European Summer Pride Faro

A full week of Pride at the end of the European summer, run by the crew behind European Snow Pride — and set in Faro, the laid-back capital of the Algarve. The programme packs around eighteen activities into eight days: beach afternoons on the Ria Formosa islands, boat trips, pool sessions, dinners, parties and day excursions along Portugal's southern coast, all on a festival pass that keeps the group together for the week. It lands in late September, when the Algarve water is at its warmest and the summer crowds have thinned — arguably the region at its best. Faro's own queer anchor, the Werk Room community centre, gives the week a local heartbeat, and Albufeira's gay bars are a short hop along the coast. If you've done the winter edition in the Alps, this is the same formula with sunscreen instead of ski passes.