Adventure: For the adventurous, Algarve has a nearly endless list of offers. As it is a small province of 5000 km2 and Casa Flor de Sal is reasonably central, you can reach nearly anywhere driving for one hour or less.
The Algarve is separated from the rest of Portugal by a chain of small mountains. This large area is very sparsely populated and there are several companies offering tours to explore it. You can choose from jeep-, quad-bike-, buggy- or motorbike tours, and from a couple of hours trip to a full day (or multiday) activity.
Algarve has an international racetrack near Portimão. Here you can drive a Porsche Cayman S or a Nissan GTR, among several others. For a super experience you can test-drive several cars at once or even a Formula 1 car.
There are also several karting places: a smallish one near Olhão and the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve (KIA) in Portimão, which is one of Europe’s largest, are two of them. KIA has a restaurant, pit garages and shops as well as more than 50 karts of different categories for hire. There is a track for children under 6 years and three others that can run simultaneously.
If you wish to dive, there are schools offering a range of courses from total beginner, wishing to breathe underwater for the first time, to becoming a Pro. Night and wreck diving are also available: along the Algarve coastline there are several wrecks. The variety of wrecks brings a new experience to each dive. In Portimão you can find the Ocean Revival project where four decommissioned Portuguese Navy vessels have been sunk. From Vilamoura to Faro there are several smaller boat wrecks and WWII aircraft wrecks and in Faro area you can also find the remains of a 17th century vessel.
You can also explore the Algarve by air. There are a number of places where you can fly microlights (alone or with instructor), and paragliding is done from Salir and Loulé in central Algarve. From the Aerodromo de Lagos you can go on Hot Air Balloon rides, and from Loulé Heliport you can go on helicopter rides. You can also enjoy the breathtaking views of the Algarve doing Tandem-Skydive in Alvor.
Additionally there are rock-climbing courses for beginner and experts, blo-karting and skydiving with an instructor.
For many of the mentioned activities there are formal training schools.