[3] Tavira is the Portuguese representative community for the inscription of the Mediterranean Diet as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

Another urban center emerged at nearby Cerro do Cavaco, a fortified hill occupied until the time of Emperor Augustus.

Balsa became a big town, in fact much bigger than Tavira, that grew, prospered and decayed in parallel with the Roman Empire.

Under Roman rule, Tavira was a secondary passing place on the important road between Balsa and Baesuris (today Castro Marim).

The area remained rural until the 11th century when Moorish Tavira (from the Arabic Tabira, "the hidden") grew rapidly, becoming one of the important towns of the then Gharb al-Andalus (the west), today's Algarve.

In 1242 Dom Paio Peres Correia took Tavira back from the Moors in a bloody conflict of retaliation after seven of his principal Knights were killed during a period of truce.

The church of Santa Maria do Castelo, built on the ruins of a mosque, holds the tombs of Dom Paio Peres Correia and his knights.

The local beach lies past the salt pans and can be reached via the nearby Santa Luzia footbridge or by ferry, taking visitors to the sand-bar island known as Ilha de Tavira, part of the Ria Formosa natural wetlands park.

[9] The nearby Praia do Barril beach has an 'anchor cemetery', where rusting anchors stand as a tribute to the area’s tuna fishing heritage.

Tavira has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.

[11] Administratively, the municipality is divided into 6 civil parishes (freguesias):[16] Tavira has its own railway station on the line from Vila Real de Santo António to Faro and Lagos.