Praia da Ilha Deserta

• In the town ofFaroFaro 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.

Praia da Ilha Deserta occupies the southernmost point of mainland Portugal, an uninhabited barrier island reached by boat from Faro. Officially Ilha da Barreta, the island sits across the Ria Formosa from the city, served by catamaran and water-taxi crossings from the Porta Nova pier below Faro's old town. There is no village and no road, just boardwalks over the dunes, kilometres of white sand, and the Cabo de Santa Maria at the island's tip marking the mainland's southern extremity. The lagoon crossing through the channels and sandbanks is part of the day out. It suits solitude-seekers, birdwatchers and anyone who wants a beach reduced to its elements.

What’s on in Faro

7MAR

From €2

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

30MAY

Paid

Gaze into Landscape - Through the Collections of MNAA

30MAY

From €2

Looking at Landscape: Works from the MNAA Collection

1JUL

Paid

Photography Exhibition: The Algarve of Asta and Luís de Almeida d’Eça

Places to see nearby

All places

Natural park

Ria Formosa Natural Park

Historic site

Faro Old Town