Faro

[tryingsomethingnew]

DH found good value tickets to Faro. Never been to Spain or Portugal, more of a Greece kind of family. Looking on here I haven't seen many super positive posts. I wanted to try Valencia or Seville. Can anyone give some postive experiences to help sway me?

I loved Faro itself. It is quite small and easy to walk around. In fact, I did a walking tour where you just give a donation at the end; it was good and not too long.

The airport was a different matter altogether. There was horrendous queues and so I would never fly into there again; that was in October.

BTW, I have also been to Valencia and Seville but not flown in. The latter are large cities whereas Faro is a largish town.

Just got back from Portugal and we were in Faro for the last 2 days. It is very small with an nice old centre but outside of this it is a bit run down. We had a nice day and took the little ferry boat to the beach. Airport is very convenient. A couole of days is ok but I wouldn't spend a week here - I would explore other areas in Portugal

Faro is nice for a wander. There's not much to it and it's certainly not a city break destination, but it's very pleasant.

The rest of the Algarve is great if you want outdoors stuff / kids fun/ golf / beaches, weather dependent.

I've flown in and out of Faro dozens of times and it's always fine. they had a big building programme a few years ago that caused temporary chaos, so I suspect PP was either caught in that or was deeply unlucky!

Faro airport was fine for me. I’d get a bus or taxi to somewhere else, there are lot of nice places with apartments and pools/beach. I love the Algarve. There is a great water park called Splash and Slide if you hire a car. Loads to do with kids.

You can get a coach to Seville from Faro, if you are wanting to explore there

Within about 35 mins (taxi from airport) you've got Albufeira - mix of really nice resorts and dingy old town, Olhos de Agua - lovely small town with a nice beach and lots of good hotels. Lost count of the number of times we've been with kids. I always think of the Algarve as like a holiday on the Costa del Sol, but you get much more for your money. Also, because Portugal was later to develop than Spain, the accommodation is usually better - apartments rather than hotel rooms, even in all-inclusive places, fewer high-rises, generally a bit more quaint and less developed, if that appeals to you.

Thank you all. Maybe I'm confused. Maybe when DH said Faro, he means the town, hadn't really thought about resorts nearby. So fly into Faro- but stay elsewhere?

Faro is the main airport for the Algarve (south coast of Portugal). Most people fly in there and go to resorts to the west of Faro, lots of nice places between 30-60 mins away. You can also go about 30 mins to the east and be in Spain.

I'd recommend albueferia or vilamoura

Albueferia is nice for the old town and shopping and restaurants

Vilamoura is a nice marina with lots of restaurants and bars

Both not far from airport and taxi is about €15-30 euros

Swathes of beautiful sandy beaches along that coast

You probably need to clarify whether it's just a flight into Faro or whether you are actually staying there .

We stayed in Alvor, which we liked very much . Also liked Lagos. This was in September 2019.

Flew into Faro this summer for Homs in Alvor. Loved the holiday bug Faro airport was a nightmare . Google Faro queues and you'll see what I mean
Taking to people while we were there it seems that the queues were usually on weekends so maybe try and avoid

Thank you all. I'll look at all the places you've taken time to recommend.

Faro is no worse than any of the Greek island airports op.

As others have said you wouldn't stay in Faro really. It would be like flying into Gatwick and staying in Crawley.

Yeah the town is not mega exciting but plenty of nice places within half an hour or so. I love that part of the world. The airport can be horribly busy though

My parents go to Faro. As a family we all love Portugal. I don't think the airport is worse than anywhere else. We have also queued for ages leaving Bilbao and Malaga and coming into smaller airports in France is always hideous.

Its very easy to drive up and down the Algarve coast. We always get a car but there are plenty of nearby resorts that you can taxi to. Tavira East of Faro is lovely or there are the golf resorts of Quinta do lago and Vale do Lobo, Dunas Doradas, plus marina Town Villamoura etc. Very close to Faro.

Personally I avoid Albufeira and Praia de Roche, Alvor and all central Algarve. I prefer the West so Lagos (big town), Burgas, Silema (little towns), Praia de Luz (nice town, not big), Sagres is lovely but Atlantic beaches very surfer.

I live in carvoeiro, around 50 min from Faro. Smallish former fishing village with lots of apartments and villas to rent, not so many hotels.

We have a small sandy beach in the centre of town with plenty of bars and restaurants. 10 mins from Slide and Splash water park.

It’s quite compact so you don’t need to hire a car but can just get an airport transfer, accommodation within walking distance of the beach, or use Ubers and local taxis which are cheap.

Happy to answer any questions

For the best and longest beaches I would recommend Lagos, it’s at the far end of the Algarve. I usually take the train which costs about 7euros

I flew into Faro on the first Tuesday in September. Took 35 minutes to get through passport control.

A lot of flights seem to arrive together and ours was early so everyone just piled into the passport area. Only 3 gates open though they opened another 2 just as we got to the end of the queue

Faro is nice, its definitely miles better than the "brits abroad" Albufeira, yes, Albufeira has a nice beach but otherwise, nope. Lagos fab, but v touristy, Alvor turning into a "british/irish pub" destination also unfortunately. Olhos D'Agua and Carveiro sweet but small. Silves (inland) lovely town with castle. Ferragudo nice and a bit more traditional, very close to Portimao (large working town) for a bit of non-resort type interest. Tavira and Olhao (both east) nice towns.

@boulevardofbrokendreamss I'm definitely going to Crawley next hols then if its anything like this

My FIL lives in ferraguido. Have you seen the high tide there this week?

We fly out next week so hoping the weather is good.

Yes, it’s not that unusual in Ferragudo.

It’s getting cooler in the evenings and there’s an outside chance of some rain next week (🤞) but the days are still quite warm

When are you going OP?

Came back from Faro 2 days ago. You must visit and/or stay at Lagos, Vilamoura or somewhere along the west coast. Albufeira is packed with British tourists, it's a bit like Brits abroad. You won't enjoy it much if you want to see traditional Portugal. Make sure you rent a car it's the best way to travel around. Go to places like Silves, Loulé, Benagil Caves from Portimaõ, Ponta da Piedade, beaches in Lagos, Ria Formosa Nature Park on the east of Faro, the three islands from Olhaõ etc. It's a beautiful coast.