Most UK visitors fly through Faro and head straight for the beach. That is understandable: easyJet, Ryanair, and British Airways all serve Faro Airport from across the UK, and the Algarve resorts are just an hour away. But Faro itself is worth stopping for, and faro budget travel works well here. Accommodation is cheaper than in the resort towns, the old town is largely free to explore, and the airport bus to the centre costs €2.25.
The city has a walled medieval old town with Roman foundations, a baroque cathedral, and the Ria Formosa Natural Park stretching along its southern edge, a protected lagoon that few tourists from the western resorts ever see. It is a functioning Portuguese city, not a beach development, which keeps restaurants honest on price and gives the place an atmosphere the resorts cannot replicate. If you want the broader Algarve context, the Algarve budget travel guide covers the region; this guide focuses on Faro city itself.
Getting to Faro from the UK
Faro Airport is one of the best-connected regional airports in Europe for UK departures. easyJet flies from London Gatwick, Luton, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Ryanair serves Faro from Stansted, Birmingham, and Leeds Bradford. British Airways operates from Heathrow. Return flights typically start from around £60-80 in shoulder season. For the current cheapest options, check Flight Tribe’s latest flight deals or read the guide to cheap UK flights.
Airport to city: Bus route 16 runs from the airport to the centre every 30-40 minutes. The journey takes around 20 minutes and a single ticket costs €2.25-2.70. Taxis cover the same route in around 10-12 minutes for approximately €10-15. There is no direct train from the airport, but Faro’s central train station connects to Tavira, Lagos, and Lisbon. Our guide to travelling Portugal cheaply covers the full train network and pricing.
What does Faro cost?
Faro is cheaper than Lisbon and Porto across most spending categories. A budget day, covering a hostel dorm, local meals, and walking the old town, comes in at around €45-60. Mid-range visitors adding a hotel, sit-down meals, and a hired car for day trips typically spend €90-130 a day. High summer (July and August) adds a significant premium to accommodation.
| Category | Budget | Mid-range |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | from €16/night | from €65/night |
| Food | €12-20/day | €30-50/day |
| Transport | €2-5/day | from €18/day |
| Activities | €0-10/day | €10-30/day |
Where to stay in Faro
Staying in Faro city, rather than a resort, is the budget-conscious choice. Accommodation is cheaper, the train network is accessible, and the old town is walkable from most hotels. The majority of the city’s accommodation clusters around the waterfront and the Jardim Manuel Bivar garden area.
Budget: ibis Faro Algarve is a reliable option a short walk from the old town, with rooms from around €64/night. Breakfast is sold separately, but the location is hard to beat for the price.
Mid-range: The AP Eva Senses sits directly on the harbour front with views over the marina. Rooms start from around £85/night in shoulder season. The position, metres from the old town gate, justifies the premium for most visitors.
Worth the spend: The Faro Boutique Hotel occupies a restored 18th-century building metres from the cathedral. It is the closest you can get to sleeping inside the city walls.
Where to eat in Faro
Faro has a genuine local food scene. The standard budget lunch option is the prato do dia, a set meal of soup, main course, and sometimes dessert for around €10-14. Pastelarias serve coffee and pasteis de nata for around €2.20. Seafood is the regional speciality: fresh clams, sardines, and the Algarve cataplana stew appear on almost every menu.
Tasca do Ricky is a family-run restaurant down a backstreet in the old town, with mains from €10-15. The seafood cataplana is well regarded. There is no website and no social media presence, which is usually a reliable indicator. Cash preferred.
Restaurante 2 Irmãos has operated on Praça Ferreira de Almeida since 1925. This is where local families go for a proper meal: traditional Algarve cooking, fresh fish on display at the counter, and a room that has changed very little in decades. Mains typically run from €16-24.
For a longer evening, O Castelo has a rooftop terrace inside the city walls with views over the Ria Formosa. The kitchen serves modern Portuguese food and there is live fado on Monday evenings. Book ahead in summer.
Free things to do in Faro
The Cidade Velha (old town) is the obvious place to start. Enter through the Arco da Vila and you are inside walls with Roman and Moorish origins. The cathedral square and the old bishop’s palace cloisters are free to walk around. A small fee applies to climb the cathedral tower for panoramic views. The full circuit takes around 45 minutes at an easy pace.
The Bone Chapel (Capéla dos Ossos) at Igreja do Carmo is a ten-minute walk from the old town gate. The main church is free to enter; the bone chapel at the rear charges a small admission fee of around €4. It is genuinely worth it: the interior walls are lined with the skulls and bones of approximately 1,245 monks, arranged as a meditation on mortality. Nothing else quite like it in the Algarve.
The Ria Formosa Natural Park visitor centre sits at the waterfront, a five-minute walk from the old town, and is free to enter. The wetlands are one of Portugal’s most important habitats for migratory birds; flamingos are commonly seen in spring. The Museu Municipal de Faro houses Roman mosaic floors and regional archaeology and charges a small admission fee. Jardim Manuel Bivar, the harbour garden beside the old town gate, costs nothing and is where Faro residents come to sit in the evenings.
Day trips from Faro
The Ria Formosa islands are the easiest day trip. Ferries run from the dock near the old town gate to Ilha Deserta (around €10 return), a ten-kilometre sandbar with no buildings and clear Atlantic water, and to Ilha de Culatra (around €3 return), a small fishing community with a long beach. Both are worth the short crossing. Book the Ilha Deserta ferry in advance during July and August.
Tavira is 30 minutes east by train at around €3-4 each way: a quieter old town with a Roman bridge and Ria Formosa beaches worth a half-day. Olhão, 10 minutes by train at around €2-3, has the best covered market in the region for fish and produce. Lagos and the western Algarve beaches are reachable by train in around 1.5 hours. For a longer Portugal trip, the Lisbon budget travel guide and Porto budget travel guide are both worth reading alongside this one. The Alfa Pendular from Faro to Lisbon takes around 3.5 hours and costs approximately €25-35. Our full Portugal transport guide covers all routes and pricing in detail.
Best time to visit Faro
Faro has over 300 days of sunshine a year. July and August are warmest, with temperatures regularly above 30°C, but also the most expensive for flights and hotels. Shoulder season, May, June, September, and October, offers temperatures in the low to mid-20s with meaningfully lower prices and fewer crowds. April is cooler but still sunny and typically the cheapest month for most visits. Our guide to the best time to visit Portugal covers seasonal patterns and booking timing in detail.
For families or anyone travelling in UK school holidays, late June or early September is a practical window: warm enough for the beach and islands, significantly cheaper than August. The guide to cheap holidays in school holidays covers how to keep costs down during peak booking periods.
Faro budget travel: frequently asked questions
Is Faro worth visiting on a budget?
Yes. Faro is cheaper than Lisbon and Porto across most categories, the old town is largely free to explore, and flights from the UK start from around £60 return in shoulder season. Budget travellers can manage comfortably on around €45-60 a day including accommodation and food.
How do I get from Faro Airport to the city centre cheaply?
Bus route 16 runs from the airport to the city centre approximately every 30-40 minutes. The journey takes around 20 minutes and costs €2.25-2.70. Taxis take around 10-12 minutes and cost approximately €10-15.
How much does a trip to Faro cost per day?
Budget travellers can manage on approximately €45-60 per day, covering a hostel dorm, local meals, and basic transport. Mid-range visitors typically spend €90-130 per day on a hotel, sit-down meals, and day trips. Costs are highest in July and August.
Do I need a visa to visit Faro from the UK?
No. UK citizens can visit Portugal without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. A valid passport is required for the duration of the stay.
Is Faro safe for tourists?
Yes. Faro is generally considered safe. Petty theft is the main risk in busy tourist areas. Keeping valuables secure and your phone in a front pocket reduces the risk significantly.
What is the best time of year to visit Faro?
Shoulder season, May, June, September, and October, offers the best balance of warm weather and lower prices. July and August are the warmest months but the most expensive for accommodation. April is cooler and typically the cheapest option for most visits.
Is it better to base yourself in Faro or on the Algarve coast?
For budget travellers, Faro is the better base. Accommodation is cheaper than in the resort towns, the train connects to Tavira, Olhão, and Lagos, and the city has enough to fill a short break on its own. Beach resorts make more sense if beaches are the primary objective. The Algarve budget travel guide covers the broader coast if you want to combine city time with beach time.
For the latest Portugal holiday deals and flight deals from the UK, check the Flight Tribe deals page. We publish verified travel offers updated regularly.
