Long overdue action by the GNR fining those who park up and camp on beaches etc ( Portugal News ).

Lets hope that they move on to the Algarve and deal with the pests that infest the area every winter.

hope for yourself; I hope for just the opposite.

I rarely agree with EMR but the situation in Manta Rota used to wind me right up. Dozens of campers parked directly alongside "no camping or caravan" signs (in multiple languages), people relieving themselves up corners and filling water tanks using the beach showers.

And all this while plenty of inexpensive local caravan sites had plenty of vacancies. Buying a few bits in Lidl is hardly a genuine contribution to the Algarve economy.

I have no problem with the GNR fining people who are so flagrantly (and fragrantly, in some cases) disregarding local rules. Camping Ria Formosa charges less than €10 for a camper pitch. People who can afford to spend €50k+ on one of these vehicles can and should stump up the cash.

The Algarve councils are finally waking up and taking action against the vanners as well as increasing the number of official sites.
Of course there will still be a large minority who believe in avoiding paying and continue to pollute dump rubbish etc.
Motor homers who follow the rules ,use official sites are more than welcome as they make a significant contribution to the economy out of the main holiday season.

I've seen the sites in Olhao, & Fuzeta....are they just for people holidaying, or do people actually live full time on them?

There are people in the Fuzeta camping who have lived there for years - over 10 years, maybe more.

We are Motorhomers and always use campsites. The Olhao and Cabanas ones usualy. People who park illegally give us a bad profile. They also spoil the oportunity for us to just park for a few hours to visit places. You may have noticed a massive increase in French vans this year. This is down to advice from their government not to go to North Africa. Good extra business for the Algarve.

hhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm, not an argument that I really want to get into. Most people try and be reasonable to each other, like not playing loud music all the time really early (before sunrise) in the morning, not starting fires in their gardens on lovely days, or even in their allotments just before they go home letting it slow burn for hours and ruining others evening whilst they sit outside their own house away from the smoke to enjoy the evening outdoors, and there are those people that have children, but they are at school and not with them, that park in children and buggy only bays at supermarkets (you can tell they have children by their figures), or those that sit near me and smoke when I am having my coffee and shortbread at my favorite cafe, or those biscards that cut me up, even when I am the best and most considerate driver in the whole uk, if not europe, or those that sit at my favorite picnic bench on the best and nicest days of the year but do not show their faces when it is cold and raining and really shi*!, the bloody bare faced cheek; and those people that go up the front stairs of the plane when they are in row 44 and then somehow need to check every overhead locker whilst we wait behind with seats in row 2 or maybe as far back as 3, along with 120 other people, or those that go through the check out at the supermarket and once they have filled their trolley whilst we all wait, suddenly realise they will have to pay and start searching for their purse, WTF? was that really a surprise? Happens every time to me!
So all in all, there are a lot of people that I could get mad at (please don't invite me to have a real rant). But, do the vanners deserve it; are they all irresponsible or like us, are there a few that don't think about others as much as we do and spoil it for the rest.
Do I really need to get involved?
Hell no. You guys can start hurling more stones cause, I am off to visit the mighty beer keg to ask whether tomorrow will be better than today. Usually, after about two hours, a new and better dawn is forecast for tomorrow.

wow.

The Algarve is now one of the most popular destinations for vanners.It is not a case of a few camping overnight but now in many locations 100,s staying sometimes for months where there are no facilities.
Where does the rubbish and sewage go ?.
Who is paying for the clean up, the poor Portuguese tax payer.
Sites charging just a few Euros night have spaces while local car parks and waste land are full.
The GNR evicited ovef 100 vans from Silves car park some which had been there for months.
As in most things there is a limit and that limit gas been reached.

you as well? I thought I was the only one with these thoughts!

Awesome post You've managed to distill 6300 posts from the Pet Peeves thread and 26000 post from WHPYOT into one paragraph. Cracking job - you're not Bob in disguise, are you?