Winter months in Cabanas de Tavira

What a winter month costs

A month from 1 November to 15 March costs €1,800 for the whole apartment, with electricity, water and internet included. The apartment sleeps six, so two couples sharing pay €900 each.

You can also book by the week, and stay on into spring at the spring rate. The prices below are for the whole apartment.

Winter weather, month by month

Faro, 40 minutes west, has the nearest official weather station. These are its averages, with sea temperatures and sunshine for Tavira and daylight for Cabanas.

Rain falls on about six days a month in winter. December is the wettest month, with 90 mm on average. The sun sets around 17:15 in December and after 18:00 by mid February.

Staying warm

Winter nights here drop to 8 to 10°C, so heating matters. Ria Green House was finished in 2026 with an energy label of B, every room has an air conditioning unit that heats as well as cools, and the apartment faces south, so the living room and balcony get the low winter sun.

Electricity is included in the monthly price, so you can keep the heating on without watching a meter.

Working from Cabanas

The second bedroom has a wooden desk and an office chair under the window, and the apartment has 500 Mbps fibre from NOS. Portugal is on the same time as London in winter and one hour behind Amsterdam, Berlin and Stockholm, so a working day lines up with colleagues in the UK and northern Europe.

Most people who work from here keep the mornings for calls and take the afternoon light for a round or a walk along the ria.

How long you can stay

Citizens of EU and EEA countries can stay as long as they like. Visitors from outside the EU, including the UK, the US and Canada, can usually stay for up to 90 days in any 180 day period in the Schengen area, which covers Portugal and Spain.

That makes a 12 week winter the usual plan for British guests: for example, early December to the end of February. The European Commission has a short stay calculator for checking your dates. The rule does not apply if you hold an EU residence permit or a long stay visa.

European Commission short stay calculator

What winter days look like

Tavira’s old town is 10 minutes away by car, with cafés along the Gilão river and the castle walls above it. The boats to Cabanas island beach still cross outside summer, though less often, and the walk along the Barril dunes to the anchor cemetery is at its best on a clear winter morning.

Tavira also keeps a full winter calendar of concerts, markets and walks, and we list the best of it every week.

Golf is the other thing this stretch of coast is known for in winter. Six courses lie within 30 minutes of Cabanas, and green fees are at their lowest in December and January. Benamor, the nearest, is a 15 minute walk from the apartment, so a round fits around everything else even if you only play now and then.

• Things to do around Tavira
• What’s on in Tavira this week
• Long stay golf: a month of rounds from Cabanas

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