Faro Old Town

Faro's walled quarter, entered through the neoclassical Arco da Vila with storks nesting on top. Inside the walls, cobbled lanes open onto the Largo da Sé, where the cathedral, the bishop's palace and rows of orange trees frame one of the Algarve's calmest squares. The ring of walls reaches back through Moorish and Roman Faro, and the quarter looks straight out over the Ria Formosa.

• Close toFaroFaro is the Algarve's capital and its most underrated stop: most visitors see only the airport, which is their loss. The old town, the Cidade Velha, sits inside a circuit of walls entered through the Arco da Vila, where storks nest on the stonework. Inside, cobbled lanes lead to the Largo da Sé with its orange trees, the cathedral with a tower view over the lagoon, and the municipal museum in a sixteenth-century convent. Beyond the walls, Faro works as a real city: the university keeps it young all year, the mosaic-paved pedestrian streets fill in the evenings, and the Igreja do Carmo hides the Capela dos Ossos, a chapel lined with the bones of monks from the old friars' cemetery. The city faces the Ria Formosa, and boats from the marina and the Porta Nova quay cross the lagoon to Ilha Deserta and Ilha de Faro, barrier-island beaches where the Deserta in particular keeps its space even in high summer. Faro suits people who want a city and a lagoon rather than a resort: real Portuguese life on the streets, proper restaurants, and beaches you reach by boat.

What’s on in Faro

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19th-20th Century Portuguese Art: The Miguel Duarte Collection

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Gaze into Landscape - Through the Collections of MNAA

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Looking at Landscape: Works from the MNAA Collection

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The Project "Chilreta" | Small actions, Big differences

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