage EU rural development funds through over 200 community projects and have generated nearly 100 jobs in the region. They fund small businesses producing honey, carob, citrus, etc., and act as an intermediary between locals and the EU funding itself. Now, one of their bigger projects is the GR15 hiking trail which leads from Alcatine down all the way down to Villa San Antonio which is about 65 70 km. It appears that they have financed a lot of local small businesses as well from hairdressers to restaurants to tourism projects like Fun River. The central nautical occupies a great spot on the riverbank complete with pool and great canoeing facilities. Next up is the hotel dal couting where we have stayed actually with a family many years ago. It’s a lovely hotel and we had some great times there but it fell into disrepair disrepair and closed for some reason. Now it’s back and this video was the actually the perfect opportunity for us to go and stay there. But sadly I ran out of time. There’s a youth hostel with a pool at the very end of the road if you need that. Now moving south towards the old town, divert westwards a little and you’ll find the pri which we’ll chat about later. It’s wonderful spot really is. Now in the old town there are a few restaurants lining the ru pimeu mayo which leads down to some parking right on the dock next to the river. Ukaman is a restaurant where I’ve personally had some fantastic pork cheeks or bushes de Porco. It’s all classic Portuguese fair which is a lovely thing. And there a couple other restaurants around as well. So, you know, you’ll be able to definitely get something to eat in Alutini. The castle sits above the town protecting it and eyeballing Spain. The Spanish castle has recently been renovated and is rather impressive being situated much higher up than our little one in Algoting. And if we ever have another war, I’m heading over the water for San Luca de Guana. It looks like it’ll be the clear winner. Just kidding, though. Thankfully, we haven’t fought since the War of the Oranges in 1801. For shopping, you’ll have to make do with a couple of small mini markets. The biggest supermarket nearby is Alle in Metler, currently 45 minutes away, as a bridge is closed on the normal 30inut route. Actually to be clear with Villa San Antonio only being 35 minutes away they have all kinds of grocery stores down there like continent and met uh Aldi and Leidle etc. Fun fact there isn’t actually a service station or a gas station in Alcatine. There’s only one on the road which is 6 minutes out of town. Five really fun things to do in Alcatine are number one the beach the prior we’ll get into that now. Second thing is the castle. We’ll talk all about the history of the castle. Three is just there’s a whole bunch of outdoor activities to do like hiking, bird watching, kayaking, canoeing, boating, etc. Um the fourth thing that you can do is just stroll around the town and eat at the various restaurants like Peru and Kam. And then the fifth thing you can do actually I’ll hold that until we get there. Just a short stroll from the center of Alcatine, Pria Fluvial Dupe Fundu feels like a hidden oasis. Tucked among trees and hills, this quiet river beach has been a local gathering spot for generations. Where kids splash in the shallows, elders chat in the shade, and time seems to slow down. No waves, no crowds, just calm water, soft sand, and the gentle rhythm of Guadiana life. Here’s a story about the castle from history. Now, long before Portugal and Spain were the peaceful neighbors they are today, Alcatine Castle stood as a watchful sentinel on the Portuguese side of the Guadana River, directly facing the Spanish fortress of San Luca the Guadana across the water. Now in 1371 during a tense period of the Fernandine wars between Portugal and Castile something remarkable happened. A peace treaty was signed between the two kingdoms without a single sword drawn. And it was right here. The story goes that the kings of both nations Ferdinand I of Portugal and Henry II of Castile refused to set foot on each other’s soil. But they needed peace. So they devised a solution. A boat sailed to the middle of the Guardana carrying royal envoys from both sides. And right there, drifting between the two castles, they signed the Treaty of Al Coutine, ending the hostilities. For centuries after, the two castles stared each other down like old rivals who’d come to respect each other’s strength. And today, they still fa face each other in silence. no longer enemies, but weathered reminders of a time when borders were guarded by stone and history was written on the water. There’s tons of outdoor stuff to do here. Obviously, with the river, there’s kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing. There’s lots of sailing boats here that actually come up to M. Um there’s also hiking, bird watching, mountain biking, and gravel biking. And you can actually get onto the um the via Algaviano that goes all the way down to Sages which is 300 km. So you can either walk that or you can mountain bike that. You can also just stroll around Alcotting and eat at the handful of restaurants. Here is Osueru right next to the church. And this restaurant next to Berio is opening up again this year in 2025 and will be named Kashk I with a farmtotable style concept specializing in seafood from Halo. We had lunch at Kamina a few days ago. Great air conditioning cuz it was a hot day. It was like almost 38°. And if you’d like to hang out at the river beach, they have food there too and sometimes live music at night. [Music] On top of a Spanish hill overlooking Alcoting is the world’s first crossfrontier zipline. You can book online through Limitz Zero. But after crossing the river by ferry from Alcoting, make sure you visit the office in San Luca de Guana before being taken up to their hut on the hill with courtesy transport. It’s €25 per person. I walked. Don’t know why, but it’s a it’s quite a rush. It was really, really good fun. [Music] So those are five things to do in Algatine. There’s lots of more stuff you can come and explore yourself. But I was exploring around online and I met well I didn’t meet I I discovered that there was this lady who was running acupuncture and her name was Becky and I was like well she must be English. So, I contacted her and she very kindly met with me um when we were in filming in Alguting. So, we had a little chat and we’re going to do another video podcast online a little bit later. So, here’s a little bit about um from Becky Santos’s um opinion about Alcatine and living there. It’s really really colorful to hear what it’s like from a person actually living in Alcatine. We’re sitting here with Rebecca who’s opened up her own business here in Alcatine. And it’s amazing to find you cuz you’re Irish originally, right? I am. Um so we came uh I came here in 2017 on a boat um a sailing boat. My husband actually made the boat um in 20 he finished he launched it in 2008. So what was it like when you jumped off the boat for the first time and you saw Alcatine? What did you think? I loved it. First of all going up the river from from Villa Royale. It was absolutely amazing. We actually got to sail the whole way up. We got the tides and the wind somewhat correct. I don’t know how you can do that because I’ve been trying to figure out the tides because you’re so far away from the coast. You don’t get reliable data. Um although today the data is so much better um on the telephone. I remember in 2009 we didn’t we had those Nokio phones. Um we even came back in 2012 wondering why why are people doing this? What’s that about? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so you came to Albertine for the first time. Well, actually, you know, now I mean you’ve been living here for some time, right? Are you living here? Um, so in 2020, we actually bought a house here. So, um, loved it and decided to settle down. Before that, we were living on the boat for possibly in and around 6 months and then leaving again cuz it gets really hot here. I don’t know if you can see my face. It’s shining today. Strange face. Yeah. I think we’re 35, 36 or even 37° today. Mhm. Um so yeah, it gets really hot. So we head off June, July, and August usually um for holidays. But Alcatim was amazing. It’s a small little town. Um it has a huge expat community. Um yeah, because most people come up here to on boats, right? So there’s a lot of sailing community. um they come up here in boats and and just love it. Where would where would you like to hang out in Augustine? Restaurant wise, what’s They’re all fantastic. I tend to go to the beach bar a lot for they have a great daily there. Um it was €9 or€10. Is that the whole deal? Like soup started? Yeah. You get a you get um you get a main course and a lot of choice and then you get a a glass of wine, a coffee, and a dessert. I think the dessert is off at the moment. So, um it’s a great deal. It’s a really good deal. Every Tuesday night, um the sailors come together and they play music there. Oh, fantastic. It’s such a beautiful environment there. It’s gorgeous. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Um Rajgerio runs it and it’s really really He’s still running it. He’s been doing it for years. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I met him years ago. Yeah. Yeah. He was also in the Riverside um Riverside. That’s correct. Berio is another fabulous place to go to. It’s got uh great tapas, so I go there, too. We’re going up for lunch now. Where where should we go? Should we go to Kam or should we go? Came is also fantastic. Osw also brilliant. What day is today? Thursday. Friday. Friday. Friday. Friday. Usually Oswer does a really great fresh fish, barbecue fresh fish on Tuesday. Originally, just before I came, it was the Riverside. Yeah. Then it became there was I can’t remember the name of it but um two local people also opened that up and it’s closed down again and then another um group opened it up as contraband contraband or something like that. Yeah, I’ll go and have a look now and see the name is. Yeah, but they closed down again. So it’s now taken over. It’s closed at the minute. It’s due to open I believe this summer, but I’m not absolutely sure. Okay, good. Um, so hopefully that does open. Uh, but it sounds like there’s actually lots of choice for a very, very small town. There’s lots of choice. There’s Yeah, there’s also another one at the top of town um that that opens for lunchtime every single day. That’s also really, really good. I can highly recommend all of them. Yeah. Um, I can’t choose one over the other because it depends on my mood. Sure. Well, thank you so much. It’s really wonderful because you painted a wonderfully rich picture of Alcatine and I really want to just thank you for for making time for us. We can talk a little bit about you as well about your medicine. Okay. Sure. Um uh I So where do where do people find you online for example? So I’m on www.alkcatimacupuncture.com. [Music] Um and it’s one word isn’t it? Yeah it’s alcatimacup. Yeah.com. So it it’s but I offer everything from massage, moxyustion, gouacha, gouacha facials, um there’s and acupuncture of course for pain and and so many other things. Well, thank you Becky Santos. It was lovely to chat to you. Really was amazing. I’m looking forward to getting you on to the video podcast so we can talk all about alging in detail for a longer time. All right guys, thanks so much for watching. I really do appreciate it. We’re heading west next week to Burgal, which is a beautiful small village on the western Alggov coast, southwestern Algo coast. See you then. Addicts.com. We’ll see you next week. But if you need any help relocating to the Algav, click through to our website, olgavaddicts.com. We offer tours, immigration assistance, long-term rentals, and we can buy you a house.

Discover Alcoutim | The Most Isolated Town in the Algarve 🇵🇹 | Algarve Unlocked 04/50

Welcome to Alcoutim, one of the Algarve’s most remote and charming towns—featured in my Algarve Unlocked series, where I explore 50+ towns across the region from east to west.

🌍 Why Visit Alcoutim?
Nestled on the banks of the Guadiana River, across from Sanlúcar de Guadiana in Spain, Alcoutim feels like a world of its own. With just over 400 residents and surrounded by hills, olive trees, and silence, it’s the perfect escape from the tourist-heavy coast.

📍 In this video, you’ll explore:

* The fascinating history of Alcoutim Castle and the 1371 peace treaty signed mid-river
* The Praia Fluvial do Pego Fundo, a serene river beach loved by locals
* Incredible outdoor activities like hiking the GR15 trail, kayaking, and cross-border ziplining
* Great local restaurants like O Camané and Cascas e Marés (new in 2025!)
* Practical info on services, and community life in Alcoutim
* How the town is shaped by EU rural development projects and strong community spirit

🚗 Getting there:
No trains here—Alcoutim is best reached by car. It’s 30 mins from Vila Real de Santo António, 1h from Faro Airport, and just over 3h from Lisbon.

🏡 Thinking of moving to the Algarve?
We’re helping over 50 amazing people relocate here through our very own Algarve Addicts Real Estate Agency, run by Nick Smith and Duarte. Join the tribe—new episodes every Wednesday on our Algarve Addicts Video Podcast!

📌 Don’t miss:

* A ride on the world’s only cross-border zipline (Spain → Portugal!)
* How EU funding is revitalizing this forgotten corner of Portugal

🎥 Check out the full Algarve Unlocked playlist and interactive video map at:
👉 [https://www.algarveaddicts.com/videos](https://www.algarveaddicts.com/videos)

Special thanks to Becky Santos from [alcoutimacupuncture.com](https://alcoutimacupuncture.com)

👇 Drop your questions or experiences in the comments—have you been to Alcoutim?

#Alcoutim #AlgarveUnlocked #AlgarveTowns #PortugalTravel #MoveToPortugal #GuadianaRiver #HiddenPortugal #SlowTravel #AlgarveAddicts #PortugalHistory #CrossBorderZipline