Faro or Lisbon?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on year-round weather and beaches & swimming with your weighting.
Wins on museums & heritage and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Faro if the trip is built around sun and swimming: the water starts at the edge of town, summer highs reach 29°C, and the dry season runs longer.
Choose Lisbon if you want museums and heritage, a centre where the sights sit close together, and a far wider choice of places to eat and drink. It also has more to fall back on when the weather is poor.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Faro leads by 4 points.4
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 61 | 57 |
| Swim season months | 3 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 13 | 24 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 2 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | 2 km |
Places to eat. Lisbon leads by 36 points.36
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 80 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 255 | 2,496 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 22 | 31 |
Museums & heritage. Lisbon leads by 48 points.48
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 22 | 70 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 124 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 8 | 54 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 89 | 44 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 3 |
Nightlife. Lisbon leads by 44 points.44
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 21 | 65 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 143 | 1,225 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 123 | 956 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 86 | 78 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 8 | 65 |
Nature & day trips. Faro leads by 1 points.1
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 57 | 56 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 11 | 11 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 42 | 54 |
| Park area within 2 km | 34 hectares | 77 hectares |
Good for families. Lisbon leads by 33 points.33
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 69 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 10 | 82 |
| Park area within 2 km | 34 hectares | 77 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Lisbon leads by 44 points.44
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 22 | 66 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 14 | 169 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Faro and Lisbon are level on 74.
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 74 |
| Price level global | 55.9 | 55.9 |
| Daily budget | €109 | €109 |
Year-round weather. Faro leads by 5 points.5
| Faro | Lisbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83 | 78 |
| Monthly daytime high | 16.3 °C to 29 °C | 14.9 °C to 28.4 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 1 mm to 102 mm | 3 mm to 121 mm |
| Dry months | 6 | 4 |
Where they differ
Faro is the warmer and drier of the two, with highs of 16-29°C against Lisbon's 15-28°C, and six months at 40mm of rain or less against Lisbon's four. The sea is at the centre rather than 2km out, and it holds a summer warmth Lisbon's coast never reaches.
Lisbon has many times as many museums, and 3 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach where Faro has none. Its centre holds many more notable places within walking distance, many times the restaurants, and far more bars and clubs.
Where they are alike
Both sit within regions where 11% of the surrounding land is protected, so a day out of either city reaches open country rather than more suburbs.
Both are coastal, with a spread of beaches within easy reach, and both share the same summer pattern: highs of 29°C in Faro and 28°C in Lisbon, with 1-3mm of rain in July. Winters are mild in each, with January highs of 15-16°C.
Which traveller are you?
A traveller after museums and heritage should take Lisbon: many times as many museums as Faro, 3 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, and a centre where the notable sights sit within walking distance of one another.
Anyone whose trip is built around swimming should take Faro: the sea begins at the centre rather than a short ride out, and stays warm enough for a long season, which Lisbon's cooler water does not.
Families have more to work with in Lisbon, with many more attractions and about twice the park space near the centre. Faro's case is 2 theme parks against Lisbon's 1, plus beaches reachable on foot.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. The figure behind it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, so neither is the cheaper trip on this evidence, and the €109 daily budget is one national estimate rather than a measurement of Faro or Lisbon.
Faro's weather edge is thinner than it looks, roughly 1°C in daytime highs; the real difference is how many months stay dry. Both are wet in late autumn, with 75mm in November in Faro and 121mm in Lisbon. And Lisbon has more beaches nearby, so Faro's advantage is a warmer, closer sea rather than more choice.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).
Faro's window is the longer one: May to October, with highs of 24-29°C and a sea at 21-22°C from July to October. Midsummer is close to dry, at 1-5mm. October still holds 23°C with 57mm, and even January stays at 16°C.
Lisbon is at its best from June to September, at 26-28°C with 3-13mm of rain across July and August. Its sea peaks at 19°C in September, cool for long swims. Autumn turns wet early, with 108mm in October, so build in indoor days.
Getting there
| Flying from | Faro | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 40 m no fares FAO · 3 km | 2 h 30 m €112-185 LIS · 7 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 2 h 30 m €126-204 1 stop FAO · 3 km | 2 h 25 m €118-145 LIS · 7 km |
| DublinDUB | 2 h 50 m €75-114 FAO · 3 km | 2 h 35 m €126-176 1 stop LIS · 7 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 20 m €46-52 FAO · 3 km | 1 h 15 m €64-74 LIS · 7 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 3 h 0 m €144-189 1 stop FAO · 3 km | 2 h 50 m €167-189 LIS · 7 km |
| ManchesterMAN | 2 h 50 m no fares FAO · 3 km | 2 h 40 m no fares LIS · 7 km |
| BrusselsBRU, CRL | 2 h 50 m no fares FAO · 3 km | 2 h 40 m €129-223 LIS · 7 km |
| PortoOPO | 1 h 15 m €37-132 FAO · 3 km | 1 h 0 m €93-107 LIS · 7 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 7 h 15 m no fares FAO · 3 km | 7 h 0 m €621-718 1 stop LIS · 7 km |
| MarrakechRAK | 1 h 20 m no fares FAO · 3 km | 1 h 35 m €95-118 LIS · 7 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Faro | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Portuguese | Portuguese |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC, UTC+1 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 10 m | 100 m |
| Main airport | Faro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations | Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre153 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 14 days | 14 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Faro | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 64,560 | 545,796 |
| People per km² | 319 | 5,453 |
| Museums within 10 km | 2 | 78 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 34 | 106 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 3 months | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro or Lisbon somewhere new.