Loulé is the seat of the Algarve's most populous municipality, which stretches from the beaches of Quarteira and Vilamoura to the hills of the Serra do Caldeirão. The town, about fifteen kilometres from the sea, is lively and authentic, away from mass tourism, and famous for its markets, crafts and carnival.
The market
Loulé's symbol is the municipal market, built in 1908 in neo-Moorish style, with onion domes and arched windows, restored and still fully in use: here you can buy fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese, honey, almonds, dried figs and medronho, strawberry-tree brandy. On Saturday mornings the town fills up for the big open-air market, where farmers and traders sell everything from live chickens to pottery.
The old town
The centre keeps part of the castle walls, Arab in origin, with a small municipal museum and a walkway with views. In the lanes of the old medina, craftspeople still work copper, leather, plaited palm and pottery. The church of São Clemente, the thirteenth-century mother church, has a bell tower made from an old minaret. Just outside the centre, on a hill, the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Piedade, with its sixteenth-century chapel and a large modern domed church, is the destination of the Mãe Soberana festival at Easter, one of the largest religious processions in southern Portugal.
Carnival
Loulé carnival, held since 1906, is the oldest in the Algarve, with parades of allegorical and satirical floats, masked groups and samba along the main avenue.
The hills
The municipality's interior is a surprise: hills covered in almond, carob, cork oak and strawberry trees, small white villages and hiking trails such as the Via Algarviana. Salir keeps the remains of a Moorish castle; Alte, with its fountains and decorated houses, is considered one of the prettiest villages in the Algarve; Querença is a tiny hamlet gathered around its church. In January and February the almond trees blossom, covering the hills in white and pink.
Getting there
Loulé is reached by bus from Faro and the coastal resorts, or by car in a quarter of an hour from Faro airport. Loulé railway station is a few kilometres from the centre.