Faro City Add-On

Excellent trip in February - Algarve was green after recent rain. Mild weather perfect for walking. Off the beaten track enough but with facilities open and not mobbed. Faro City add on at the end worthwhile - a train trip down the coast to pretty Travira is a good idea. Inntravel as organised as ever and all worked very well. Portugal and Portuguese people as welcoming as ever.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These custoemrs combined our walk A Coast of Many Colours with our Faro City add-on

Quinta das Achadas: This was a wonderful and relaxing holiday. Jill and Julio are genial hosts and the quinta is very well set up. We walked every day despite the Iberian heatwave in April. The coastal walks in particular are spectacular and retain the benefit of the sea breeze, which we missed on the inland walks. We had an excellent meal - freshly-grilled fish of our choice - at Restaurante Sitio do Forno on the Carrapateira walk, which we heartily recommend, but do 'phone ahead to reserve a table if you want to sit outdoors with a view.  If you like to get started with your walking early in the day before the heat builds, be warned that breakfast is set out around 09:00.

Faro Add-on: There is enough to justify two days here, despite it being a small city.  We particularly enjoyed a ferry trip (very smooth) out to the Ilha da Berreta (marketed as Ilha Deserta) where we explored the island on extensive boardwalks over the dunes and had an excellent meal at Estaminé restaurant. The restaurant has to be booked in advance and it's sensible to tie that in with the ferry times. We also enjoyed a short Fado concert in the Municipal Museum (Fri/Sat/Sun).

Another very good trip with Inntravel and we particularly enjoyed returning to Portugal as there is so much excellent fresh fish. We enjoyed the variety of coastal and inland walks, although the walks themselves were not that exciting and there were few villages or places to stop along each one. It was also a lot warmer than we expected at the end of March which made the walking challenging – boots & poles needed on the cliffs – and the inland walks were mainly along sandy tracks with little shade. Take plenty of water as there few places to top it up. The route notes were good but unfortunately quite old and often confusing. We used them as a starting point but regularly referred to the invaluable GPX tracks when we weren’t sure. We use Wikiloc and download the routes and an offline map to save on data and phone battery. We would certainly have got lost without them. Adding 3 nights in Faro made the overall holiday for us. We also added an extra night in Salema (we loved being so close to the sea) and another in Pedralva. Our favourite hotel was Casa Fajara, the place, the welcoming staff and the food made it very special. We had excellent fish (sea bream for 2) at Atlantico in Salema, enjoyed Fish with Rice at the lively Ribeiro do Poco (get there early as it gets very busy), ate twice at Sitio do Forno in Carrapateira, both their fresh fish & salads are good. The manager of Casa Fajara told us that the other coastal fish restaurant O Sitio do Rio has now closed. In the town he recommended Alecrim and Do Cabrita but we had a very good light lunch in the Microbar right in the centre.
In Faro we ate in the hotel restaurant one night and had our final Sea Bass for 2 at Taberna Modesto in the old town, as it name implies it is a very basic place but as ever the food was very good. We also enjoyed lunch twice at the French Cozinha das Ilhas on R. Conselheiro Bivar (I recommend their Salade Creole). Faro, we enjoyed immensely. Three days gave us plenty of time to explore. We started by taking the tourist train (actually a sort of bus) that departs by the bandstand near the hotel on the hour and takes 45 minutes to do a complete tour including the walled city, gives you an excellent overview and takes you to parts that would have been too far to walk. We then followed the walking notes and spent some time in the fascinating Municipal Museum.

A varied and enjoyable holiday. Recommend an extra night in Peldrava, good swimming pool and excellent restaurant. Our two night extension in Faro also well worth it. Our 2nd Inn Travel holiday and not our last!

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our A Coast of Many Colours walking holiday with the Faro add-on.