Loulé

District: Loulé
Region: Faro, Portugal
Post Code: 8100
Distance from Faro: 18 km
Residents: 21.100


Loulé, the capital of the district of the same name, is an important rural administrative and active market town with over 20.000 residents, being the largest district of the Algarve. The weekly fair attracts tourists from all over the Algarve.

The town's landmark is the market hall (Mercado municipal) which re-opened in early 2007 after a long period of renovation. Its architecture has a classic moorish style influence.

The annual Carnival in February with its colourful procession around the centre of the city is considered one of the best in Portugal.

The earthquake in 1755 destroyed, like in most other towns in the Algarve, most of the historic buildings. Today you can only see some remains of the Arab castle and the Gothic Church of S. Clemente.

The town is nevertheless worth a visit, especially the old part and its surroundings, with the evocative battlements of a medieval castle, a maze of narrow, white streets where craftsmen carry on age-old traditions, the vertical lines of the minaret of an ancient mosque, the broad horizons of a revered sanctuary set high on a hill. Just a few facets of Loulé, a town of charming contrasts.