A Weekend in Faro and the Eastern Algarve
Three days. One hire car. A countryside base. This is the eastern Algarve — the side the package holidays skip, and the side you'll tell people about.
Where to Stay
Base yourself inland. The Algarve countryside between Faro and Loulé puts you fifteen minutes from the airport, twenty from the coast, and within easy reach of everything on this itinerary. Mercedes Country House is our recommendation — nine rooms, a pool, and a Thai restaurant for the evenings. The logic is strategic: a countryside base means you're never more than forty minutes from anything in the eastern Algarve, and you return each evening to quiet.
Day One — Faro Old Town and the Ria Formosa
Morning: Drive to Faro's old town — Cidade Velha. Enter through the Arco da Vila and find yourself inside medieval walls that most Algarve visitors never see. The Sé Cathedral has a rooftop with views across the Ria Formosa lagoon. Take the narrow staircase. It's worth the climb.
Walk the old town slowly. The bone chapel at Igreja do Carmo is unsettling and fascinating — a small room lined with the bones and skulls of monks, built as a memento mori. The municipal museum has a good Roman mosaic. The streets inside the walls are cobbled, quiet, and lined with orange trees.
Afternoon: Ria Formosa boat trip from the Faro marina. Two options: a nature tour through the channels (flamingos, seahorse nurseries, salt pans) or a ferry to Ilha Deserta — an uninhabited barrier island with a single restaurant and kilometres of empty beach. If the weather's warm, take the island. If you prefer movement, take the nature tour.
Evening: Back to the countryside. Dinner at Siam — start with the som tum, move to green curry, finish with mango sticky rice. You've earned it.
Day Two — Loulé Market and Olhão
Morning: Saturday is essential. The Loulé market opens early and fills fast. The covered market building is the draw — Moorish arches, tiled walls, stalls selling dried figs, local honey, cheese, sausages, and the region's best almonds. Outside, the streets become an open-air bazaar. Buy copper. Buy ceramics. Buy medronho from the man who distills it himself.
If it's not Saturday, Loulé is still worth visiting for the old town, the Moorish castle remnants, and a coffee in the Praça da República.
Afternoon: Drive to Olhão (fifteen minutes from Mercedes Country House). The waterfront fish market is the best in the Algarve — arrive when the boats do for the spectacle. Then catch the ferry to Ilha da Culatra, a fishing village on a barrier island. No cars. Sand streets. A beach that extends in both directions until it disappears. Bring a towel and low expectations of productivity.
Evening: Fish dinner in Olhão's waterfront restaurants — the ones behind the market, not the tourist-facing ones. Or return to the countryside and eat Thai. The contrast is part of the experience.
Day Three — Tavira and the East
Morning: Drive east to Tavira (thirty minutes). Cross the Roman bridge over the Gilão river. Walk the old town — whitewashed, tiled, flowering. The Camera Obscura in the old water tower offers a panoramic live view of the town below. The churches are unexpectedly beautiful: Igreja da Misericórdia has one of the finest Renaissance portals in the Algarve.
Take the small ferry to Ilha de Tavira. The beach is long, the water is calm, and the sand bar creates a natural lagoon. In shoulder season, you might have a hundred metres to yourself.
Afternoon: If time allows, continue east to Cacela Velha — a tiny clifftop village overlooking the Ria Formosa. A church, a fortress, a viewpoint. The kind of place where you sit for thirty minutes and say nothing.
On the drive back, stop in Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo for pottery. The workshops sell direct. Prices are a fraction of what the tourist shops charge in Albufeira.
Evening: Last dinner at Siam. The massaman curry. A glass of Algarve wine. The pool at sunset. The sound of absolutely nothing.
Practical Notes
Getting around: A hire car is essential. Roads are good, distances are short, and parking is easy outside high summer. Book in advance — airport desk prices are significantly higher than online rates.
When to go: March to May and September to November are ideal. Warm, uncrowded, lower prices. Summer works but the markets and coastal towns are busier and hotter. The eastern Algarve handles summer better than the western tourist coast.
Budget: The eastern Algarve is significantly cheaper than the resort coast. Restaurant meals run €15–25 per person. Market shopping is inexpensive. Ferries to the barrier islands cost €3–5 return.
What to pack: Comfortable walking shoes for cobblestones — the old towns are beautiful but uneven. Swimwear (always). A light layer for evenings — the countryside cools noticeably after sunset even in summer.
Language: English is widely spoken in restaurants, hotels, and markets. A few words of Portuguese are appreciated everywhere and delightful to locals in the smaller villages.
Explore Our Full Area GuideCheck Availability
