Faro Airport is the principle airport for the Algarve on the south coast of Portugal. The next two nearest airports to the Algarve are actually in Spain: Seville and Jerez Airport.

Thanks to some of Europe's best golf courses and some great sporting facilities, the Algarve is a year round destination and this year Vale Do Lobo on the Algarve is where the England Football team will be preparing for the world cup. (May 15th-20th 2006).

Getting to Faro from the UK and Ireland is getting easier and easier with all the main low cost and national airlines offering a wide choice of flights from 20 different airports. 17 in the UK, 1 in Northern Ireland and 2 in the Irish Republic.

Most of the main European airports have direct flights to Faro but if you are travelling from outside of Europe it is best to head for the UK or Lisbon (the main Portuguese Airport) and then get your flights down to Faro.

Below are details of all the main airports and airlines offering direct, non stop flights to Faro from the UK and Ireland.

The flights take between 2 hours and 30 minutes and 3 hours depending on where you're flying from and The Algarve is on the same time zone as the UK and Ireland at all times of the year!

Norwich - Flybe
Manchester - Jet 2 & Monarch
Leeds - Jet 2
Doncaster Sheffield - Thomsonfly
Birmingham Monarch & Flybe
Nottingham East Mids - Easyjet & BMI Baby
Coventry - Thomsonfly
Bournemouth - Thomsonfly
Exeter - Flybe
Cardiff - BMI Baby
Bristol - EasyJet, Thomson Fly
Southampton - Flybe
Luton - Monarch & Easyjet
Gatwick - BA, Monarch, EasyJet
Stansted - EasyJet
Heathrow - TAP Air Portugal
Belfast - EasyJet
Dublin - Aer Lingus, Ryan Air
Cork - Aer Lingus

There is no train service from Faro Airport and the bus service is somewhat limited. The best way to get to your destination is via a taxi, by pre booking a private transfer or by hiring your own car.

Having driven around the Algarve quite a lot my recommendation would be to hire a car. The whole area is easy to navigate, the roads are well sign posted and in general the traffic is pretty light.

One other tip...if you are flying from somewhere like London Gatwick remember that you can travel each way with different airlines, in many cases the flight times are quite different and it can be quite a lot cheaper to get 2 one way tickets!