Apart from being the most attractive town on the Algarve coast, Tavira is a good locality from which to explore the Ria Formosa. White Storks nest on disused chimneys and in summer, Little Terns fish on the rio Gilão right in the centre of the town.

If time is short head towards the sea. Take the road along the west bank of the river out of town to Quatro Águas. Access to the salinas either side of this road is unrestricted. Birds are not wary and can be watched easily from the road or even from just behind the market. Tracks lead out onto the pans and along the banks of the rio Gilão and the Tavira Channel (Canal de Tavira).

From either Tavira or Quatro Águas ferries serve the Ilha de Tavira. This island is an 11 km sand dune facing the open Atlantic on one side and a lagoon on the other. The Ilha de Tavira has no permanent residents but its splendid beaches attract a large summer population of sun-worshippers at widely separated centres. In summer, the dune flora is superb. It is easy to walk away from the holidaymakers and into solitude. In winter, ferries are infrequent.

On the east side of the rio Gilão are more salinas, sapal, a tidal lagoon and farmland. A sometimes smelly water treatment plant (ETAR) provides an expanse of non-saline water (hardly freshwater) that attracts ducks (occasionally rare ones), grebes, herons and cormorants. The sapal holds breeding Common Redshanks, Stone Curlews, Yellow-legged Gulls and Yellow Wagtails. Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers and Little Terns breed in the salinas. Throughout the year, Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Spoonbills and large numbers of migratory shorebirds occur. With the good habitat diversity, it is not difficult to log fifty species in a morning. Approach this large area from the access road to Hotel Albacora (occupying the buildings of the former tuna fishing settlement of Arraial Ferreira Neto - interesting small museum in the hotel). Birdwatch the road from end to end, passing farmland, salinas, sapal, a ruined fort, beaches, dunes and the water treatment ponds. From the road, follow the coast or any of the salinas tracks eastwards on foot and even more of this attractive area opens up.