A Rainy Day in Tavira with Kids: What's Left Indoors

A rainy day in the eastern Algarve is rare, and that’s exactly the problem: nobody plans for it. When it comes, you wake up with two children in a holiday flat and realise the whole holiday was meant to happen outdoors.

When it actually rains here

Rain falls between November and March. In the summer months, a rainy day in Tavira is an exception, and in July and August it’s almost a curiosity. Anyone visiting in October or during the Easter holidays, though, should have a plan.

And it falls differently from what Central Europeans are used to: usually in heavy bursts, with clear spells in between. A day that looks hopeless at nine can be dry by two. That changes the strategy – you don’t plan the whole day indoors, just the next three hours.

What gets cancelled first

Boat trips. Rain combined with wind means no sailing, and the skipper makes that call in the morning, not the weather forecast the evening before. If the operator cancels at short notice, the price is refunded – if you cancel yourself because you don’t like the look of the weather, as a rule it isn’t. The cancellation deadline is stated on the booking page, and that’s the only binding source for it.

Open vehicles. The tuk-tuk rides and the jeep tours through the salt pans are open at the sides. In drizzle, a jacket will do; in a downpour, it won’t.

The ferry to Ilha de Tavira. Outside the swimming season it runs less often, and the island itself, in the rain, is a strip of sand with no roof. Check the timetable beforehand, not at the jetty.

Walking the salt pans. No shade is a problem on a hot day; on a wet one it’s the same problem without any shelter.

The three places that carry the day

Centro Ciência Viva, single ticket from €9, around ninety minutes. This is the strongest rainy-day plan Tavira has: hands-on stations, maths and physics puzzles, a building built for school-age children. On a rainy day during the holidays it’s busy – go early.

The guided tour of the table-olive factory, from €29, about ninety minutes, with a tasting of olives, olive oil, jam, bread, cheese and honey. With 342 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars, it is the most-reviewed offering in the whole Tavira range – and it takes place indoors, in a hall. For children, the appeal isn’t the tasting but the machines.

The municipal museum in the old town. Its Islamic section shows finds from the town’s Moorish period, including an elaborately decorated vessel excavated in Tavira. Small, done in half an hour, not a children’s museum – but dry, and the finds came out of the ground beneath the streets you walked over earlier.

The camera in the water tower – with one caveat

The Camera obscura in the old water tower is a dark room into which a mirror system projects a moving image of the town. As a rainy-day option it seems obvious: you’re standing indoors.

The catch is physical. The image depends on sunlight. Under a closed cloud cover it’s paler and flatter than on a clear day, and what’s astonishing in sunshine looks like a badly focused projector under grey skies. If you have the choice, save it for a bright day.

On top of that, it involves climbing stairs, and the show itself lasts barely fifteen minutes. As a stand-alone plan for the day, that’s not enough.

Under cover, without an entrance fee

The riverside market hall is roofed, as are the arcaded lanes around the market square. That’s enough for an hour of staying dry with a coffee.

Twenty minutes’ drive west lies Olhão, with its two old brick market halls right by the water: fish in one, fruit and vegetables in the other. On Saturdays it’s packed and noisy, and for children it’s more interesting than any museum – live crabs, squid, ice mountains piled with fish. What else is there is covered in What to See in the Eastern Algarve.

If the rain lasts all day

Then the car is worth it. In Faro, a good half-hour away, there’s a shopping centre with a cinema and a second, larger science centre for the region.

One tip that saves frustration: in Portugal, films run in the original language with subtitles. Children’s films are usually dubbed, everything else isn’t – for a child who doesn’t yet read quickly, the actual choice is smaller than the listings suggest.

The Algarve’s big water and theme parks are all in the west, and they’re closed during the winter half of the year. As a rainy-day plan they’re out, and precisely in the season when it rains.

And if it only pours for an hour

Then the best plan is no plan. Portuguese cafés don’t mind a family sitting down in wet jackets and staying for an hour. A milky coffee, a pastel de nata and the view of the river last longer than you’d expect – and by the time you’re done, it’s often over already.

What’s on the agenda for other days is covered in Tavira with Kids, by age in Tavira with a Toddler and Tavira with School-Age Kids. What the town itself has to offer is covered in What to See in Tavira. Things you can book, by type: Food and Wine Tours, Tavira Old Town Tours, Ria Formosa Boat Tours and Things to Do in Tavira.