Fall into Faro: Deserta Island

With the euro at an all-time low against the dollar, it’s probably the best time to start planning your European vacation. If you love the beach, charming historical towns and incredibly fresh seafood, Faro, Portugal is the place for you!

Situated at the southernmost region of Portugal, Faro is the capital city of the Algarve. Because of its gorgeous beaches and perfect weather, Faro becomes a party beach town for visitors from Northern Europe and the UK in summer. If you would rather avoid hordes of tourists and expensive hotel rates, it’s definitely best to visit during the off season in fall and winter.

I went to Faro with my friends in October and the first thing that struck us was how nice the weather was. We had just flown in from a cold and wet England and were excited to run around in shorts and tank tops in Faro. The weather was a perfect mid-70s (or 20s in Celcius) or what I call “Southern California weather.” We rented an apartment in the heart of town for a really reasonable rate and could easily walk to all the various attractions. My favorite place in Faro is Deserta Island, which is about 30 minutes away by ferry.

Ilha Deserta

There are several beaches around Faro and they are called “ilhas” (sandspits). Faro Beach is the only one with a roadway connection whereas the others are only reachable by ferry boats. To get to Deserta Island, we took a ferry which passed through the Ria Formosa marshlands and lagoons. For bird watching enthusiasts, you will get to see a large variety of birds living in the area.

Ilha Deserta lives up to its name as a deserted island of sorts. It’s not very big and you can walk around the island on wooden pathways and platforms. There’s only one restaurant, Estaminé Restaurant, on the island and a couple of tiny houses that fishermen store their equipment in. Other than that, it’s a tranquil area that’s especially quiet during off peak seasons. In fact we were the only people on the beach that day!

The restaurant serves fresh, traditional Algarvian dishes like bacalhoada (salt cod stew) and octopus salad. I’ll never forget just how TASTY the octopus salad was. It was such a simple dish but made with the freshest ingredients so everything tasted top notch. When I got home, I recreated the dish using squid which is far more available than octopus. You can find the recipe here.

You can easily spend the day walking around the island, lounging on the beach, and finally getting some delicious lunch at the restaurant. Be sure to stay for the sunset because it was one of the most beautiful sky I’ve ever seen! There’s a last ferry out of the island so you should check when it leaves. Living up to its name, no one stays back on the island after hours! Even the restaurant employees pack up and go home too.

Faro has many other attractions I’ll discuss in later articles. But I thought Deserta Island ought to have an article dedicated to it! It’s a gorgeous place and well worth a trip to Portugal just to visit it.