"A Quick Taste of the Algarve" a Faro Travel Page by AnnS

I chose Faro for my first trip of 2006 because, having already been to Lisbon and Oporto, I wanted to see the Algarve. Also, I hoped that the weather would be better than in the UK. I wanted to get some sun on my face... and... I wanted to get a supply of cheap cigarettes (Portugal is the cheapest of all un-restricted EU countries).

As early January is not a popular time for travel, I was able to get an extremely cheap flight with EasyJet - £37.83 return!

I didn't want to rent a car and my flight was arriving late in the evening so Faro town was the obvious place to stay. As most tourists don't stay in Faro, heading instead for the Algarve resorts, there isn't a wide choice of hotels in the town... in fact there are only two 4* hotels, Hotel Eva and Hotel Faro. I chose the the latter, purely because their website advertised WiFi access.

It's an easy journey to central Faro from the airport by bus and the hotel was only a short walk from the bus stop so, for convenience, I'd made the right choice.

Faro is not a big town so it's possible to see everything of interest in one day. Having said that, it is full of charm and in winter, when everywhere is deserted, it's a good place to experience the Algarve for Portuguese, rather than the Algarve for tourists.

It's also possible to visit other towns from Faro... either by bus or train.

I had planned to use my third and last day in Faro, visiting another town in the region but torrential rain scuppered my plans completely. It had started to rain half way through the previous day... and hadn't stopped. Neither was it showing any sign of stopping and it was TORRENTIAL rain... the kind that soaked you to the skin in minutes and it was gushing down the streets like rivers. So unfortunately, my sightseeing was cut short and I spent the last day holed up in my hotel room until it was time to leave for the airport. It was even too wet to get to the bus stop so I had to get a taxi but it wasn't expensive.

So much for Algarve being a winter retreat for sun-starved Brits! But I think I was just very unlucky.