Though you can’t quite see the sea from the city itself, the variety of fresh seafood served in every restaurant and huge mounds of salt left to dry on the horizon reassure you that you’re close, giving you no end of relaxed sightseeing to enjoy as you discover what we mean by the “real Algarve”.

Will you explore cobbled streets opening out into restaurant-lined squares as you dive deeper into whitewashed houses, reminding you that you’re close to the Mediterranean?

Delve into the millennia of history in this unassuming town, which harbours traces of the Phoenicians, tales of Moorish princesses and Christian conquests?

Catch a boat to an idyllic island and spend the day exploring the shoreline?

Or take a tour of the teeming wildlife along miles of lagoon?