The numbers, without the asterisks
Faro Airport serves the whole Algarve, and almost nobody who lands there is staying in Faro. The question everyone asks before booking is the same one: what will it cost to reach the hotel. Here are the numbers, without the asterisks.
The four ways out of the airport
Faro has one terminal and four ways to leave it. Each suits somebody, and each fails somebody.
The number 16 bus takes you into Faro town for €2.70 in twenty minutes. It is the cheapest thing available, and it is useless to most passengers — it does not go to Albufeira, Vilamoura or Lagos. It stops running before 20:00 and takes cash only.
The train looks appealing until you realise there is no airport connection. You need a taxi to Faro station, then a wait, then a change. With luggage and children, what you saved on the fare you lost in two hours of your life.
The metered taxi
The rank is always there and needs no booking, which is its real advantage. The problem is that you only learn the price at the end.
Albufeira runs €60 to €70 on the meter in normal conditions. On an August Saturday at five in the afternoon, with the A22 busy, it can pass €85 — because the meter charges you for sitting still. After 21:00 and at weekends, add roughly 20%.
Then there is the queue. On a peak summer Saturday, Faro's arrivals are the busiest in Portugal, and the wait at the rank can pass half an hour.
The hire car
It makes sense if you plan to drive around the Algarve every day. It makes no sense if you are staying at a resort and going out twice.
The advertised price — €30 to €40 a day out of season — is not what you pay. Add the insurance, the fuel, the hotel parking and the deposit blocked on your card. And in August the airport desks run hour-long queues, at the end of a travel day.
The private transfer
The price is agreed before you book and does not move. It covers the whole car, the tolls and the taxes. These are our current prices from Faro, for up to four passengers:
Faro Airport
Up to 4 passengers, whole car
Tolls and taxes included. Free cancellation until 24 hours before pick-up.
For groups of five to eight the vehicle becomes a van — Albufeira is €93, Lagos €178. Split across six people, that is under €16 each to Albufeira.
Where the maths flips
For one or two people with light luggage staying in Faro town, the bus wins and there is no argument. Two euros seventy against anything else is not a comparison.
From three people up, or for any destination west of Faro, the maths inverts. A family of four heading to Albufeira pays €55 on a fixed-price transfer, against €60 to €85 in a taxi whose total they only discover at the end.
And there is a variable no table shows: the flight is late. Land ninety minutes behind and the taxi is not booked for you, and the hire desk may have closed. A transfer follows the flight number and adjusts itself.
What to ask before booking, whoever you book with
- Does the price include tolls? The A22 dropped them in 2025, but the roads north still have them.
- What happens if the flight is late? Sixty minutes of free waiting is the reasonable standard.
- Will the luggage fit? One large case per person rarely fits a four-seat sedan.
- Where exactly is the pick-up? At Faro it is the arrivals hall, just past customs.
A note about place names
Albufeira has three hotel areas kilometres apart. Vilamoura spreads for several kilometres around the marina. Giving only the town name is the most common cause of a late arrival in the Algarve.
Give the hotel or the resort name. It is the one piece of information the driver needs and the one most people forget.
Enter where you land and where you are going. The price you see is the price you pay.
Price my transfer