Portugal in November

[huuskymam]

Could anyone tell me what the Algarve is like for first week of November. I'm looking into booking a holiday during the mid term but am getting conflicted reports regarding weather and places being open.

Thanks

Almost anywhere which the main trade is tourism will be closed. The bigger towns eg Faro, Albufeira, Portimão and Lagos have a large enough resident population to ensure that it won't feel completely 'dead', but the smaller towns will be very quiet indeed. I would recommend staying in one of these larger towns.
If the sun's out it is often really pleasant but when it goes down the temperature can drop very quickly. The weather’s not dependable - November can be wet and normally pretty windy too. The sea can be a bit rough at that time of year.
One year I was in Porto in November and there was a frost. It’s impossible to tell.

Have you considered Canary Islands instead? Year round weather and also open all year, not seasonal like Portugal and mainland Spain

Not hot, that's for sure. Likely to rain. Do cape Verde for sun & heat.

The sea was freezing even in August when we were there a few days ago. You will certainly not be able to swim in November. My daughter's best friend has a holiday home there and they often go during October half term, but it's never hot enough to swim.

...a few tears ago*

Argh!!! years*

I live in the Algarve and November is one of my favourite months. Normally you have a good amount of sunshine that is of a nice temperature, you can sit in it comfortably. There is a bit of a sleepy feeling as some restaurants will be closed but there will be plenty still open that it will not be a problem.
You can get rain but I wouldn't say it's likely, just a possibility which is the same for most places.

Portugal wasn't very warm when we went in June! It was 19-21° and rained most nights and a couple of days. Not what I was expecting really weather wise.