We’re standing outside a gateway to the old town in Faro, the capital of the Algarve in the south of Portugal, when our tour guide asks: “How many of you have come from somewhere else in Portugal — maybe Lisbon or Porto — and were told not to bother coming to Faro?”
In our group of eight, two women, one from Germany, another from Poland, put up their hands.
The guide, Marcelo Dias of Faro Free Walking Tours, sighs and tells us there is plenty to see and do in Faro and will show us just some of it on our walking tour. Although many visitors to the Algarve come through Faro because the airport is here, Dias says, the small city of about 68,000 “did not open itself to tourism until quite recently.”
Telma Pinela, a musician, teacher at the University of the Algarve and a guide with the Withlocals walking tour company, agrees that Faro is often overlooked.
“People think that all there is in the Algarve are beaches.”
It’s true, there are great beaches, including one a short ferry ride from Faro. But there is also history, charming streetscapes, breathtaking scenery and friendly people.
Faro is the capital of the Algarve, the southernmost region in Portugal, edged by 200 km of coastline and boasting 300 days of sun each year. More than 96,000 Canadians visited the Algarve in 2023, says Helga Cruz, marketing and communications manager for the Algarve Tourism Bureau.
Though Faro might have been overlooked in the past, tourism has grown recently thanks to its location in the centre of the Algarve, the increasingly busy airport, and the expanding number and diversity of hotel, restaurant and entertainment offerings, Cruz says in an email.
Our walking tour of Faro fittingly begins at the Arco da Vila, one of three gateways to Faro’s historic quarter, also known as Old Town. Built in the 19th century, the grand entrance gate is fairly new — as are the huge stork’s nests that sit atop the towers the archway — but was constructed over a medieval gate built during the occupation by the Moors. It was partly destroyed when the Great Lisbon earthquake shook Portugal in 1755 and generated a tsunami that heavily damaged parts of the Algarve, though Faro escaped more than many, protected by the sandy banks of the Ria Formosa lagoon, a system of barrier islands that connects to the sea via six inlets.
Stone walls, first built by the Romans, enhanced by the Moors, form a broken circle around Old Town. In some areas, you can walk along the top of the walls to take in sweeping views along the sea. Inside the walls, the town is laid out in a labyrinth of cobbled streets lined with old buildings, many painted bright colours or covered in intricately decorated tiles and with balconies wrapped in decorative iron railings.
The charming urban landscape feels calming. In early October, we found more pedestrians than cars on most downtown streets. Newer roads and pathways, often lined with shops, are built of cobblestones arranged in eye-catching patterns and fabric sails stretch overhead between the buildings to provide shade from the blazing sun.
It’s an easy stroll from the old gateway to Sé Cathedral, also known as the church of Santa Maria, the city’s centrepiece, boasting a glittering, gilded interior, spectacular views from the bell tower and an eerie bone chapel. Originally built in the 1200s, the cathedral had to be reconstructed several times, having been destroyed in wars and damaged by earthquakes. The stunning interior details reveal the structure’s history with baroque, gothic and renaissance elements. As well as chapels ornately worked in gold, biblical scenes are depicted on the walls in blue and white glazed tiles, reminiscent of Delft tiles.
Not to be missed, climbing the stairwell to the top of the bell tower gets you to the best views over Faro, looking out at Old Town and beyond to the islands in the Ria Formosa Natural Park. All worth the €3.50 ($5.20 CAD) admission fee.
On the way out, you can stop in the courtyard at the bone chapel. Surrounding a statue of Mary, stacked row upon row are bones and skulls, decaying after hundreds of years of exposure to the open air. There’s an even larger Capela Dos Ossos next to the 18th century Nossa Senhora do Carmo church, about a 10-minute walk north of Old Town. The separate 4-by-6-metre chapel is covered in bones that wrap right up and across the dome-vaulted ceiling.
“It is weird,” says Pinela, noting there is an even larger and more famous bone chapel in the city of Evora, about a 2 ½-hour drive north of Faro. “At first when I started the tours, it felt very creepy because the skulls are so small that they looked like children.”
Pinela says stories differ, but her understanding is that the chapels were built when churches looked to expand onto nearby cemetery grounds and they needed a place to put the bones.
Back in Old Town, dominating the square — Largo da Sé — across from the cathedral is the Bishop’s Palace. The current building, dating from the 1700s, wasn’t open to visitors until 2019. The highlight is a set of 18th-century tile panels that decorate the walls of the atrium and the different halls, including the Bishops’ Gallery and the old Throne Room, and there’s also a collection of sacred art.
Nearby, the Municipal Museum of Faro fills a 16th century former convent with a collection of archaeological artifacts that trace the city’s history. The two-level museum also displays paintings from the 1500s to the 1800s, ancient coins and Roman tombstones. The building itself, including its cloisters, also make it worth the visit. Outside, a statue of King Afonso III towers over the grounds.
On opposite sides of Old Town are two more gates that mark historic entrances to the area: Arco de Repouso or Gate of Rest, surrounded by remnants of the city’s ancient defensive walls, gets its name from King Alfonso III, who, one legend has it, put his feet up while listening to a nearby mass after conquering the city. Another story claims the soul of a Moorish princess, who angered her father by falling in love with a Christian knight, rests under the gate. It’s not surprising that, in a city with centuries of rich history, multiple stories exist to explain the same features.
Arco da Porta Nova — New Gate — dates from the 15th century and connects Old Town to the waterfront, which is why it’s also known as Portas do Mar or Sea Gate. On the waterfront, you can purchase tickets for a ferry to Faro Beach. The 15-minute trip — adult return fare is €3.90 or $5.75 CAD — weaves its way through the Ria Formosa lagoon, a seaward belt of sandbars and islands named in 2010 as one of the country’s seven natural wonders.
Though Faro Beach is five kilometres long with a boardwalk along most of the way, the fine, golden sand seems to stretch forever along crystal blue water. It’s the perfect place to bring a towel, an umbrella and a book to relax for a few hours. We were there in early October and didn’t bring swimsuits for our quick visit to the beach, even though it was 24C and felt warmer.
After our visit to the beach, we headed back to our bed-and-breakfast, the Lemon Tree Stay, centrally located in Praca (Square) de Liberdade. Owner Vasco Candido, who trained as an architect, opened the small inn in 2007, after he discovered he preferred working in the hospitality industry. His grandfather gave him an old, abandoned building and a start-up loan. Since he began his venture, he has seen interest in Faro grow steadily and believes it’s at the edge of a big jump in tourism.
“The first five-star hotel only opened during the pandemic … so it’s very, very recent,” Candido said.
Tourists, he said, come to Faro for different things, depending on where they come from. Europeans, who have been coming to the Algarve and might have just passed through in the past, are now stopping to see what Faro is about. A lot of visitors from the U.S. these days are scouting for a place to live. Canadians come, especially in the fall and winter, to escape the colder weather at home.
“It’s a small city, but it’s super well-connected,” Candido tells me during a phone call in December, noting that he was sitting on his balcony in a T-shirt because it’s a lovely, sunny 22C. “Faro has the airport 10 minutes away from the city centre. It has Seville, less than two hours by car; Lisbon 2 ½ hours by car or, by public transport around 3 hours. So that means you have three airports that serve this little city. You have some cultural offerings – not comparable to a European capital, but still there’s lot of stuff going on.”
In three days, we barely scratched the surface of all that “stuff.” Despite what some Portuguese might say about Faro, even a quick visit shows it packs a lot of good things into a small package.
