Faro
The Algarve's administrative capital and transport hub, a cultured university city on the edge of the Ria Formosa lagoon.
Faro is the capital of the Algarve and the administrative seat of the district that bears its name. With a population of around 65,000 in the wider municipality, it serves as the region's principal transport hub, home to Faro Airport, the gateway through which millions of visitors arrive each year. Yet despite this role, Faro itself is regularly overlooked by tourists heading straight for the beach resorts further west. Those who pause here discover a cultured, lived-in city with a historic centre that repays exploration on foot and a lagoon system that is one of the most important wetland habitats in Europe.
The Cidade Velha, or Old Town, is enclosed within medieval walls originally built by the Moors in the 9th century and reinforced after the Christian reconquest. Entry is through the Arco da Vila, an 18th-century neoclassical archway designed by the Italian architect Francisco Xavier Fabri, which frames a cobbled lane leading uphill to the cathedral. The Se de Faro dates from the 13th century and blends Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements, the result of successive rebuilding after the 1755 earthquake that devastated much of southern Portugal. From the cathedral's bell tower there are sweeping views over terracotta rooftops to the Ria Formosa lagoon and the barrier islands beyond.
The Ria Formosa Natural Park is arguably Faro's greatest asset. This 60-kilometre chain of barrier islands, salt marshes, tidal flats and channels stretches from Ancao beach near Faro all the way east to Manta Rota. It is one of the most important wetland habitats in Europe, home to breeding populations of purple swamphen, little tern and Kentish plover, as well as wintering flamingos that gather in their hundreds on the mudflats visible from the city waterfront. Boat trips depart from Faro's marina to the islands of Deserta and Farol, where long, quiet beaches offer a different experience to the built-up strips further along the coast.
Faro's cultural life is centred on its museums and university. The Museu Municipal, housed in a 16th-century convent, holds archaeological finds from the Roman site at Milreu and Moorish artefacts unearthed across the district. The nearby Igreja do Carmo is known for its macabre Capela dos Ossos, a chapel lined with the skulls and bones of over a thousand Carmelite monks, assembled in the 19th century as a meditation on mortality. The University of the Algarve, established in 1979, brings a student population of around 8,000 that sustains a year-round cafe and bar scene, particularly along the pedestrianised Rua de Santo Antonio.
The marina district has been redeveloped in recent years with waterfront restaurants, a municipal theatre and a promenade that runs along the lagoon edge. Faro's airport, opened in 1965, was the catalyst for the entire region's tourist development, yet the city itself has resisted the resort transformation that overtook other Algarvian towns. The railway station offers services north to Lisbon in roughly three hours and east along the coast to Vila Real de Santo Antonio. For visitors wanting to experience the Algarve beyond the resort bubble, Faro offers an authentic Portuguese city where daily life carries on regardless of the tourist calendar.
Highlights
- Cidade Velha walled old town with the Se cathedral and Arco da Vila gateway
- Ria Formosa Natural Park with boat trips to Ilha Deserta and Ilha do Farol
- Capela dos Ossos bone chapel at the Igreja do Carmo