Olhão
A working fishing port with busy waterfront markets, a cube-house old town and ferries to the Ria Formosa island beaches.
Olhão is a fishing town on the Ria Formosa, east of Faro, and still feels like a working port. Its two red-brick market halls on the waterfront, one for fish and one for produce, are the focus of daily life. Behind them, the old town is a maze of whitewashed, box-shaped houses often compared with North African architecture.
Ferries run from the harbour to the islands of Armona and Culatra, which has a fishing village and a lighthouse beach at Farol. East of town, Quinta de Marim has nature trails and an old tidal mill. The municipality also includes the fishing village of Fuseta and the inland village of Moncarapacho.