

| Flights to Tavira | |
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Tavira is a small yet beautiful city in the Algarve on the south east coast of Portugal. The historical city of Tavira offers some lovely old architecture, including its famous medieval bridge, as well as quaint streets and buildings.
The nearest airport for flights to Tavira is the Faro Airport (airport code: FAO), about 30 kilometres outside of the city. This airport handles a lot of seasonal and charter flights to Tavira, but there are a number of regular flights as well. With either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic, you will have a single connection in London when coming from South Africa. Flying with Lufthansa will take you through Munich as well as Lisbon instead. On average, most flights to Tavira will be over 20 hours long. |
| With its location on Portugal’s Algarve the city of Tavira has a lot to offer. When you base yourself in Tavira not only can you enjoy this beautiful stretch of coastline, its beaches, and the many other towns and cities nearby, you can enjoy this attractive and small city too.
Tavira is a quaint city with many whitewashed buildings. There are more churches in the city than you’d care to count, and if you’re planning to stay in the city you’ll find a selection of lovely places to stay and eat out. Tavira isn’t full of nightlife like a few of the other popular resort towns on the Algarve, but this quieter atmosphere is what appeals to most tourists who are visiting Tavira anyway. Much of the architecture you’ll see in Tavira today is a result of the Moorish occupation. They built several of the main landmarks of Tavira including the famous arched bridge that crosses the River Gilao and connects the two halves of the city. For many years it was thought that this seven arched bridge was a relic of Roman times, but a recent archaeological study reveals this to actually be of Moorish construction. Either way this is one of Tavira’s most famous landmarks and is beautiful to look at. The Castle, Castelo, is also from Moorish times, and though in ruins visitors can enjoy the site and the great views over Tavira from it. Much of Tavira was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake that hit most of Portugal, so many of the original historic buildings are no longer standing. Tavira was rebuilt following the earthquake though, and many of the buildings from that period do still exist here today. For example, there are 37 churches in Tavira a couple of which have bee remodelled from original Moorish mosques, such as the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo. This dates from the 13th century and the original mosque minaret was adapted into the clock tower. Not far from Tavira is the city’s local beach which is accessible via a ferryboat because the beach is one the other side of Tavira’s salt pans. As well as enjoying the beach you can play a round of golf or two in the increasing number of golf courses now opening in the area surrounding Tavira. |