Our Opinion

This was our third trip to Faro and the first ever Jolly Boys return visit to the same hotel.
Although we have been to Faro before, there are always new things to discover, for example we found a small square within easy waking distance of our hotel with an excellent (and cheap) cafe bar.
Once again we were not let down by the weather with shorts being the order of the day.
Our train journey this time took us along the Algarve coast, in the opposite direction to that taken in previous years, to the town of Lagos. We were somewhat disappointed by Lagos and thought it a little too influenced by the British tourist for our liking, the apartments for sale in a local estate agents window were priced in both Euros and Pounds, for example. Also, beware the number of people offing boat trips, on our short walk through Lagos we were approached over 10 times!
As we have noted before, Faro is not the sort of place where things happen quickly. It is best viewed at a leisurely pace with frequent stops to enjoy a refreshing drink.

Further Details

Travel
Blackpool - Faro with Jet2.com
A pleasant enough trip although our outbound flight was delayed due to French Air Traffic Controllers being on strike. Great credit should be given to the Captain who took the time to personally appraise the passengers of the situation in the departure lounge. However, the early morning start still effectively gave us an extra day in Faro.
Bus services to Faro airport have now changed and are not as frequent as in the past. Our recommendation (especially if there are a number of people travelling together) s to get a taxi from the airport into town, it's nearly as cheap as the bus and certainly much quicker.
Faro - Lagos with Portuguese Railways
It  wouldn’t  be a Jolly Boys Outing without a rail journey and this trip down the coast passes through some interesting scenery. As noted elsewhere though, Lagos wasn't really our cup of tea.

Accommodation
Hotel Santa Maria, Faro
Located in the older part of central Faro this is an excellent hotel. One of our number had a surprise on finding someone else's luggage in his room and that the room had been double-booked. The situation was, however, resolved efficiently by the hotel staff.
The hotel has a bar, a small breakfast room and a larger coffee shop and restaurant although, on this occasion, we didn't eat or drink in the hotel apart from breakfast.

Recommendations
Mister Frango - 51/55 Rua Cruz das Mestra
At first sight this looks more like a chicken takeaway than anything else but in actual fact we had a superb meal together with a good local wine. The prices were extremely reasonable and we would certainly recommend this place.
O Seu Cafe - Largo de Sao Pedro
We found this place by pure chance and visited it almost daily thereafter for drinks. On our final day we ate here before leaving for the airport and the food was excellent.