There are a lot of good reasons to visit Tavira. We will show you some of them...

Algarve is famous for it´s regular and comfortable weather, great food and fantastic beaches as well as for the different Golf courses that are open all over the year.
Tavira is located in the east side of Algarve between Faro and the Portuguese / Spanish south border (Vila Real de Santo António / Ayamonte), in a city that is located in a protect has everything you may need (restaurants, bars, discos, shopping centres, hotels), but that has not yet so much visitors has other areas of Algarve.
Tavira is a must visit city located on the banks of Ria Formosa Natural Park in the Algarve, Portugal that has the Faro international airport at a 30 minutes drive distance.

Nature and natural protected environment

Tavira is located in a central area of the Ria Formosa Natural Reserve, having a beautiful natural environment in front of the city that includes water channels that have to be crossed on the way to the beach. From a few different points of Tavira and Santa Luzia, you can take one of the well organized boats during the entire day, that go and come back to the side of the beach, in a beautiful trip of 10 to 15 minutes that makes the way to the beach an unique and unforgettable experience that permits bird watching everyday.

Ria Formosa covers an area of about 18,500 hectares from Faro to Vila Real de Santo António along a 60 kms front that includes a long extension of beautiful beaches. Including a relevant chain of dunes running almost parallel to the seafront, a group of peninsulas, lagoons and five barrier islands (Barreta, Culatra, Armona, Tavira, and Cabanas) that protect the vast area of channels and islets, Ria Formosa is considered one of the most beautiful nature reserves of Algarve.

History and monuments

Tavira is also a unique experience because of all its Historical background and untouched archaeological traces managed to keep it one of the most characteristic cities in representing the Algarve region.

There are a lot to visit in Tavira, being mandatory a visit to the well preserved old Castle with the walls that surrounded the city, that still remain part of the walls between the houses that was the defensive system of the city. The old Moorish fortification was rebuilt by King Dinis (1261-1325). From the top of the towers we can have a wide panoramic view over Tavira and the surrounding country, rivers and sea sides.

As part of the historic heritage, we suggest also a visit to some of the beautiful churches of Tavira, as example the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo built on the XIII century and that has interesting architectonic Gothic elements for example. Igreja de Sant´iago from the XVII century is another suggestion that has a valuable collection of statues and paintings, some from extinct convents.

Food and restaurants

You will find a relevant number of good restaurants that serve nice meals inside and outside the restaurant.

"Couvert" is the traditional start to a meal and normally consists of fresh bread, butter, olives and in some cases also cheese and octopus salad. In most restaurants, you can order a especial starter from a selection of offers that frequently include vegetables soup and sea food dishes.

Tavira´s gastronomy is largely based on fresh fish and sea food that are great and available in a relevant part of restaurants. Usually fish is grilled and served together with salads or vegetables. In Santa Luzia, octopus is the main course, being cooked in delicious different styles.

Desserts are always tasty and normally rather sweet, including different combinations of almonds, eggs, figs and honey being normally easier to point at whichever looks better to you.

As result of the large foreign permanent community that live in Tavira, it´s simple to find international and fusion cuisine that in some cases are gourmet developments of tradional portuguese cooking specialities.

As example of natural resources, clams are cultivated in Tavira, forming 80% of the total exportation of the entire country. The sea bass, sea bream, and the prawn are also abundant in the Ria. Another activity of economic importance is the extraction of salt in the salt pans (that also form zones of refuge for some wildlife species).

Hotels and places to stay

Algarve in general it´s an important turistic area of Portugal that has a relevant number of hotels and apartments dedicated to tourists. Tavira touristic offer is increasing progressively and includes hotels and apartments dedicated to different types of tourists that range from luxury hotels to economic and convenient Hotels.
To have more information, concrete availabilities, prices and Hotel characteristics please visit our page dedicated to Hotels in Tavira.