Faro- the most unique beach holiday that won my heart

Hello all!

I can’t believe this is only my first post in a whole month! August and September were busy months for me…. but it feels great to be writing again 🙂

It’s been exactly a year since I visited Faro, but every now and then I’d scroll back up my camera roll to look at all the photos of sun and sea… Faro is really a special weekend getaway destination, and I think this is why:

• We visited 4 beach islands in one day on a boat trip

 

We joined an island hopping tour found on TripAdvisor although we only purchased the tickets at the pier the day before the boat tour. The catamarans operated by this company were the newest out of all the tours we saw, and it was a relatively small group (~16 people). They ran two trips per day for the route we took – one at 10.30am and another at 3pm – and we went for the 3pm one to avoid the heat at noon. Our tour guide was so funny and cool, he was playing some nice and light-hearted party music for everyone too!

The boat took us there through the lagoons of Ria Formosa Natural Park to our destinations of the day: Deserta, Culatra, Farol and Armona. We played with the waves at Deserta, snorkelled at Amona, walked around the cute beach town at Culatra… And then on our way back, we saw the sunset at the sea – it was an amazing sight!

• The drive to Praia De Benagil was totally worth it

 

We rented a car for one day just to go to Praia De Benagil, and I would recommend anyone who stays at Faro to do so. Praia De Benegil is famous for its cave that has an opening on its ceiling called the eye. There are two ways to see the cave, from above and from inside of the cave! We parked our car near the cliffs, so we were able to see the cave from above on our way down to the beach. Once we were on the beach, we saw a queue of people in front of a booth selling boat tickets to get to the cave. Unfortunately, we got there too late and the tickets were all sold out! So the only way for us to reach the cave was to swim… I am not such a great swimmer myself so I didn’t do it, but my friends did and they really enjoyed it! (although it was quite a challenging swim apparently)

The beaches were definitely the highlight of my trip, but here are a few more points why I love Faro:

• Faro is very affordable – from the flight to Faro from London to the boat trip and all the food we ate
• My friends and I made our own breakfast and had it on our Airbnb’s terrace every day

 

• There is a nightlife in Faro… But I drank a little bit too much  during our pre-drinks on the terrace so we didn’t really go out
• The ancient historical town in Faro surrounded by the city walls was very beautiful and atmospheric
• I have an excuse to go again because next time I will spend a whole week at a resort near Faro, maybe on another side of Algarve! If I can stay at any of the ones on this list, I’d be very happy

I hope you enjoyed this post. Have you been to Faro before, and if yes what was your experience? Leave a comment here and let me know!

Kathy xx