Faro

The main gate to the old quarter, a neoclassical arch added in the early nineteenth century where the medieval wall had its opening. Storks nest on the top, so people stand under the arch looking straight up.

Rebuilt after an English force burned the town in 1596, so a Gothic tower and Baroque altars share one building. The bell tower stair is narrow enough to climb in single file, and the lagoon with its sand islands spreads out below the summit.

A small chapel in the back yard of the Carmo church, its walls packed tight with the bones and skulls of friars. The ticket is sold inside the church, and a side door by the altar lets you out into the yard.

A lagoon formed where sand islands shut out the sea, now protected as a natural park. Boats leave from the pier in front of the old quarter, and once the water ebbs the mudflats show, with people out digging for clams.

Cape Santa Maria, the southernmost point of mainland Portugal, lies on this sand island. There is a single restaurant and almost no shade, so bring water and a hat.

An island without cars, with a lighthouse village at one end and a fishing village at the other. Boardwalks are laid over the sand, and you follow them across to the beach on the ocean side.

The museum occupies the cloister of a sixteenth century convent, and its prize is a mosaic of the sea god Oceanus from a nearby Roman site. The upper gallery of the cloister stays shaded, a welcome place to sit on a hot day.

A nineteenth century noble house converted into a hotel, though visitors who are not staying can still see the pink facade and the terraced gardens. It is a 20 minute drive north of Faro.

The site of a Roman villa, with fish mosaics still on the bath floors. A tall temple wall makes it visible from a distance, and it lies within walking distance of Estoi Palace, so most people pair them.

On the waterfront of the next town east of Faro stand two red brick market halls, one selling fish and the other vegetables and fruit. On Saturday mornings a farmers market spreads across the open ground outside.

A white town on the Gilao estuary east of Faro, its old stone bridge over the river the town's emblem. Church towers crowd this small place, and from the castle hill they rise in rows above the roofs. A ferry crosses to Ilha de Tavira for a day on the sand.

A long sandbar beach over a bridge south of the airport, ocean to the south and lagoon to the north. Buses run from town, so it is where Faro goes on summer days. The runway is close, and jets with wheels down skim just above the sand.

A small church at Almancil, west of Faro, whose walls and dome are entirely lined with 18th-century blue tiles. The panels tell St Lawrence's life up to his martyrdom on the gridiron. From outside it is a plain white country church that gives nothing away.

A Moorish-revival market hall with red onion domes in Loule, north of Faro. Inside are stalls for fish, fruit, honey and fig sweets. On Saturday mornings the market spills into the surrounding streets and people come in from the villages.

A handful of white houses, a small fort and a church on a low bluff where the Ria Formosa runs out eastward. From the churchyard wall, the lagoon, the sandbar and the sea beyond lie in layers. At low tide people wade across the lagoon to the beach.