Portugal is as popular as ever with Britons looking for a place in the sun - and the Algarve, despite being home to some of Europe's most expensive coastal property - is still the main attraction

Former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson, a keen golfer, has just bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse off-plan for £153,000 in the attractive town of Tavira, on the eastern coastal estuary.

The penthouse is in a small luxury development of just 25 apartments called Santa Luzia, which has a communal pool and landscaped gardens and is just a 10-minute drive from the golf courses of Benamor, Quinta da Cima and Quinta da Ria. Prices range from £99,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to £167,000 for a two-bedroom penthouse.

However, the Algarve is not every soccer hotshot’s choice - and a number of other areas are emerging as potential hotspots.

For a kick-off, the area just outside the capital city of Lisbon has its fair share of big names from the Beautiful Game. Luiz Felipe Scolari, coach of the Portugal international team, has an oceanside penthouse apartment in Cascais, and ex-England coach Sven Goran Eriksson owns a seven-bedroom villa between Cascais and Sintra, 25 miles west of Lisbon.

Some people aiming to enjoy the real Portuguese culture without the holiday crowds are discovering the Atlantic coastal region of Oeste, which covers the western seashore region north of Lisbon, a two-hour flight from London.

The Oeste was once the holiday home of Portugal’s kings and queens and has always been the popular choice of Lisbon professionals. “Buyers choose this area because it is uncrowded and excellent value,” says Eduardo Netto de Almeida, CEO of developers Turcifez. “Golf is important here but it is our proximity to Lisbon and the real Portugal that truly sets us apart.”

At the CampoReal resort, 30 minutes north of Lisbon among the Socorro Mountains, there is a healthy balance between foreign investors and Portuguese home-seekers. Half of all buyers at this £75m golf development, due for completion in 2008, are Portuguese. Townhouses cost from £245,000 and villas range from £327,000 to £505,000.

The growth of the area is being driven by the attractions of superb beaches including Praia d’Adraga, regularly voted one of the best in the world, and a growing choice of championship golf courses.

Cascais is now regarded by some as Portugal’s answer to Cannes. A 30-minute drive from Lisbon it bustles with pastel houses, museums, cafes, restaurants and shops. The marina attracts yacht-owners and the beaches pull in surfers and sunbathers.

In the town’s millionaires’ district, huge mansions looking out to sea change hands for £4.7m upwards. Further along the coast at Quinta da Marinha, a six-bedroom house with pool, spa bath, solarium and gym was advertised recently at £2.6m.

With this sort of affluence close at hand, it is no wonder developers have chosen Cascais as the site for a new project, Scala Cascais, where 150 flats are being built. Prices at this private gated development range from £280,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and £411,000 for a two-bedroom flat to £944,000 for a four-bedroom penthouse.

If this sounds a little on the high side, it is worth considering that more than 70 of the units have been already been sold. Scala has two very strong points in its favour - it is in a very good area and there is a shortage of building plots in Cascais.

Property-hunters looking for lower prices and a touch more unsophisticated rural charm away from the beaches, are beginning to discover the Beiras Litoral, in the heart of Portugal.

The district is dominated by historic Coimbra, third largest city in Portugal, which is a rich source of charming older properties as well as the hub of a large number of outlying villages. This lush green region is about a 90-minute drive south of Porto and retains an atmosphere from an earlier age. It is unspoiled and hardly touched by tourism, with extensive forests of eucalyptus, pine and fir, along with olive, orange, lemon and kiwi trees.

“The current property market is very buoyant,” says Fiona Sheffield of Lapis Lazuli, an agent based east of Coimbra. “There has been a two-fold increase in interest compared to 2005.”

Typical properties on offer are a two-storey, four-bedroom farmhouse near Vila Nova de Poiares, with lovely views and plenty of land with olive trees and grapevines, for £93,000.

Rustic Portugal offers two very appealing properties near the attractive town of Figueiro do Vinhos, south of Coimbra - a £139,000 renovated villa with three bedrooms and two modernised country homes, with a two-bed and three-bed sharing a single roof, at £174,000. This two-home property in spacious grounds even features an old stone olive mill and the ruin of another house which could become a rebuilding project.

All this, and not a soccer boss in sight.