Olive factory tour and tasting Tavira Algarve

Tour & Tasting at an Olive Factory in Tavira

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Tour & Tasting at an Olive Factory in Tavira

Besides the Algarve being known for its wines, the region is also famous for its excellent olives. Thanks to the favorable climate and soil type, olive trees grow and bloom here at a high rate. Olives and olive oil have been produced in the Algarve for centuries and in Tavira you can visit a real olive factory!

The Hélder Madeira olive factory is a stone’s throw from Tavira and is a great and tasty outing for lovers of this green or black stone fruit. Come for a tour and leave (like me) with a bag full of edible souvenirs and a good glass of local wine.

💡 Olive tip : At the Monterosa olive grove near Faro you can visit an olive grove and try various local olive oils in combination with a small tour.

Plan a visit to the olive factory (click to expand)

The Hélder Madeira olive factory in Tavira

Just outside the old-fashioned town of Tavira lies the Hélder Madeira olive factory. Here you can follow a one-and-a-half-hour tour of the factory for only €25.00 per person, the highlight of which is of course an olive tasting. Discover how the tastiest olives are made, how the machines work and which part of the process is still done by hand.

Did you know that besides olives, they make two other delicious products here? You will discover which ones these are during the tour (and tasting). Below you can read what to expect during a visit, where to book a tour and what my experience was like.

Hélder Madeira olive factory in Tavira olive tasting

Olive tasting with wine & bites in Tavira

During this interesting guided tour of the olive factory you will learn a lot about the process of making olives edible (you can’t eat them straight from the tree) and the methods they use.

After the walk through the factory hall and the cold store, you will not only taste the olives that are prepared there during the tasting, but also various other accompanying snacks while enjoying a glass of wine.

Please note that the machines can only be seen in action in September and October, but during the other months the guide describes every step in detail. If you want to know more, a promo video of the entire process plays in the shop after the tour.

Hélder Madeira olive factory tour in Tavira with olive tasting

After the tasting, you can walk around the shop and take home some olives or other regional products such as wines, honey, delicious fig or orange compote and wine vinegar made from figs. Ideal for stocking up on souvenirs for your hold luggage.

Book a visit to the Hélder Madeira olive factory

Check the calendar below to see if there is still room for a visit to the olive factory in Tavira. Since this activity has not yet been discovered by the masses, tours only take place two or three times a week. Quality over quantity 😉

Below you can read my experience of a visit to the olive factory.

My experience at the Hélder Madeira olive factory (review)

During an excursion to the eastern Algarve it was finally time for me to visit the Hélder Madeira olive factory. I had been eyeing this one for a while, but since it was about an hour and a half drive I had postponed it until a weekend in the eastern Algarve. Together with my girlfriend we visited the olive factory on a windy Saturday, where we were welcomed by the owner.

After the last participants had arrived, the tour started with interesting background information about the factory. In grandma’s time everything was done by hand, but granddaughter and owner now has machines that work at least 20x as fast (with all due respect to grandma).

During the walk through the factory hall (which is not very big, so you don’t need walking shoes) our guide proudly tells us that no preservatives are used in the products and that all olives are purchased locally. Given the excellent quality, they have good and large customers such as the Macro wholesaler and many restaurants throughout the Algarve.

In the warehouse and the cold room there are numerous blue barrels full of olives that are ripening in salt water (brine). Fortunately, there is no shortage of salt in the Algarve, because around the factory are numerous salt lakes where sea salt is extracted.

The highlight of the tour is the tasting. A table is set up for us with bowls of olives in various sizes and colours. A ‘trick’ used in this factory to give the olives extra flavour is to ‘crack’ them before they ripen in the barrels. By cracking the flesh, the moisture can penetrate the fruit, making them wonderfully soft. In addition to ‘normal’ olives, they also have olives marinated in piri piri. We liked them so much that we took two bowls home with us.

Besides olives, there is also bread on the table that is freshly baked by the grandmother of the owner/guide and various bowls with fig and orange compote, honey and piri-piri oil. Despite the fact that it was only a tasting, we were quite full afterwards and we skipped dinner in the evening.

The shop displays a wide range of local products. Many of them are made by family members or friends of the owners and are for sale at a fair price. Since my mother-in-law’s birthday was coming up, we put together a nice mixed package. I also scored points!

About an hour and a half later we are standing outside with a bag full of products, satisfied. We conclude together that it was absolutely worth the price & effort.

Plan a visit to the olive factory (click to expand)

💡 More olives? At the Monterosa olive grove near Faro you can visit an olive grove and try various local olive oils in combination with a small guided tour.