Things to do in Faro

Landmark · Old town, inside the walls

A small walled quarter of cobbled lanes, the cathedral, the bishop's palace and storks nesting on every roofline.

Local tip: The Sé bell tower is a couple of euros and gives you the entire Ria Formosa laid out below. Go late afternoon when the light is on the lagoon rather than in your eyes, and look at how many stork nests you can count from up there.

Culture · Igreja do Carmo, central Faro

A nineteenth-century chapel lined with the bones of over a thousand monks, behind a baroque church in the middle of town.

Local tip: Genuinely unsettling and takes ten minutes. It is behind the church rather than inside it, and you buy the ticket in the sacristy — a lot of people walk into the Carmo, see a normal church and leave.

Nature · The lagoon, immediately south of the city

A 60 km natural park of tidal channels, salt pans and sand islands, with flamingos, spoonbills and the seahorse population the university studies.

Local tip: Take the public ferry from the Porta Nova quay to Ilha da Culatra or Ilha Deserta rather than a tour boat — it costs a fraction and it is the boat the islanders themselves use. Culatra has a permanent fishing village, no cars, and a couple of restaurants that are much better than they need to be.

Nature · Ilha de Faro, past the airport

The city beach — a long sandbar with the ocean on one side and the lagoon on the other, reached over a single-lane bridge.

Local tip: The bridge is genuinely one lane with traffic lights, and in August the queue is the reason to take the number 16 bus or the ferry instead. Walk east away from the bridge for ten minutes and the crowd disappears entirely.

Food · Largo Dr. Francisco Sá Carneiro

The city's two-storey market — fish landed that morning, produce from the Barrocal, and a mezzanine of cafés.

Local tip: Saturday morning is when the smallholders come in with the good stuff. The fish counters are the real reason to go: this is a lagoon and ocean port, and the clams, razor clams and cuttlefish are priced for locals rather than for restaurants.

Nature · West of the airport, inside the natural park

A flat track along old salt pans and freshwater lagoons between the airport and Quinta do Lago, and the best birdwatching in southern Portugal.

Local tip: One of the few places in Europe where you can reliably see purple swamphens, and almost nobody who visits the Algarve knows it exists. Go at dawn, park at the São Lourenço church end, and take binoculars — the flamingos are on the salinas and the passerines are in the reeds.