The city offers more than just the airport - for example many monuments and museums
For most Algarve tourists, Faro Airport is the gateway to the holiday world. The town with around 60.000 inhabitants, the capital of the Algarve region, bishopric and university seat, is often left behind. And that is unfair, because Faro has a very picturesque old town.
Faro is an administrative, industrial, commercial and, above all, shopping center. But there are also - often in vain - numerous impressive monuments, most of them from the time after the earthquake of 1755, waiting for admirers. And street cafes in the attractive pedestrian zone and in the small garden at the harbor invite you to linger. In short, Faro is a very pleasant and interesting place that offers variety.
The cathedral (Sé) on the Largo da Sé square is well worth a visit. It dates from the middle of the 13th century and was probably built on the site of a former Moorish mosque. Also worth a visit: the Carmelite Church (Igreja do Carmo), whose real attraction is the adjoining Capela dos Ossos, a gruesome bone chapel, the walls of which are adorned with hundreds of skulls and bones.
Faro also has some very interesting museums, such as the Archaeological Museum, which is housed in the former monastery of Nossa Senhora da Assunção, the Ethnological Museum and the Maritime Museum (Museu Maritimo).
The beach of Faro is about 6 km outside on an elongated sandbank, the Ilha de Faro, which you can reach via a bridge not far from the airport.
