Our European beach apartment is small. The bedrooms are small; the kitchen is small; the living room is small; and it is just 1 bathroom. It is a maximum of 6 people. It's perfect for a couple and a few kids, or two couples. But if you are 6 adults sharing 1 small bathroom, it's going to be really tight.

You are living and sleeping above a small but active beach bar. Music will be turned on whenever the bar is open. You'll smell bangers and mash in the morning and Portuguese meatballs cooking at night. You'll hear voices of patrons as late as midnight. If you like this sort of thing then you can grab a cappucino on your way to your morning swim and hang with locals and European tourists for happy hour or a nightcap. If you don't like the sound of this then you will not be happy staying at La Petite Riad.

After New Years Day the town of Carvoeiro shuts down for January and February. 80% of the shops and restaurants will be closed including The Atlantic View Restaurant. If a sleepy, quiet beach town sounds appealing to you, this is the perfect time to go. If you are looking for nightlife and partying this is the wrong time to go.

If you are traveling from the USA, there is a direct flight to Faro (the capital of the Algarve region of Portugal) from Newark (EWR) that takes 7 hours. Faro airport has recently been updated to accommodate tourism and is state of the art. Getting an Uber or taxi from the airport is easy. Just plug the Atlantic View into the destination and it will cost you about 35€ and take about 40 minutes.

The other option is to fly into Lisbon. It's fun to spend a few days in Lisbon on your way to or from Portugal. The capital city is a 3.5 hour train ride that carves through the rural Alentejo region with views of olive and orange orchards. The train system is easy to navigate but does require one exchange at Tunes where you switch to the smaller train to Lagoa. From the Lagoa station you would take a taxi or Uber to Carvoeiro (15 minutes). Train tickets are purchased online and run about 25€ per person.

It is not a requirement to have a car for your stay and it is not difficult or expensive to Uber around the area. Having said that, rental cars are relatively inexpensive and would permit you to tour the different towns of the Algarve at your leisure, and the driving/navigation is not difficult at all.