Book excerpt: Portugal's southern coastal region is one of Europe's premier beach destinations, known for its magnificent year-round weather, superb golf facilities and top sports holidays. Be inspired to visit by the updated Berlitz Guide Pocket Algarve, a concise, full-colour travel guide that combines lively text with vivid photography to highlight the best that the Algarve has to offer. Inside Berlitz Guide Pocket Algarve: The Algarve has many pleasures to tempt the visitor: discover glorious stretches of golden sand of leading resort Albufeira, ocean-skimming golf courses and the excitement of big-game fishing, horse riding or tennis. Or for something more sedate, explore the shops to find hand-painted ceramics in towns such as Faro, Lagos and atmospheric Tavira - one of the region's most historic cities. Handy maps on the cover flaps help you get around. To inspire you, the book offers a rundown of the Algarve's Top 10 Attractions, followed by ideas for how to spend the Perfect Day. The What to Do chapter is a snapshot of ways to spend your spare time, from nightlife and shopping to sports. The book provides all the essential background information, including an overview of the Algarve's history, sporting facilities, and suggestions for excursions to Lisbon. There are carefully chosen listings of the best hotels and restaurants and an A-Z of all the practical information you'll need.About Berlitz: Berlitz draws on years of travel and language expertise to bring you a wide range of travel and language products, including travel guides, maps, phrase books, language-learning courses, dictionaries and kids' language products.