Faro eats straight out of the Ria Formosa: clams, oysters and razor shells landed metres from the market floor. Three days of copper-pot cataplana, tiled tascas, a 1908 café and Monchique medronho, from the walled Cidade Velha out to the barrier-island sand.
Two-floor covered market on Largo Dr. Francisco Sá Carneiro, trading Mon–Sat 07:00–15:00. Ground floor is Ria Formosa clams, razor shells and whole gilt-head bream on ice; the upper gallery sells dried figs, carob flour and Monchique honey.
Tiled tasca on Praça Ferreira de Almeida pouring house wine by the jug since the 1970s. Order petiscos: grilled chouriço, presunto, octopus salad and a half-portion of pork with clams. Paper tablecloths, brisk service, cash preferred.
Rua de Santo António institution with a counter stacked in Algarve almond-and-fig confectionery: Dom Rodrigo in twisted foil, morgado de figo, queijinhos de amêndoa and folar. Eat them standing at the marble bar with a bica.
Opened in 1908 on Rua Dr. Francisco Gomes and still working — mirrored walls, marble-top tables, waiters in white. The menu runs to torradas thick with butter, tosta mista and galão, with fado and poetry nights some evenings.
Cultural restaurant on Praça Dom Afonso III running hands-on Algarve cooking classes: you assemble a cataplana de marisco in the hinged copper pot, then sit down and eat it with the group. English-speaking chefs, small tables.
Inside the walled Cidade Velha, its rooms lined with tens of thousands of hand-painted azulejos. The dish to order is xarém com conquilhas — soft Algarve cornmeal porridge under a pile of tiny Ria Formosa clams cooked in garlic and coriander.
Chef Leonel Gomes's kitchen on Rua do Castelo, the old town's fine-dining anchor. Algarve black pork, Ria Formosa oysters and razor-clam rice, backed by an all-Portuguese cellar weighted towards Alentejo and Douro reds.
Charcoal grill on Rua Vasco da Gama by the old fish dock; the name means 'without bones'. Sea bass, gilt-head bream and sardines are picked from the ice and sold by weight, with percebes on the board when the Atlantic swell allows harvesting.
Specialty coffee bar in the pedestrian baixa pulling lighter-roast espresso plus V60 and flat whites — a deliberate break from the burnt Portuguese bica. Pastéis de nata, banana bread and sourdough toast run until midday.
Cramped, loud petiscos bar off Rua do Prior working from a chalkboard that changes daily: sautéed cockles, pica-pau, moray fish, cured sheep's cheese and cold Sagres in tiny glasses. No reservations and barely a dozen seats.
Sand-level restaurant on Avenida Nascente out on the barrier island, reached by the number 16 bus or the single-lane road bridge. Clams à Bulhão Pato, grilled cuttlefish and arroz de lingueirão, served with the Atlantic a few metres away.
Arcaded bar under the old Banco de Portugal building on Praça Dom Francisco Gomes, tables spilling into the jardim. Ask for medronho, the Monchique strawberry-tree spirit, or Licor de Amêndoa Amarga, the Algarve's bitter-almond digestif.