What to see in the Algarve, itinerary including the main places of interest and cities in this region of Portugal, among naturalistic beauties and small towns to visit.
Tourist information
The Algarve is a region of southern Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where there are numerous beautiful beaches that make it one of the major holiday resorts in Portugal.
Especially in the last decade this area has had a tourist boom, but this has not negatively affected the naturalistic and landscape beauties present, which have remained well covered.
Faro is the capital of the Algarve, where there are interesting monuments to see, including the baroque church of Carmen, dating back to the thirteenth century, where you can admire the splendid wooden statues of excellent workmanship.
Note the Ethnographic Museum where, with the help of models, the operation of the nets used for tuna fishing is explained, the Maritime Museum, the church of San Pietro and the Church of Mercy, both with Renaissance-era facades.
Significant is the historic center, which can be accessed by crossing the Arco de la Villa, located in the Francisco Gomes square.
What see
The Cathedral of Faro, which constitutes one of the most important monuments, although restored on various occasions, has retained its original form, dating back to the late Romanesque period.
In the same square is the Episcopal Palace covered in Azulejos.
Near Faro there is the Municipal Museum of Archeology, where the Roman remains of Estoi are housed, and the mosaic dedicated to Neptune, the god of the four winds.
Estoi is a town twelve kilometers away from Faro, famous for the Roman ruins of Milréu, already known in the second century with the name of Ossonoba and considered the ancient Faro.
Some remains of mosaics, columns and spas, give credibility to the hypothesis of the existence of a Roman villa, in the place where fragments of a Christian church were also found.
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Proceeding from Faro towards the east you will find the pretty towns of Olhao, which includes the Armona and Culatra islands with fine sand beaches, Tavira, a medieval-looking village with an islet characterized by grandiose sand dunes, and Vila Real de Santo Antonio, charming town near the border with Spain and located along the banks of the Guadina river.
In the western part there are other important centers for seaside tourism including Quarteira, Vilamoura, Albufeira, Porches and Lagos, the last two famous for different reasons, the first for ceramics and the second for wine.
