La Casita
Go explore the Algarve.
Come home somewhere quiet.
A small wooden cabin for two in the countryside near Porches, with beaches, towns and much of the Algarve within easy reach.
La Casita sits among fruit trees, away from the bustle of the coast but close enough that you can spend the day wherever the mood takes you.
Go to the beach. Walk the cliffs. Have lunch somewhere you hadn't planned to find. Drive west towards Lagos or east towards Faro. And when you're done, come back, close the gate, put down the beach bag and stay put for the evening.
La Casita is the place you come back to.
Interested in La Casita?
Get in touch to find out more or ask about future availability.
Contact Claudia →A good place from which to go in almost any direction
One of the advantages of staying around Porches and Lagoa is that you don't have to choose between spending your holiday in the western Algarve or the eastern one.
Praia da Marinha, Benagil, Carvoeiro and Algar Seco are nearby. Portimão and Lagos take you west; Armação de Pêra, Albufeira and Faro take you east. The N125 and A22 are both easy to reach from La Casita.
A car is strongly recommended. But if you're planning to explore, that's also what makes the location work: you can cover quite a lot of the Algarve without packing your suitcase every couple of days.
One base or two? Where to stay if you want to explore the Algarve by car →
The other part of the holiday happens here
Some of the things guests remember most about La Casita happen between whatever they went out to do.
Breakfast outside before deciding where to go. Coming back from the beach and leaving the cooler and umbrellas for tomorrow. Sitting on the patio with a glass of wine at the end of the day. Hearing the chickens in the morning and the crickets in the evening. Sleeping in a bed that, for some reason, guests keep mentioning in their reviews.
La Casita is surrounded by orange, mandarin and loquat trees. It's a wooden cabin in a rural setting, not a conventional apartment with some countryside added around it. You'll hear and occasionally encounter the life that comes with that setting, and the wooden house responds to the weather more than a concrete building does. There's air conditioning for hot days and warm bedding when the nights turn cooler.
Living at La Casita
La Casita is for two adults, with a double bed, private bathroom, kitchenette, Wi-Fi and air conditioning, as well as a private patio where you can eat, read or do very little.
You can park inside the property, and there are beach umbrellas and a cooler you can take with you when you go out for the day.
We've tried to equip the house for actually living in it for a while rather than simply sleeping there. And some of what is there now came from the people who stayed before you.
Christine wanted filter coffee, for example. La Casita already had a Nespresso-style capsule machine, but that wasn't what she used at home. So Edmée and I went looking for a small filter machine and came back with what I still call the Barbie coffee machine.
She also pointed out that there wasn't a sensible place to put socks and underwear. There is now.
Guests are remarkably good at noticing what you stop seeing when you know a place too well.
Read: La Casita has been shaped by people who don't live here →
You have your holiday. We're here when you need us.
La Casita is on the same property where my sister Edmée and I live.
That doesn't mean we're joining you for breakfast.
You have your own space, your own plans and your own holiday. But we're nearby if you need something — or if you're wondering where to go tomorrow and would rather ask somebody than spend another hour scrolling through lists of the ten best things to do in the Algarve.
Sometimes the useful answer is a restaurant. Sometimes it's which beach to choose, when to go somewhere before the parking becomes impossible, or what might make more sense on a very hot day.
One guest, Liliana, described it afterwards as “la tua discreta ma continua presenza” — your discreet but continuous presence.
I think she described it better than I could.
ma continua
presenza
Is La Casita your kind of place?
La Casita tends to suit people who want to explore the Algarve but don't necessarily want to sleep in one of its busiest tourist centres. It's for people who are happy to have a car, head out for the day and come back; who enjoy having breakfast or an evening drink outside; and who would rather stay somewhere small and informal than in a resort. It also helps if you don't mind your hosts living nearby — provided they know when to disappear.
If what you want is to walk out of your accommodation and straight into restaurants, shops and nightlife, La Casita probably isn't the right base. The same is true if you prefer the predictability and facilities of a hotel or a conventional apartment.
But if you like the idea of having your own little place to come back to while you're in the Algarve, you're getting much closer to what La Casita is.
What guests notice
Nadine came to explore the Algarve and particularly valued the location, the comfortable bed and the equipment in the house. But what she chose to emphasise was the “warm and caring welcome.”
Christine and Alex remembered the absolute peace, the short distances to the places they wanted to visit and the two terraces — as well as the tiny coffee machine we bought after Christine asked whether there was a filter one.
Another guest wrote about the special charm of having breakfast on the terrace and described La Casita as ideal for disconnecting and enjoying the surroundings.
And Alain and Evelyne simply finished theirs with:
Nous reviendrons avec plaisir.
We'd happily come back.
Explore the Algarve from La Casita
Where to go, when to go, and the small things worth knowing before you set off.
Good to know
2 adults
Rural, near Porches and Lagoa in the central Algarve
A car is strongly recommended
Inside the property
Double bed, private bathroom, kitchenette, Wi-Fi and air conditioning
Private patio
Umbrellas and cooler
Claudia and Edmée live on the property
Curious about La Casita?
La Casita isn't currently taking online bookings, but you don't have to wait until then to ask about it.
If you're planning an Algarve holiday and La Casita sounds like somewhere you'd enjoy coming back to at the end of the day, send me a message. Tell me roughly when you're thinking of coming and what kind of holiday you have in mind, and I can tell you more about La Casita and future availability.