The administrative centre for the Algarve (and home to the international airport), Faro is a major city, full of residential and holiday homes and the starting point of the Ria Formosa Lagoon, an important nature reserve covering some 17,000 hectares. Sites worth seeing in Faro include the breathtaking church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo, which claims to have the best examples of gold leaf woodwork in southern Portugal - and the bones of over a thousand monks! Faro airport has had a recent revamp and most major British and Irish airlines including charter flights fly to Faro on a daily or weekly basis.

Close to the Spanish border in the eastern Algarve, you'll find one of Portugal's largest nature reserves with its many rare species of flora and fauna - all within a few hours of some fantastic new developments, which are growing in popularity in the region. Properties here are excellent value for money and the facilities are getting better and better. It is still relatively undeveloped compared to the rest of the Algarve and what you get here is a slice of ËrealÓ Portugal and what many consider to be 'different solutions for different people'. Homes in this area are equidistant to both Faro and Seville in Spain, opening up even more avenues of accessibility to your new home.