UK holidaymakers will soon be able to skip long passport queues at a major European airport, thanks to a new UK-EU deal. 

Portugal will be the first country in the EU to allow UK passport holders to use e-gates after the deal was struck.

The rollout will begin at Faro airport in the Algarve, just in time for the busy summer travel season. 

The Algarve region is one of the most popular holiday destinations for British holidaymakers, with millions of travellers passing through Faro airport last year. 

Since Brexit, UK passport holders have had to queue at manned border control desks to get their passports stamped when entering the Schengen area countries. 

But under a new agreement struck at a UK-EU summit in May, it was confirmed that there would be no legal barriers to UK travellers using e-gates. 

Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds confirmed the news in Parliament last week, saying: ‘The historic deal that we signed with the EU on May 19 is in our national interests. 

‘Good for bills, borders and jobs. It slashes red tape and bureaucracy, boosts British exporters and makes life easier for holidaymakers.’

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that millions more Brits heading to the Algarve will be able to use the e-gates in time for summer holidays. 

He added: ‘We’re obviously continuing to work with other countries and other airports to ensure Brits can use more e-gates as soon as possible and that work continues.’

Just last week, Portuguese media reported large queues at passport control at Faro airport, with delays of up to two hours. 

Last year, tourists were met with three-hour delays at Faro airport, due to e-gates reportedly not working. Pictures shared on social media showed travellers crammed in like sardines before passport control. 

The EU’s Entry/Exit system (EES), expected to launch in October 2025, will eventually replace manual passport checks from non-member countries. 

According to the UK government website, when EES is introduced, travellers to the Schengen zone will need to create a digital record on their first arrival at the airport. 

It explains: ‘If you are travelling to a country in the Schengen area using a UK passport, you will be required to register your biometric details, such as fingerprints or a photo, when you arrive.’

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Less than a three-hour flight from London, the stunning beaches of the Algarve in Portugal attract millions of tourists each year.

Named the best-value destination in Europe for 2024 by Post Office Travel Money, you’ll get more bang for your buck in the summer hotspot than anywhere else on the continent.

But this could be about to change, because the Algarve is introducing a tourist tax which could ‘raise millions’ for the area, at the expense of holidaymakers’ budget trips.

If you’re visiting the southern Portuguese region, you’ll have to cough up £1.70 per person, per night, for up to a week between the months of March and September.

While it may sound like a small amount, this could add up to nearly £50 tacked on to the cost of a group of four’s one-week beach holiday.

The silver lining is that children under 13 years old are exempt from the charge. Plus, if you’re visiting during off-season, the fee drops to 85p per person between October and February.

The tourist tax applies specifically to the city of Portimão on Portugal’s Algarve coast.

It’s the largest city in the western Algarve and is popular with tourists due to its extensive shopping offerings. Traditionally it was a centre for ship-building and fishing, but its docks have been transformed into stunning promenades.

It’s also home to a number of stunning restaurants and cafes, offering delicious fresh seafood, and there’s a go-kart track at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve to keep the kids entertained.

According to Portimão’s Mayor Isilda Gomes, the tourist tax could raise ‘a few million euros’ for the city.

She said: ‘The rates are extremely fair. The funds will boost the city’s tourism development.’

So, is paying the tourist tax worth it? We’d say, absolutely – especially if you make time in your break to explore the wider Algarve too.

The region was named Europe’s Leading Beach Destination at the 2023 World Travel Awards (WTA).

The Algarve was also named ‘Europe’s best beach destination’ in 2023 for the tenth time in a row, thanks to its 200km of stunning coastline.

Its 88 Blue Flag beaches, ranging from stretches of golden sand to secluded rocky bays, are a major draw for tourists, but there’s plenty more to do if you want a packed itinerary.

Popular spots here, apart from Portimão, include Albufeira, Lagos and Faro, with dolphin-spotting tours and sunset cruises departing from each throughout the busy season.

Faro’s Old Town is a must-see for history buffs, while families can enjoy theme parks like Zoomarine and Slide & Splash. There are also a number of nearby vineyards, where you can sample the local wines and find out how it’s produced.

According the Met Office, you can expect average maximum temperatures of 29.1°C in July, with hardly any rain and up 12 hours of sunshine each day during the summer. January is the coldest month, seeing peaks of 16.2°C and 60mm rainfall.

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My boyfriend Paul has been using a wheelchair ever since he was involved in a car accident at 21, which means making any sort of travel plans can be challenging.

From where we stay and what we do, to even getting to a destination in the first place, are all things that have to be meticulously researched and planned. 

Will a hotel room have doors wide enough for Paul’s chair? If the restaurant is on a different level, how do we get to it? Will the pool have a handrail? And what if we want to venture further than the pool – what activities will be available to us? 

Sounds exhausting already, doesn’t it? Which is why when we do find the right holiday hotspot it has to deliver.

We’re now in our 40s and while there’s no doubt that accessible travel has improved massively over the last two decades, it still takes a lot of organisation. 

We holiday about three times a year, mostly around the UK, but we chose to visit the Algarve recently for its sunny climb in winter and south Portugal’s 50-year-old Quinta Do Lago specifically for its luxury and flat, newly built landscape with wide roads and pathways. Plus, as it’s famous for golf there were a lot of accessible routes for golf buggies, which Paul was able to access using a mobility scooter arranged by the hotel through New Generation Tours.

It took about 5 months to find and we also considered the Canary Islands which are known accessible hotspots and Cascais, the Portuguese Rivera but the cobbled floors there may have been challenging for Paul’s chair. 

It’s a tourist hotspot, yes, but not as well-trodden as say Lanzarote or Barcelona.

The accommodation

Our choice of hotel was the expansive Wyndham Grand Algarve which has spacious, self-catering suites perfect for wheelchairs with their roomy, roll-in showers and (almost) level access patios. 

Our accessible transfers from the airport to the Wyndham were included in our stay and provided by MBA-Travel, who are fully-equipped for wheelchair passengers with sleek black vans that are fully air-conditioned.

We went half-board and took breakfast and three-course meals on a set menu at the XXL by Olivier restaurant in the evenings as the hotel was so accessible. This also took some of the planning and research for accessible restaurants out the equation and what we saved in time, we spent at the bar.

The breakfasts were also included at the downstairs Caravela restaurant, accessed by lift with lots of room to manoeuvre. Think continental cheeses and cooked platters and you get the picture with a few local cheeses and breads thrown in for good measure and satisfied bellies. 

The XXL by Olivier in the evening was also satisfying, more so on the last night with pork bites and frites fitting the bill nicely. 

Half-board worked out as cost effective, too – with the last servings of breakfast being at 10.30am and the XXL by Olivier opening at 6.30pm, we ate well at these times and skipped lunch. 

As the suites were self-catering we stocked up on waters and fizzy drinks at the local convenience store and we were able to pop these in our fridge for the day time. (It also made us giggle that a small, local shop was so well stocked with champagne bottles as well as affordable basics like bread, butter and milk!)

Drinks and meals on wheels

The Shack bar and restaurant is one for WAG and footy bingo as Coleen and Wayne Rooney have been spotted here having a tipple – so we were compelled to have a look for ourselves. Indeed it’s a not-so-well-kept secret that the Quinta resort is known for it’s British footballer fans. 

It isn’t cheap to eat and drink here, nor is it too expensive. On our second night we travelled to The Shack on foot and wheels from Wyndham in under 30 minutes for four tapas dishes and two cocktails each costing us 70 euros.

The entrance was accessible though the toilet was small and Paul had to leave his wheelchair outside when visiting the restroom, though it wasn’t too inconvenient.

The Jalapeno and cheese croquettes were worthy of a chef’s kiss and the portions were good and menu comprehensive.

But more importantly it’s set on stilts over a lake and provides stunning views of some of the multi-million pound villas that neighbour this bar and restaurant. 

We returned for an aperitif of Laurent Perrier on our last night (18 euros for a large glass) for me, whilPaul enjoyed a Dark Storm cocktail (12 euros) and took photos on his phone of the fish in the lake that were so close by.

Accessible activities

Based in the south of Quinta do Lago, we were near the protected coastal lagoon of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, home to a vast array of wildlife, migrating birds, fauna and flora.

Paul had checked this was accessible before we left and the only challenge was the gated entrance – most people can walk through but we had to speak with security in the nearby carpark to access a key to open the gate so we could get his mobility scooter through.

We were then able to access the wooden footpaths to the east and west of the bridge for long accessible scoots that immersed us in wildlife and allowed us an afternoon of bird and wildlife-spotting. 

We spied herons, shoals of fish and plenty of scuttling crabs here along the leeward coast where more than 300 bird species reside. We’re told chameleons, terrapins and otters are seen here too. 

At the end of our scoot we returned to the wooden bridge and took a short walk along the near-empty Gigi beach along a wooden path and then stopped off for a pint of local Sagres beer at Gigi restaurant and bar. 

There were steps to the bar and no ramp sadly, however we were made to feel welcome and were shown seats in the restaurant which didn’t have any stairs so we could still enjoy a pint.

Wheelie-friendly sunshine

Paul and I discovered plenty of sunshine in Quinta Do Lago, when we went last Autumn. Temperatures reached 26 degrees and we found the end of September and start of October perfect for sun and solitude as the children were all back to school.

In the New Year, it starts to warm again in February and March, so it’s also worth considering then.

After three-days it was hard to find fault with our holiday destionation as newly built tourist spots like this are usually more accessible than, say, a raid in Morrocco (where TUI do packages from Manchester) or somewhere hilly like the winding streets of Lisbon or Tuscany.

What would improve Quinta’s accessible offerings even more are more drop curbs on the pavements. As it is, Paul had to occasionally travel half way down a road, just to get to the drop curb to cross.

However, since we returned – though now skint – Paul has remembered our trip as ‘mint’ and ‘wheelchair-friendly’, and we’ve both brought home some lovely memories and good tans.

Prices for a single room with breakfast at the Wyndham Grand Algarve hotel start from £220.61 a night.

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Wildfires are currently raging across Portugal, after the popular tourist destination recorded its hottest temperature of the year on Monday, with highs of 46.4C.

Yesterday, more than 1,400 people were asked to leave the southern town of Odemira, with the blaze now making its way to the Algarve region.

Europe has faced mass devastation from fires this summer, with people being evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes and blazes being encountered in Sicily in Italy, Dubrovnik in Croatia, and more.

With this in mind, is Portugal still safe to travel to?

Here is what you need to know.

Is it safe to travel to Portugal?

As of today (August 8), the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (the department of government that deals with British affairs abroad) is yet to warn against travel to Portugal.

However, the department has advised British travellers to Portugal that ‘no travel can be guaranteed safe’ and that they should make adequate preparations in advance and take precautions while visiting.

This includes reading the FCDO advice on support for British nationals abroad and, most importantly, making sure you research your destination thoroughly and take out adequate travel insurance that ‘should cover your itinerary, planned activities and expenses in an emergency.’

When it comes to fires specifically, the advice warns that forest fires are ‘highly dangerous and unpredictable’ and can occur anywhere in Portugal, with the risk being exceptionally high during periods of hot and dry weather.

During wildfires, the Foreign Office state that Portuguese authorities may have to evacuate areas and close roads for safety reasons.

The FCDO offers three critical pieces of advice:

• Ensure to familiarise yourself with local safety and emergency procedures
• Always follow the advice of the Portuguese authorities
• If you spot a wildfire, call the emergency services on 112.

If you have concerns, it is always good practice to check with your travel operator or hotel before travelling.

The latest Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office travel advice for Portugal can be found on the gov.uk website.

Can I get a refund on my trip to Portugal?

Unless the Foreign Office advises you to cancel your holiday, or it is cancelled by your airline or tour operator there is no guarantee you’ll get your money back if you choose not to travel.

Most insurance policies only pay out due to trip cancellations in certain circumstances such as death, bereavement and extremely long days.

Airlines are also not obligated to offer refunds if a trip is cancelled due to something beyond their control, such as the weather.

However, it is always worth checking with your airline or tour provider to see whether they might be able to offer you anything, such as rescheduling the trip, or moving it to a different location.

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