A week in Portugal in Olhao

Posted on November 1, 2025 by karenlovestodance

Olhao is a fishing port and not a big tourist destination. We arrived early on an October Sunday morning. After leaving our bags at the only big hotel in the town (the Real Marina) we set off to explore the town.

The Real Marina Hotel overlooks a marina, which is situated in the Ria Formosa, an area of tidal lagoons, sandbelts and small islands which are important sites for wildlife.

There is a long promenade next to the marina that leads to the town of Olhao. The narrow tiled streets were very interesting to wander around, with many properties having splendid front doors.

It was wonderful to spot a stork sat on a nest on top of a disused chimney.

I was feeling quite tired due to the early morning flight so was very pleased when our hotel room was ready at 3pm. It was good to be able to unpack my hat to protect my head from the sun.

Here I am in my holiday shirt ready for dinner on the hotel terrace.

The hotel food was delicious. I opted for bread and olives, followed by seabass and then a chocolate brownie with ice cream. It was lovely to be sat outside (evening temperature was about 20c).

The following morning I didn’t get up early enough to join the humans for breakfast, but they kindly brought a couple of very tasty ‘pastel de nata’ tarts back to the room for me. (You may notice the yarn, I brought along some knitting !)

On day two we visited the Ria Formosa Nature Park. The walk from the hotel took us past the port and some industrial units but we soon reached the tranquil nature reserve. The highlight for me was watching fiddler crabs (unfortunately not photographed as they hide in their holes when they sense anyone nearby) and seeing wild flamingos, of which there were many, but again not easy to photograph with a phone camera. There are oyster beds in the lagoons.

The following day I was up early enough for breakfast ! A bear doesn’t know what to choose when faced with a large choice so I had a bit of everything (but I didn’t eat all of it, humans helped out).

Tuesday’s adventure was visiting the island of Culatra using the ferry boat. Culatra is a beautiful barrier island at the edge of the Ria Formosa where there are no cars. The journey to the little fishing harbour surrounded by fishing huts took about 20 minutes. After following a paved path, then a boardwalk across the dunes we reached a idyllic beach. It was possible to hire a sunbed and shade from a small beach cafe but we had brought our beach shelter for shade. I spent an hour dozing in the shelter while watching the humans swimming.

Wednesday’s adventure involved a train journey. Trains go from Olhao station to Tavira and Faro and beyond, which is very convenient.

On the way to Tavira the train passed many pomegranite trees, with pomegranites right next to the track. On arrival at Tavira we spent a while wandering around the town.

In Portugal many properties are decorated with very attractive tiles. Here I am posing in front of a few found in Tavira.

We visited a very old 13th Century Church of Santa Maria, which is thought to have been built on the site of a former Mosque. It has changed since then as had to be rebuilt following an earthquake in 1755 but the clock tower dates back to the original building. I climbed up lots of steps to have a look at the big bell and was very pleased it didn’t chime while I was at the top, but I did stay long enough to admire the view of the town.

Tavira Castle is very close to the church. There isn’t much of it left but it is very old and with some parts found to date back to the 8th Century (Source Wikipedia). I climbed up one of the towers and could see a group of tourists looking out from the top of another!

The day out on the train was quite tiring so after a cake and camomile tea I had an early night.

On Thursday we were back on a ferry boat again, this time going to the Island of Armona, another beautiful island in the Ria Formosa. After walking through the village of pretty houses, then across the boardwalk over the dunes we arrived at another gorgeous beach. Everything on the island has to arrive by boat and there are no cars which makes it really very special. Once again the humans put up their beach shelter, and I stayed out of the sun while they swam in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is very important to make a note of the ferry times when visiting the islands. When we were there in October there weren’t so many as they had started operating on a winter schedule. While waiting for the ferry back to Olhao I enjoyed an ice cream at the beach cafe next to the ferry landing stage.

There are many restaurants in Olhao and everywhere that we ate served up delicious freshly prepared food. I especially enjoyed eating pumpkin rissotto followed by a pear tarte tatin at Galo Barreta.

I find lighthouses interesting so on Friday we again took the ferry to Culatra and walked along the island on a sand track to Farol to see the lighthouse that we could see flashing from our hotel balcony. Farol is the Portugese word for lighthouse and also the name of the village. It is sometimes called the Island of Farol but it is on the Island of Culatra.

Farol do Cabo de Santa Maria lighthouse has been in operation since the 1840s but was rebuilt in 1949. Apparently it is possible to go inside and climb to the top on Wednesday afternoons in the high season, but it wasn’t open when we visited.

The waves were splashing over the breakwater further along from the light house. I stopped for a little rest on a bench next to a toilet housed in a rustic beach hut, then wandered on down to Faro Beach to watch the waves for a little while. The humans didn’t go swimming!

Our last day in Olhao was a Saturday, which is market day

Some very colourful produce was for sale along with giant jars of honey. I wanted to buy a jar of the honey but the humans said they didn’t want to risk packing it in a suitcase for the flight home. Instead I bought some Folar de Olhao (cake that looks like a giant pork pie & a cake with almonds decorating the top.

The plant stall looked very pretty with the sea glistening in the sunlight behind.

I stopped for a while to watch a traditional live band. Markets are always more atmospheric with music.

The fish market happens in the big red building every day and people visit Olhao from surrounding areas to buy fresh fish. Lots of fish had already been sold when we went in to have a look around.

In the other red building there is an indoor produce market

Further along the promenade there were more stalls. After watching a garlic grinding dish being demonstrated I bought a couple as they looked so much easier to wash up than traditional garlic presses! It has turned out to be very useful.