Hop On Hop Off Islands

We did the hop-on-hop-off experience with three girls to see the beaches of Faro. My preferred spot was the first island (Ilha Deserta), you can spent half day there. It has a wooden pathway to go for a 2 km mini hike and a looong sandbeach on the other side. We spent 1 hour there and there were very few people. We had a coffee and oysters in the restaurant before leaving, the restaurant and bar are fancy and very nice for a short stay. The second stop (Farol) I would recommend to skip, it is a holiday park for portuguese families and some low quality bars. You cannot do much there. The third stop (Ilha Culatra) has a beautiful fishermen harbour. We had an intensive 2-hours-lunch at the restaurant "O Rui" with prawns, claws, fish and sides, plus water and two bottles of wine (total 75 Euros). It was delicious and relaxing. We took the wooden bridge to the other side of the island to the beach (15 min walking) and had a nice swim in the ocean, there is also a bar for snacks and drinks. Very much recommended. It took us all day to return as we liked it so much (from 10.30 to 7pm) but you can also choose to go with the other boats and return earlier. The team is great, they give safety advice and make you feel safe and comfortable at any time. there were also few kids, I can recommend to go with kids as well as the speed boats are safe and you get life vests. You can book the tickets at the harbour area (book 1-2 days in advance).

We really enjoyed the Hop-on-Hop-off! Thanks for the team: always caring, safety first and super friendly! We recommend staying two slots at Deserta and doing the round walking tour and ending with oysters at the bar. As we came off-season Farol was deserted (its rather a holiday park) but Culatra was an excellent experience again. We had fish and seafood at O Rui and LOVED IT! We left in the morning with the first boat and came back with the last ????

3 girls - we all did the hop on hop off all day ferry boat to the 3 islands and it is SO worth it. Absolutely incredible, definitely go for it. Remember the team all wear yellow shirts and are in yellow boats so just make sure it’s ilha Deserta boat tours We paid I think around £30 each and it is so worth it. It’s a full day tour and you can hop on hop off the boats on any island you want and they are all worth it. The first one is 15 minutes away on the boat and the experience is surreal. It feels like you’re floating and it’s not bumpy at all - this is to Deserta where this a restaurant and you can walk around the whole island to a beach. The second one was around 7/8 mins away with is called Farol and is a tourist island apparently so in summer it would be buzzing. But in March it wasn’t, you can walk to the other side and there is a light house and a lovely beach to lie on (this was our favourite). There are also two bars but they were closed when we went in March. Then the last island is 5 minutes away in the boat, and this is the fisherman island so this is lots of locals and it’s lovely. Very small but quaint. They have a bar open with ice creams and drinks etc… you can walk around the island too and if you go to the other side there is a beach too which is lovely ! Boats are always on time and lovely to sit on. They provide life jackets too and prioritise safety. Definitely worth it if you are in Portugal! Just take a photo of the boat times:)