Plan your Algarve Holiday

Anyone flying in to the Algarve arrives at the airport in Faro. Very few of these travellers ever consider staying in Faro itself but disperse East and West to the more famous holiday destinations.

But the towns of the Algarve are as steeped in history as anywhere else in Portugal. They have all the facilities to make life easy and pleasurable for tourists and travellers. Surely they deserve more than the half-day's shopping visit to buy souvenirs and holiday presents for the family before flying home.

Much is made of the charm of Loule with its local market and craft shops. More and more people in search of an affordable home in the Algarve make for the little town in the hills. This is not only because the area is cheaper, being just outside the "Golden Triangle", but also because there they feel part of the fabric of real Portugal. Portuguese people live and work there as they always have.

Although tourism has played its part in helping the prosperity of the region, it has not swamped its " Portugueseness."

Larger and busier, Faro, the capital town of the region, has also great appeal and gives the visitor a real feel of Portuguese life as it is lived. For this easy read summarising its historical charms will surely tempt you into realising that here is a lively, living town solidly built on respect for its past.

With Faro as a holiday base, it is easy to travel both East to the quieter holiday beaches and West to the more famous and more developed tourist hotspots.

If your interest lies in activity holidays you can shoose from advertised attractions such as a mini-cruise, a hill safari, horse riding, diving, all readily available in the region.

Another town which hardly ever receives more than a half day's visit but is worth time spent to appreciate its people and its past is Silves in the West.

This plan of Silves provides a bilingual map and information which makes it ideal for learning as well as travelling purposes.

Silves would make an interesting base for travelling round the Western Algarve and a change from the more popular tourist towns of Portimao and Lagos which also have so much to recommend them.

The Algarve is not just a chain of beaches and tourist traps where everyone speaks English. If you are interested in the real Portugal, talking to and finding out about its people and its soul, don't just try the countryside, try the towns.

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