Adventure Hunt Portimao
A New Accessible Portimao Escape Room Experience & Storytelling Walking Tour!
Portimao Walking Tours, Adventures & Experiences
There are two fun experiences to try in Portimão: an Adventure Hunt and a Storytelling Walking Tour. Both are self-guided walks that use the Aventure Hunt App (available on both Android and iPhone) to show you both the city’s highlights and it’s lesser known, but equally charming, backstreets.
Portimão Adventure Hunt
Adventure Hunt is an interactive experience that combines elements of scavenger hunts, treasure trails, and escape rooms, turning a simple stroll into a fun activity. It blends sightseeing with problem-solving and encourages you to be observant and pay attention to your surroundings to find the clues and solve the riddles.
Use our Adventure Hunt App to guide you along the 2km trail, taking you along the promenade and through the old quarter, finding landmarks, solving puzzles, and uncovering ‘fun facts’ along the way.
Follow the painted path to locate the artist among the Ribeirinha’s marble statues, spot the difference in one of the city’s decorative murals, find the hidden lions at Palacio do Sapal, and solve the equation outside the Igreja do Colegio.
Portimao Storytelling Walking Tour
Our Portimao walking tour is designed for people who want to experience Portimao as it was, and as it is now. Using the city’s street art, architecture, and historical monuments to tell the story of Portimão, you’ll learn about the people who shaped the city from its origins, and those who make it the cool and vibrant city that it is today. Along the way, you’ll ‘meet’ sculptors and street artists, a poet and a politician, a missionary and a pirate. But it’s not just about the famous. You’ll also learn about the lives of ‘ordinary’ residents and discover some of the best places to eat, drink and shop ‘local’ in town.
The trail guides you around both the city’s highlights and it’s lesser known, but equally charming backstreets. We’ll also give you suggestions for more places to visit and things to do in and around the city – so you can spend the whole day or even the weekend here.
Starting and ending on the waterfront promenade, the trail is 3km and takes around 1.5 hours to complete (not including stops for refreshments, shopping etc.). Parking is available nearby, as are local bus stops, and the train station is a 25-minute walk away.
Highlights
- Portimão Museum and the old sardine canneries
- Contemporary sculptures along the Ribeirinha promenade
- Jardim 1 Decembro: the garden of ‘ceramic books’
- Cool street art murals
- The former Palácio do Sapal and the invisible fountains
- The old fishing district
- Traditional tavernas and seafood restaurants
- Antiga Lota: the old fish auction house
- Portimão’s pastelarias and famous pastries
- Igreja do Colégio: the 17th Century Baroque Jesuit College
Why do a Portimão Adventure Experience?
- Flexibility: go whenever you want. There’s no set start/end time or date.
- Set your own pace: take as long as you like. There’s no time limit.
- Private and independent: no tagging along with others or following a tour guide.
- Family-friendly: our experiences have fun things to look at, and learn about, that will keep the kids engaged, as well as plenty of snack stop opportunities. The Adventure Hunt doesn’t require any prior knowledge to solve the puzzles and is ideal for children aged 8+.
- Engaging: it’s a fun way to discover the city. You’ll go to ‘off the beaten track’ places, as well as seeing the highlights. Even if you’re a regular visitor or a local, our experiences will help you see Portimao with fresh eyes.
- All-weather activity: cloudy or rainy day? Grab an umbrella and head out. There are plenty of cosy coffee & cake stops along the trail.
- Excellent value: only €19.50 per group – that’s less than 5€ per person for a fun family experience
Portimao FAQ
Are the experiences challenging or complicated to do?
Not at all. To get started, you just need to download the Adventure Hunt App and type in your booking reference and email. It’s very simple to use (even if you’re a technophobe) and you can also access Google Maps if you get lost.
For the Adventure Hunt experience, most of the clues require just observation or lateral thinking. Some clues are more challenging than others but that’s part of the fun.
The Storytelling Tour is also designed to be engaging and fun. It’s not an in-depth historical tour full of hard facts and dates. You will learn some history, but you’ll also find out about a singing fish and why Portuguese pastries were invented by nuns.
What’s the difference between an Adventure Hunt and a Storytelling Walking Tour?
Let’s start with the similarities. Both use our Adventure Hunt App to guide you around the city’s highlights, start and end on the waterfront, and take around 1.5 hours to complete. The main difference is that, on the Adventure Hunt, there are puzzles to solve at each stop on the route. Although you’ll also learn some ‘fun facts’, the emphasis is on playing the game.
In contrast, the Storytelling Tour is more of an ‘insider guide’ to the city, where each stop tells a story about Portimao past and present and the people who have shaped the city. The route is therefore longer and there are more stops. Whichever you choose, both are designed to be fun and engaging. No dull facts!
How accessible are the trails?
Both the Adventure Hunt and Storytelling Tour are ideal for wheelchair and pushchair users, and anyone with reduced mobility, as the routes follows the ‘Rota Acessível’ (Accessible Route) a brightly patterned concrete path, painted by local artists to ‘impregnate the city with happiness’. There are a few cobbled sections; in these instances, alternatives routes are provided if required. Accessible bathrooms can be found at the Museum at the start of the trails and in the square, at the end.
Are the experiences suitable for groups?
As the experiences are app-based, and require using a mobile phone, we recommend a maximum group size of 4 people per booking. If you are a larger group, we can create a bespoke experience for you. The Storytelling Tour is suitable for groups of up to 25 people and the Adventure Hunt, up to 50. The Adventure Hunt is also ideal as a team-building activity, as the group can be split into small teams, which start at different points along the trail and compete for maximum points on the puzzles. Please contact us for more information on our bespoke Group Experiences.
Is Adventure Hunt Portimao an escape room?
Adventure Hunt Portimao is not an escape room but it is a fun experience with similar challenges and is enjoyable for people who enjoy escape rooms. Everything takes place outside, at your own pace – there is no race against the clock. In fact, we encourage people to take a break for a drink or something to eat and enjoy the lovely surrounding that the Adventure Hunt is set in.
The real similarity is that the puzzles require a degree of teamwork and lateral thinking.
Is This New Portimao escape room experience suitable for families?
Yes, Adventure Hunt is great for families. Choose the Family option when you make your booking if you have children under the age of 8-12.
How do I win?
Having fun is winning so there is no need to be too focused on the score. That said, Adventure Hunt has a scoring system, with each clue offering a maximum of 20 points. Collect as many points as you do your Adventure Hunt and compete with friends and other groups.
Can we compete against another group?
Live scores are available within the Adventure Hunt App. You will be able to see the scores of everyone doing the same hunt as you on the Clue Completed page. We encourage a 10-minute break between groups.
Please contact us if you have multiple groups. We can put up a specific configuration so that all of your groups can start on separate clues at the same time.
Adventure Hunt Portimao Partners
Tomorrow Magazine
Adventure Hunt was featured in the June edition of Tomorrow magazine. Follow this link to read the article.
Tomorrow magazine is one of the largest English publications in the Algarve.
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About Portimao
Portimao is the largest city in the Western Algarve, with a rich cultural and industrial heritage. From its origins as a small fishing village during Roman times, by the 16th Century, it was a thriving port town that needed defending from pirates with fortresses on either side of the estuary. Although these fortresses can be seen today, many other historic and religious buildings were devasted by the earthquake and tsunami in 1755.
By the 19th Century, Portimao was once again a prosperous city, with a thriving fish canning and processing industry, as well as shipbuilding. At this time, most of the city’s inhabitants worked in these industries, some as young as 14.
Today, the port still plays an important role in the city’s economy and there are some great boat trips that you can take across the estuary to Ferragudo or even upriver to Silves. To learn more about the city’s fishing history, the Portimao Museum has some fascinating displays and you can also visit an artisanal cannery in nearby Parchal.
Taking a few steps back from the beautiful promenade, you can explore the narrow, cobbled streets of the old quarter, with some quirky craft shops and plenty of interesting local eateries. If you enjoy people watching, there are some lovely cafes in the city’s main plazas. Or, just part the port is the modern, colourful marina with neighbouring Praia da Rocha that boasts one of the longest sandy beaches in the Algarve.
Accessible Portimao
This Adventure Hunt in Portimao was designed with accessibility in mind. Utilising the Accessible Route means it is easier for those using wheelchairs, pushchairs, or with reduced mobility to enjoy the Adventure Hunt and a visit round Portimao. There are a few small sections of the hunt that do leave the Accessible Route but these have been kept to a minimum. This includes the smooth incline up to the main square, travelling down one cobbled lane, and crossing a few cobbled sections to rejoin the route. There is also no time limit or race against the clock to complete your Adventure Hunt. This allows people to take as many breaks as required and we encourage people to do so to enjoy the lovely surrounding that the Adventure Hunt is set in.
Cruise stopover in Portimao
With the starting point of the Adventure Hunt being only 500 metres from the cruise terminal, it’s also an ideal shore excursion for cruise passengers. Start whenever you like (no advance booking is required), take as long as you like – stopping for coffee, lunch, or a visit to the museum along the way – and then head back to the terminal in plenty of time for dinner on board the ship. Have fun solving puzzles with your family or partner or challenge some fellow cruise passengers to a competitive Hunt. It’s a unique and fun alternative to a more traditional guided city tour and a great way to see both the highlights and the ‘hidden gems’ of the city.
Contact Details
Opening Hours
Monday – Sunday, 07:30 – 19:30
The hours listed are approximate, you can do an Adventure Hunt whenever there is daylight.
Location
The start point for the Adventure Hunt is;
Rua D. Carlos I Zona Ribeirinha, 8500-607 Portimão, Portugal
Contact Adventure Hunt
To contact Adventure Hunt you can use email or Whats App.
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