Our suggestions #history

Located slightly east of the center of the south coast, the city of Faro with its historic center, stunning islands at a half-hour boat ride and the Ria Formosa nature reserve boasts a unique landscape and offers the most extensive cultural program of the region.

The dark red of mighty castle walls that loom over the city and the surrounding countryside; the interplay of stone and light in the architecture of a Gothic church; reminders of the Moorish presence in the city’s history; streets of white houses that reflect the sun and the blue sky: herein lies the appeal of Silves, where the past merges with the present to make every visit an enduring memory.

Paderne Castle, one of the last conquests of the Muslim occupation and built in the second half of the 12th century, is one of the best examples of military mud construction south of the Tagus and the Iberian Peninsula, and is the testimony of 900 years of permanence in the landscape.

Guia is well known for its famous chicken piri piri, zoomarine aquatic park and fantastic beaches but it is also an old small town with cultural heritage and history.