Faro Things To See, Do & Eat

Posted on August 26, 2007
Filed Under Faro

What would I do if I had just one day in Faro, Algarve?

I would see, do and eat as much as possible!

In an attempt to accomplish this I’ve broken things down into a few small categories that hopefully make picking what you have time for manageable.

Faro is the City center of the Algarve, yet often when tourists come through Faro’s airport they go directly to the surrounding resort and miss all of Faro’s history and charm - this is a mistake. There’s a lot to see in this small town and definitely worth a visit.

Things to See & Do in Faro:

Baixa de Faro | Down town Faro

Arco da Vila | Arched entrance through the fortress walls to the old city

Se Cathedral | Central Cathedral – Cathedral inside the old fortress walls

Igreja de Sao Francisco | See traditional tile, guided work and religious figures

Igreja do Carmo | Baroque style church, constructed at the begining of the XVIII Century – Beautiful guilded handwork inside

Rua de Santo Antonio | Main Street – Shops, café’s, restaurants

Rua Francisco Gomes | Connecting Main street, shops, café’s, restaurants, banks

Explore the side streets in the “Baixa” town center

The Storks | Look for Storks and their large nests all over the downtown area

Faro island beach | near the airport

Isla do Farol | ferry ride to a near by island, if you have time and want to spend the day on the beach this is a beautiful and relaxing option.

Faro during the day

Where to Shop in Faro:

Baixa de Faro – has lots of little shops, there is a Mango, Zara, Pull & Bear, Hugo Boss, Victor/Victoria and others selling better and lesser known brands. There are some very nice jewelry stores as well.

Forum Algarve – Very nice indoor/outdoor shopping mall with lots of brand names, eateries, a large grocery store, electronics and a movie cinema.

Faro Night

Faro at Night:

Check festival listing

Theater program

Rua de Prior | at night, Club district buzzing with nightlife

Partimonio | Bar and club, go there on a Friday night for a free salsa lesson

Columbus | Bar, drinks and coffee, doesn’t serve food

Taverna da Se | Rustic Bar inside old city walls

Aparte | Bar & night club, with a varied offering each night of the week

Verandas | Bar, local hide away with an intimate roof top terrace over looking the clay roofs nearby and full sky above.

Pallet Pleasures | things you should try:

Pasties de Nata | Café Gardi on Rua Santo Antonio
Originally from Belem but available everywhere in the country – get them in the morning while their still warm, a sprinkle of cinnamon on top…incredible.

Rissoes de Camarao | Café Gardi on Rua Santo Antonio
Savory and tender half-moon pastry with creamy shrimp filling, eat them warm or cold. I prefer just slightly heated.

Massa Pão | Café Gardi on Rua Santo Antonio
Marzipan (Almond Paste) Algarve has some of the best Marzipan anywhere, these little treasures are hand crafted in various shapes

Gelado | Gelateria Fiesta on Rua Santo Antonio
Lots of flavors to choose from

Pao com Chorico | Croissanteriea on Rua Santo Antonio
Bread baked with Chorizo inside, if its warm its heaven!

More things to try:

Frango Piri Piri - Best is in Guia 45min drive out of Faro

Chorico assado – flaming Chorico sausage – hard to come by but if you see on a menu try it.

SuperBock – An excellent Portuguese beer (my favourite)

Vinho Verde – Portuguese green wine, it’s not green but made from green grapes, light fresh and a tiny but bubbly, wonderful with fish in summer or all year round

Aguardente – Portuguese version of eau-de-vie, translated Water that burns and has a alcohol level between 29-45, can be added to your coffee or enjoyed on its own…its powerful!

Port Wine – From Porto but enjoyed everywhere - Ruby, Tawny, LBV – Available everywhere and tons of options to choose from, also a great gift to take back home.

Madeira – Fortified wine from the island of the Azores, similar to Port but different flavor character.

Café or a Bica – you cannot spend a day anywhere in Portugal without having a café!

Where to Eat in Faro

Expensive Option (€30+ per person)

Faro & Benfica – Faro, Marina fresh fish and seafood – if available try cataplana, arroz de marisco, ameijoas, conquillas, and grilled options.

Mid range Option (€15-20 per person)

Adega Nova – Rua Francisco Barreto (a city hide away) – try the grilled fish, squid, cuttle fish (with ink or without), seafood rice, and don’t miss the camarão à guillo (Pan fried shrimp with garlic and piri piri). Don’t plan on kissing anyone after that one!

Inexpesinve (€12.50 per person)

O pipo - Patacao – 5 minute drive out of Faro (cheap taxi ride), set menu of mixed grilled fish straight form the ocean that morning, served with lots of tomatoes & oregano salad, potatoes, fresh bread and house wine for aprox. 12.50€. Open only for lunch 12:30 to 3pm. They only use the freshest fish, get there early! Once fresh catch is gone, their done.

What to have for Dessert?

Morgado – Traditional Algarvian dessert, made with marzipan (almond paste), VERY sweet and dense but good.

Crème caramel / Pudim Flan

Mousse de chocolate – very rich

Fresh fruit is also popular at the end of a meal – and the quality is normally excellent

Dessert Note: A meal in the Algarve is not complete without a proper closure, this normally consists of a dessert or fresh fruit and café.

Baixa da Faro

Couvert: Starters like cheese, olives bread, and other light nibbles will be brought to the table quite quickly, which is great if your hungry the minute you sit. However they are not complimentary. Once you take one you pay for the plate, not the individual piece.

Ordering Tips: ask your server if your meal includes a side salad, as these may be quite large or simply a leaf on your plate with a tomato slice. Salads in the Algarve and most of Portugal do not come with dressing on them. Olive and vinegar will be available or brought to the table for you to season your own salad.

Grilled fish dishes normally come with boiled potatoes, then olive oil is poured on top of both potatoes and the grilled fish, this is the traditional way of eat grilled fish in the Algarve. Potatoes in Portugal are excellent and the fresh cut fries are amazing! I’m not a fan of boiled potatoes so I request “Batata Frita” (French fries) instead, sooo good, but if you don’t ask you will get boiled potatoes.

Pricing: it may be shocking to look at the price list and see €50. for an entre, but don’t panic this is by weight not meal. The server may ask you the size of fish you like and depending on your hunger you can choose between a large fish and something smaller, or you can specify when ordering. For clams and other seafood, you can ask for “Uma doz” (a portion) this is usually a manageable one-person size starter or entre.

An inexpensive meal can cost as little as €10. with a glass of wine, and go up considerably depending on the restaurant and meal ordered. I’ve included choices that provide some range.

Atmosphere: Traditional restaurants are very traditional, look a lot alike and often have similar menus. The key difference here is who serves the freshest and best quality, diversity of plates is not the priority, quality of product is.

Important note: Banks don’t typically exchange foreign currency unless you’re a client at their branch. There is however money exchange and western union in the downtown area just a few doors from MacDonald’s. The automatic bank machines (Multibanco) are also very good and connected to most international card networks, so you should be able to access funds without too much difficulty.

This list is by no means complete and I’m discovering new treasures all the time, so if you have any questions about Faro, please feel to drop me a note.

Comments

4 Responses to “Faro Things To See, Do & Eat”

Jose Lourenco on September 10th, 2007 4:13 pm

hey
I love your site and I think it is a great place for immigrants to come and remeber their time in such a great place like I do. keep up the great work and if you ever need some colaboration just let me know and I will be glad to help. My home town in the Algarve is Estoi and i live in the USA now but spend all my summers there. Take care
Eddie on September 10th, 2007 6:06 pm

Hi Jose,
Thank you, I drove through Estoi just last weekend. I had been to the market but never in town, small but beautiful and I got the best directions ever from the cutest little old lady. Definately a town I have to explore with more time.

I’m happy to hear your enjoying the blog and thanks for offering your help. There’s plenty to cover so I might just call on you one of these days. The response has been great and the Algarvios have been especially helpful. Every time I mention food and blog in the same sentence, I’m handed a basket of something wonderful! It’s the Algarve way…and I love it! So, with all this food, we’re planning a couple of new things for the blog, very soon. Stay tuned and let me know what you think.
Holidays in the Algarve on November 25th, 2007 10:16 am

[…] for the older ones of any age, you can strap on a pair of ice skates and go skating right here in Faro, you might have to watch out for a Palm tree or two but yes, real ice skating in the Algarve! […]
World Kempo Competition - Faro 2008 on March 28th, 2008 6:34 pm

[…] really different to do here in the Algarve, how about Japanese Martial Arts? In a few days, Faro, Algarve will hosting the 5th World Kempo Competition, featuring 500 competitors from around the world, […]