Weather in Faro in March

A good month. March works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 17.2 °C, lows 11.8 °C, and rain falls on 9 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

March ranks 9 of 12 in Faro: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 9 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 17.2 °C days and 11.8 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 5.4 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 25.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.9 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 47 mm — roughly 70% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. March rainfall has ranged from 13 mm to 229 mm across the twenty years measured — a 216 mm spread around an average of 67 mm. The average is real but almost no individual March looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind sits around 16.2 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How March sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 15.7 °C in February, 17.2 here, 19 in April. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in March

11.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Faro's extremes of 14.7 and 9.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 16.5 °C in March — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 22.7 °C in September and bottoms out at 16.5 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

March in Faro versus nearby

If Faro is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Évora is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Sevilla is a better bet in March — 3.3 °C warmer, 1 day less rain.

So: March is a compromise. June is 24 points better and is what Faro is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Faro

See all twelve months in Faro, or where else to go in March.