Loule
The Algarve's largest municipality by area, a working market town with Moorish craft traditions, a famous carnival and the region's finest covered market.
Loule is the largest municipality in the Algarve by area and one of its most varied. The town itself, home to around 25,000 people within a municipality of 70,000, sits roughly 16 kilometres inland from Faro at the foot of the hills that mark the transition between the coastal lowlands and the mountainous interior. It is a working market town with a strong artisan tradition, known for its leather goods, copper work and palm-weaving, crafts that have been practised here since the Moorish period and continue in small workshops along the old town streets.
The Castelo de Loule, built during the Almohad period in the 12th and 13th centuries, survives in fragmentary form, with sections of its walls and several towers integrated into the surrounding buildings. One of the restored towers houses the Museu Municipal, which displays archaeological finds from the surrounding area, including Neolithic tools, Roman ceramics and Moorish-era artefacts. The castle walls frame a small courtyard that hosts occasional exhibitions and concerts. Below the castle, the streets of the old town are lined with whitewashed houses with wrought-iron balconies, many containing small workshops where artisans still produce traditional goods by hand.
The Mercado Municipal de Loule is the heart of the town and one of the most celebrated markets in the Algarve. Originally built in 1908 in a Moorish Revival style with horseshoe arches and decorative tile work, it was extended in 2007 while retaining the original facade. Inside, vendors sell fresh fish landed that morning at the coast, local goat and sheep cheeses, cured meats, dried figs stuffed with almonds, the region's distinctive almond sweets, bottles of local honey and bunches of herbs. On Saturday mornings, an outdoor market fills the surrounding streets with stalls selling household goods, clothing, ceramics and live poultry. This is where many of the Algarve's restaurant owners do their wholesale shopping.
Loule's municipality stretches from the coast, where it includes the resort areas of Vilamoura, Quarteira and Vale do Lobo, up into the Serra do Caldeirao. This extraordinary range means that the municipal territory encompasses beach tourism, golf tourism with several of the Algarve's most prestigious courses, and the wild, depopulated hill country of the interior. The town itself sits at the crossroads, benefiting from the economic activity of both worlds while maintaining its own identity.
The Carnival of Loule is the most famous in the Algarve and one of the oldest in Portugal, with records dating its modern form to 1906. Held in February or March in the days before Lent, it fills the town with elaborate floats, samba groups, marching bands and costumed parades over three days. Satirical floats commenting on politics and current affairs are a particular tradition. The rest of the year, Loule has a regular programme of concerts and exhibitions centred on the Cine-Teatro Louletano, a restored Art Deco cinema. The town is well connected by bus to Faro, roughly 30 minutes, and the A22 motorway provides fast access east and west along the coast.
Highlights
- Mercado Municipal, the Algarve's finest covered market in a Moorish Revival building
- Carnival of Loule, one of Portugal's oldest carnival celebrations with satirical floats
- Traditional craft workshops producing leather goods, copper work and palm-weaving