Portugal | Faro - 6 Things To Do

Faro - 6 Things To Do: A Guide With Our Top 6 Things To Do When You're In Portugal, Faro.

Faro, why did we visit Faro?

Well we had never been to Portugal before

and we saw the amazing Benagil Caves all over the internet so we thought: Why not booking a trip to Faro?

It's been 2 years since we have visited this place and until today we can still mesmerise back on to that particular holiday. Faro has many great coffee spots, delicious wines, amazing steaks, beautiful furniture and ofcourse beautiful romantic beaches. We'd book a romantic getaway to Portugal any moment and here's why!

HERE ARE 7 THINGS TO DO IN FARO

Written by: Stephanie Gabriella

1. Rent a car to see everything

Why am I starting by telling you to rent a car? Well, if we didn't rent a car, our holiday would have looked a little bit different. You'll thank me later, because Faro is an amazing place to not only drive through, but it's also amazing to start from here and drive to other places on the Algarve coast. There are also taxi's of course, but to have a car and being able to visit every single spot, is a lot better than waiting for a cap. You might pay much more in the end.

We rented our car at Sixt. We didn't book a car in advance, because we weren't sure if we would rent a car and for how many days. We rented an automatic car and that's normally quite expensive, but somehow

we paid: 260 EUR in total for 6 days. They do ask a deposit from 300 euros back than, from your credit card. However, it wasn't a lot we'd say (especially if it's not a manual car).

" Wow, you actually made it back safe... I thought you wouldn't make it because another couple got stuck on the sea and they send boats to rescue them."

2. Visit The Orange Groves

On the first day of arrival we rented a car, checked in at our hotel, freshened ourselves up, grabbed a delicious brunch and before we knew we hopped in our car on our way to? Well.. we didn't have a plan, but somehow we bumped into these beautiful field of trees filled with oranges. The smell of this orange grove was incredibly good! When we close our eyes and envision us being back in Portugal, that's definitely a fragrance we'll always remember.

3. Visit The Palacio de Estoi

When you're in Faro and loves buildings with history and beautiful patterns, visitation the Palacio de Estoi should definitely be on your list. The palace was build in the 1840s. We were absolutely amazed by the fact that the building looks just as good in real life as on photos. Not much filters are needed, we'd say!

Did you know that this is also a hotel and monument? You can actually sleep here, if you'd like. If that's not your plan, than just enjoy the beautiful details of the palace, wander around it its marvellous garden and take in a breath taking view from a higher point all over Faro.

Practical information you need to know about the Palacio de Estoi:

- It goes underneath: Things to do in Faro, however it's in a place called 'Estoi'.

- It's 10km away from Faro, reachable by bus or car.

- It can be very hot, we went in March and it was only 21 degrees, but still spray that SPF

- We went in March 2020 and back than it was free to enter and we could walk in and out at almost every part, before going please check everything before hand.

4. Visit Benagil Caves

This spot is probably one of the most seen spots from Portugal all over Pinterest and Instagram, at least this was the case on our pages. It always looked so beautiful and this place was definitely on our list to visit. However, we were not prepared on how to reach this magnificent beauty, so here's a little story:

As we drove next to the beautiful Algarve Coast we were searching for the Benagil Caves. We parked our car and walked all the way down towards the beach and saw a big stand saying: Paddle board, kayak Rentals and Boat trips. We had two options: Reaching the Benagil Caves by boat, but that included 10 other people and no stops on the coast of the caves. This was definitely not what we wanted, so we chose to rent a paddle board. We had exactly one hour to paddle to the caves, create content and head back to the beach. Trust us, the water was extremely wild. We created our content and were ready to head back to the beach. However, we couldn't get back the way we arrived, so the challenge started. I got pushed back with the first wave and even though I tried to push myself on the board, the wave decided to flush all over me and I got back on the coast within 5 seconds. Reminding you that I was the one with our phones, car keys etcetera. As you can imagine, total chaos and panic arrived.

After 3 attempts we finally managed to find a way to get back, but than the waves became more and more wild and there was a water vortex that we had to avoid. We chose to pick the longer route, which seemed the most safest option. There we were on our boards saying all at once: Left, right, left, right, left, right. After 15 minutes of paddling we arrived safe back on the main coast, the beach. We were beyond happy and hugged each other. On our way back to the stand a Dutch couple said: ''Wow, you actually made it back safe... I thought you wouldn't make it, because another couple got stuck on the sea and they send boats to rescue them.''

Practical information you need to know about the Benagil Caves:

- You can walk, swim, rent a sup or kayak or join a boat trip to get to the Benagil Caves.

- If you walk you can only see the caves from above.

- The Benagil Cave is located in Lagoa, in the Algarve.

- Keep in mind that Lagos is closer to the caves than Faro.

- It's reachable by taxi or bus, but we recommend to rent a car

- Make sure if you are going by paddle board, you are not bringing a lot with you

5. Book a boat trip to Tavira

On the day we went to Tavira, I got really ill, so we didn't have chance to see everything in Tavira. If you'd Google about Tavira you can see that it also has a beach Praia do Barril for instance. My apologies for not writing a very long section about Tavira, I have read many beautiful stories about Tavira. However, I'm only writing about our own experience and it was good, for what we could do before I got sick. Due to being sick we had to leave Tavira earlier and couldn't do everything that we wanted. I'd recommend to put this place on your list to visit, because it does has a lot to offer!

What we did: We walked around a bit, had a great lunch and took a boat trip to the lighthouse. We do recommend to take a boat trip when you're in Tavira, as this is a fun and relaxing activity. Yet, it is not expensive at all. Back than we only paid 3 EUR per person for a return ticket!

6. Stroll through the centre of Faro

The centre of Faro is already a place well spend during every time of the day. If you just wander around and look around you will see these type of flowers all over here and it's just beautiful. While you are here you can enjoy fresh warm cappuccino's and delicious sweets, such as pastel de nata. We couldn't get enough of them and they are definitely our favourites. Also, there are plenty of restaurants here, but also near the marina of Faro where you can eat delicious fish and meat dishes.

To all my female readers: it's a MUST to do your nails in Faro. Step into a nail salon, choose for a mani or pedicure, pick your favorite color(s) and have a well deserved relaxing moment. Here's some honesty: I'm only doing my nails when I'm on a beach holiday and I feel like doing it, this is by far the nail salon I will never forget, due to the long lasting date. Also, I only paid 11 EUR for gel nails! For Amsterdam standards, that is incredibly cheap. Not to mention.... my nails lasted for three months. I lost my last pieces of colour after 3,5 months in mid July!

That's it, those where all the things we wanted to let you know about a trip to Faro. We hope you will have an amazing time when you're visiting Faro, or the other parts of the Algarve coast, Portugal.

Do not hesitate to ask any questions and if you like our articles definitely subscribe,

Love Steph and Jo