One million British tourists fly in to Faro airport every year, by British Airways and Air Portugal, low-cost carriers and charters, and most of them head west to bustling resorts. But if they journeyed just a few kilometres into Faro itself, they would find a more peaceful world.
The small marina is full of more modest craft than the million-pound yachts at Vilamoura and is backed by a small garden with palms, oleander and jacaranda trees, and just a couple of cafés. Just beyond the garden, the 19th-century Arco da Vila leads into the walled old town, where the most notable buildings are a Moorish castle, an archaeological museum set in a 16th-century cloistered convent and the cathedral.
The tiling and altarpieces inside the much-remodelled cathedral are attractive but its setting in a quiet square is splendid. The entrance looks across to a row of orange trees, backed by a two-storey white-walled seminary.
Outside the old town, the main shopping street, Rua de Santo António, is a masterpiece of restrained elegance. Pedestrianised, with patterns in the cobbles, it is lined with two and three-storey buildings, all with wrought iron balconies at the upper levels.
The town has one other jewel, Carmo Church, dating from 1713 with twin bell towers and yellow-painted balustrade and an interior covered in Brazilian gold leaf. It also houses the extraordinary Chapel of Bones, its walls and ceiling covered with the bones and skulls of monks removed from the cemetery in 1816.
A couple of seasoned American travellers who toured Portugal last month voted Faro the highlight of their trip, with the charm of the town enhanced by cocktails at sunset beside the beach, 5km (3 miles) away, and dinner at the restaurant of the Clube Naval.
You can also take the two-and-a-half hour boat trip to the Ria Formosa Nature Park, and cruise past the bird sanctuaries, salt ponds and sand dunes that separate Faro from the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s quite possible, however, to see Faro over one or two days, staying away from the city and travelling in from surrounding area. Head 30km to either side and you will discover the old and the new world: Tavira, to the undeveloped east, was first occupied in the Neolithic period, while Vilamoura, to the heavily developed west, dates from 1974.
The Gilão river flows through the middle of Tavira, with elegant homes and guesthouses on the eastern bank and a bustling harbourside on the other, with promenades, restaurants and a market hall.
The old town here is perched high on a hill. Inside the bare walls of the Moorish castle, on a site where the Phoenicians encamped back in the 8th century BC, is a garden full of brightly coloured exotic trees.
On the other side of Faro you will find a very different Portugal. The huge marina, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and lined on three sides by fashionable shops and bars is the focal point of Vilamoura.
This is the place to stay. The large hotels are set in spacious grounds and have good-sized pools, but in some you would be hard put to know whether you were in Portugal, Palma or even Portsmouth.
Clube Naval, with good views from the terrace. Seafood is a speciality.
- Convento de Santo António (281 325 632). Atmospheric hotel close to the centre of town, with breakfast served in the cloisters and a small circular swimming pool. Doubles cost from £96 B&B (minimum three nights).
Where to eat: Marisqueira, Praca Velha, in front of the market hall. Excellent octopus salad, fresh fish and grilled prawns.
- Quatro Aguas, overlooking the Gilão River just before the jetty for island ferries. Further information (281 322 511) 9 Rua da Galeria.
VILAMOURA
Where to stay: The five-star Tivoli Marinotel (289 303 303; www.tivolihotels.com) is the best in town, with views on one side to the marina and on the other to the sea. Many facilities and spacious grounds with large pool. Doubles cost from £236 B&B.
- Dom Pedro Marina (289 381 000). Four-star, close to the marina. Try to book a seaview room with terrace or balcony. Doubles cost from £98 B&B.
Where to eat: Amid the pizza houses and Chinese restaurants around the marina, the Mayflower and Perna de Pau offer Portuguese dishes, from simple grilled sardines and prawns to monkfish on a spit, fish cataplanas and pork fillet with clams.
Page 2: Portugal travel information
Page 3: Nicholas Roe in Malaga
Page 4: Malaga travel information
Page 5: Tania Cagnoni in Nice
Page 6: Nice travel information
()MALAGA, SPAIN
By Nicholas Roe
Map of Malaga
A FUNNY thing happened when I caught the late bus back into Málaga after dinner one night in the cosy beach suburb of El Palo.
Whizzing down a dark road, the driver suddenly pulled up with a thundering hiss of airbrakes, and uttering a cheery “Cinco minutos!” to me, his only passenger, hopped out, dialled a friend on his mobile and proceeded to talk for roughly double the estimated time, holding a wonderfully amiable and loud conversation out there by himself in the darkness.
Then he climbed back behind the wheel, and offering a broad smile of apology, calmly continued our journey.
If you want to know why Málaga is worth visiting, despite its dodgy Shazza-meets-Gazza reputation, the answer lies in small, laid-back encounters just like this.
It may be the capital of the Costa del Sol, a region where Brits classically arrive in hordes to soak up lager and sun-cream in equal quantities, but in old town Málaga itself there’s a sense of casual goodwill that feels truly Spanish and utterly genuine.
The good news for visitors who like this kind of reality is that autumn is the best time to enjoy the city, a fact that’s especially true this year, given the cultural revolution that’s finally coming to a seductive peak among its shady parks and walkways.
To get the hang of exactly what’s going on you need to understand how irritating it’s been for Málagan entrepreneurs over the last few decades, watching foreign trippers fly into the city airport only to dash off to better-known hotspots along the coast, places such as Torremolinos or classy Marbella. Why bother with Málaga when the beach calls? In fact, the city has a rather fine set of beaches of its own, extending 8km (5 miles) east to El Palo where I had a good sardine dinner — but that’s only a part of its charm. The sense of gentler, cultural attraction is growing fast, and is particularly appealing out of summer months when airport crowds are thinner, and temperatures drop into the seventies (you can swim in Málaga well into November).
City leaders have also been spending millions of euros buffing up attractions, and the place feels good to walk through. The city centre was pedestrianised last year, giving better access to the tight alleyways full of tapas bars and restaurants clustered around Calle Marqués de Larios, the main shopping street. Money has also been spent on restoring the watergardens, courtyards, ramparts and walkways of the vast 11th-century Alcazaba royal residence, perched high above the centre. The gigantic Renaissance cathedral with its distinctive half-completed southern tower has also been renovated and is now prettily illuminated at night.
And all over the city there’s similar evidence of newly cleaned and freshly improved streets and buildings, including Roman amphitheatres and atmospheric churches. Last year, of course, the brand new £50 million Picasso museum opened up in this, the artist’s birthplace.
So what’s the Málaga experience actually like? Jolly, rather than pretentious. In fact, a wagging finger from a jobsworth in the Picasso museum when I walked through a wrong door was the only time I ever met any touch of the hoity-toity. More typical was the way I was treated in the tiny, stand-up Orellana tapas bar in Calle Moreno Monroy where my stuttering “er, tapas por favor” was greeted with courtesy and helpful suggestions.
In the shady lunch-café within the 14th-century castle walls above the ancient Alcazaba palace my cake and coffee came with captivating smiles. And when I stopped to ask the way to my boutique hotel — the family-owned Larios — my hand was shaken.
There are enough museums, churches, monuments and galleries to keep you off the beach in Málaga for days. But the overall point is this: when that bus driver went off to make his lengthy call I didn’t mind because I knew that this was part of the spirit of the city. And the spirit of the city is great.
Page 2: Portugal travel information
Page 3: Nicholas Roe in Malaga
Page 4: Malaga travel information
Page 5: Tania Cagnoni in Nice
Page 6: Nice travel information
()Need to know: Malaga
Getting there: Nicholas Roe travelled with AirMiles (0870 6074711, www.airmiles.co.uk), which offers return flights to Malaga from £87.
Accommodation: the Art Deco Hotel Larios (00 34 952 222 200, www.hotel-larios.com) has a fifth-floor patio bar and restaurant providing fantastic views of the cathedral. Doubles cost from £97, B&B.
- Less convenient, but with a vast coastal outlook, the Parador Málaga Gibralfaro (221 902, www.parador.es) is perched five minutes’ drive away on top of a mountain beside the castle. Doubles cost from £85.
Eating: Mesón El Chinitas, Moreno Monroy 4 (210 972) offers real Andalusian cooking, served with style.
- In the El Palo suburb, El Tintero beachside restaurant, Playa del Dedo, specialises in waiters offering plates of fish on spec (take a number 11 bus from the eastward bound carriageway of the Paseo del Parque: 85 cents, pay on board).
Drinking and tapas: Almost anywhere around Marques de Larios, or the more down-to-earth Orellana on Moreno Monroy (229 648).
Reading: Spain by Mary-Ann Gallaher and Andy Symington (Footprint Travel guides, £14.99).
Information: Spanish Tourist Office brochures line: 0906 3640630 (60p per minute) or www.tourspain.co.uk.
Also, excellent basics available from: www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/home.htm.
Page 2: Portugal travel information
Page 3: Nicholas Roe in Malaga
Page 4: Malaga travel information
Page 5: Tania Cagnoni in Nice
Page 6: Nice travel information
()NICE, FRANCE
By Tania Cagnoni
Map of Nice
AS THE days grow shorter, the skies greyer and winter starts to set in, just a couple of hours away in Nice you can step off the plane into Mediterranean sunshine, wander the streets in shirtsleeves and eat alfresco on the beach.
Since the end of the 19th century the British have flocked to the Riviera for a touch of off-season glamour by the sea, amid Belle Epoque architecture sparkling like royal icing against a pure blue backdrop of sky.
But things have changed a fair bit since then. While winter is still the best time to visit, as France’s fifth biggest city, Nice is fast becoming as cosmopolitan as Paris, but with a warmer edge and an increasingly wide range of exciting new restaurants, hotels and bars.
The latest addition to Nice’s pit stops, behind its original 1920s marble façade, is the Palais de la Méditerranée, a luxury hotel housing an indoor-outdoor pool, a glittering casino and contemporary-designed bedrooms behind its listed frontage.
Another newcomer — at a fraction of the price — is the charmingly renovated two-star Villa la Tour, offering pretty bedrooms in a converted convent in the heart of the Old Town.
The seriously hip, however, may wish to rest their bones at Hi Hotel. The designer accommodation opened last year with open-plan bedrooms, VIP guests including Jean- Paul Gaultier and Michael Stipe of REM, and a chic lime-green bar, where big-name guest DJs are flown in.
Unsurprisingly, the city has a great choice of restaurants to complement the hotels. Seek out the new, wonderfully kitsch Indian Lounge in the old town, with orange, pink and gold silk parasols on the terrace and Bollywood in the bar.
Prefer French? Then you can spend a lively night eating local specialities with the smart set at La Petite Maison, snuffle truffles at Terres des Truffes, or visit the Café de Turin for freshly caught shellfish.
For a touch of the Middle Eastern, sit on cushions, sipping glasses of mint tea Moroccan-style at Nocy-Bé, and eat platters of Lebanese mezé watching weekend belly dancing shows at La Cigale.
During the day, style-conscious shoppers should head for the independent designer boutiques along rue Alphonse Karr and rue Longchamp, while label-hunters can pick up Chanel, Vuitton and Kenzo in rue Paradis.
And for just about everything else, head to avenue Jean Medicin, the Oxford Street of Nice, for five blissful floors of Galeries Lafayette.
Bargain-hunters will find the January sales are the best time to visit for discounted French lingerie and shoes on rue Massena. Indeed, while most resorts close down off season, Nice is a thriving, seaside metropolis with a year-round agenda of opera, ballet and fine art.
Two major exhibitions this winter include Matisse’s Work and Joy at the Musée Matisse, and the Nuremberg collection of engravings by history’s master draftsman, Albrecht Durer, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts.
For more childish pursuits, a Christmas village and open-air ice rink take over Jardin Albert Premier for the last two weeks in December, when you can ice-skate under palm trees and eat sugary doughnut sticks dipped in hot chocolate.
Festivities continue into February with flowery floats and huge Spitting Image-style costumed performers at the Nice Carnival. However, at any time of the year you can join the locals, walking, cycling or in-line roller-skating along the Promenade des Anglais; 5km (3 miles) of pebbly beach where the sea is a dazzling shade of turquoise and the views go on for miles.
And for an alfresco lunch, it’s hard to beat a picnic on the Cap de Nice. Dine on warm rotisserie chicken, fresh mushroom focaccia and bags of fruit from Cours Saleya market, while listening to the waves crashing against the rocks below.
Finally, sip that last glass of rosé by the deep blue waters of the Baie des Anges: now that the harsh summer sun has set sail, the hordes have left and the winter light casts a golden glow across the Côte d’Azur: and start planning your next visit.
Page 2: Portugal travel information
Page 3: Nicholas Roe in Malaga
Page 4: Malaga travel information
Page 5: Tania Cagnoni in Nice
Page 6: Nice travel information
()Need to know: Nice
Getting there: Tania Cagnoni travelled with AirMiles (0870 6074711, www.airmiles.co.uk) which offers flights to Nice from £77.
Where to stay: Le Palais de la Méditerranée, 11 Promenade des Anglais (0033 4 92 14 77 00, www.lepalaisdelamediterranee.com). Double rooms cost from £193.
- Villa la Tour, 4 rue de la Tour (93 80 08 15, www.villa-la-tour.com). Double rooms cost from £33.
Where to eat: Indian Lounge (93 85 38 39), 34 rue Droite.
- Nocy-Bé (93 85 52 25), 4-6 rue Jules Gilly.
Events and exhibitions: Work and Joy at Musée Matisse (93 81 08 08), 164 ave des Arènes de Cimiez, to December 31.
The Engravings of Albrecht Durer; the Nuremberg Collection, at the Musée des Beaux Arts, 33 ave des Baumettes (92 15 28 28), November 17 to December 12.
Nice Carnival, February 12-27 (www.nicecarnival.com).
Reading: South of France by Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls (Cadogan Guides, £12.99);
The French Riviera (Insight Guides, £16.99).
Further information: Nice Convention & Visitors Bureau, 5 Promenade des Anglais (www.nicetourism.com).
