Faro

You won't want to make a beeline for the legendary beaches (more on those later) before you've had your fill of the 13th-century Faro Cathedral, which fronts up against a citrus-scented plaza with its whitewashed walls and arabesque fusion styles. There's also more to see in the lovely Cidade Velha, a maze of wiggling lanes where salt-cod and custard tarts are sold in the Algarvian tavernas.

Ready to escape? Good, because charter flights to Faro are your ticket to a coastline of seriously epic proportions. It extends east and west to offer some eye-watering gems. You could hop to Praia de Garrao to find pristine sands stretching beneath Vilamoura's rolling golf clubs and luxury hotel resorts. You could venture further to Albufeira, where the pristine coves make for lazy days of lounging. Or there's the western Algarve, a world of wave-bashed bays manned by surfers and golden strands like Praia de Porto de Mós and Praia do Camilo.

Whether you stick around for some culture and history in the city or choose to break out to the Algarvian coast immediately, a charter flight to Faro promises to be a luxurious way to cruise into this sunny corner of Europe.