The population of Lagos municipality is approx 34,000, increasing substantially during the summer months with the influx of tourists and seasonal residents. Lagos is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve and Portugal, due to its variety of beaches, rock formations, bars, restaurants and hotels. Yet Lagos is also an ancient maritime town, was a frequent home of Henry the Navigator, and at one time, the center of the European slave trade. The town was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 1755 and although some of the walls from the 16th century still remain, many of the buildings are from the 17th century.
Lagos is just 30 minutes west of Portimao, but it’s quite different over here. No big high rises and more of a real town feel where people live all year round. Of course it helps that our apartment is in the Porto de Mos neighborhood outside the town center, we are still just an 8 minute walk to the beach and a couple of restaurants. Other than that everything else is a short drive away so while this area is lovely and peaceful, its not walkable to most restaurants or any grocery stores. Lagos old town is very picturesque with cobbled streets, shops, restaurants and a pretty boardwalk along the river. Across the river is a trendy marina area with more shops and restaurants.
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Lagos is also well known for its proximity to Ponta da Piedade, a collection of craggy rock formations that form a coastal headland not far from central Lagos. It’s understandable that this is one of the most famous landscapes in all of Portugal. Hiking from Lagos to Ponta da Piedade is about 1.5 miles one way and is largely on a flat wooden boardwalk. Continuing on past the Ponta da Piedade lighthouse the boardwalk intersects with some paved pathways and carries for about 20 minutes more to end above Praia do Canavial. We walked this path quite a few times during our month in Lagos and I took way too many photos!
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Very near our apartment in Porto de Mos is the Fisherman’s Trail that heads up the cliff from the beach. We walked the trail a couple of times until we reached the point overlooking Luz. Near Luz is Rocha Negra (Black Rock), formed about 150 million years ago by a lava vein from the Monchique mountains. The Black Rock is a stark contrast to the multi-colored striped lines of the neighboring cliffs. Luz is a popular spot for sunsets as well. Below the cliffs is a popular surfing area where we regularly saw brave surfers in the chilly seas.
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Last month we saw Benagil Cave from above while hiking so now it was time to see it from the water. Because the coastline is not very interesting between Lagos and Portimao, we drove back to Portimao to pick up a 90 minute boat tour. We stopped at a few other caves, beaches and points along the coast with the final destination being Benagil Cave, the focal point of the tour. Interestingly, it was not a big as I remember it being from 6 years ago but it’s still interesting to be inside the cave and admire all the colored layers of the stone. The 90 min tour cost 35 Euros (USD $36) each.
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Monchique is a small town high above the coast in the low mountains of the Algarve where the houses cascade down the hillside to the town center. The attraction to heading here was to climb Picota peak, the second highest point in the Algarve at 773 meters. There are a lot of hiking trails around Monchique and finding any sort of trailhead was a challenge. We eventually parked the car near what appeared to be the start of a trail. We walked about 1.5 km to reach the viewing tower atop the peak and the views were well worth the climb. Of course when we looked over the other side we saw a small parking lot with some signage and it would have been a 5 minute walk to where we stood. Why is it we never seem to find the parking lot!! However, our hike was really pleasant through the forest and we felt like we accomplished something, despite me lamenting the fact “we could have driven here” 😂😂 The hillsides surrounding the town are filled with stone wall terraces, a method used since Roman time to grow vegetables, oranges, lemons, figs and olives, as well as cork oak trees. After finishing our hike we headed into Monchique and had a wander around the cobbled streets, plus found a nice little place for lunch. It’s worth a day trip to come here and do a bit of hiking if you are in the Algarve.
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We arranged a 2.5 hour e-bike tour with Portugal E-Bikes taking us around Lagos and up the Fisherman’s Trail to the viewpoint overlooking the town of Luz. Federico was a fabulous guide and the bikes are easy to ride giving that extra bit of help we needed when going uphill. The older we get the more we like e-bikes 😂 We booked the tour directly with Federico and the cost was 58 Euros (USD $59.75) each. (his contact info is below)
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The Carvoeira Boardwalk is a picturesque clifftop walk that leads from Nossa Senhora da Encarnacao fort to the Algar Seco rock formation. This short walk along an elevated wooden walkway offer stunning views over the coastline as it skirts the cliff top. At the eastern end of the boardwalk are the Algar Seco cliff formations with steps descending to a small cave and an exposed sinkhole where the sea has formed a shallow saltwater pool. Continuing east beyond the boardwalk the trail turns into a rocky footpath along the clifftop continuing on for as long as you feel like hiking.
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We had fabulous weather since our arrival in the Algarve early December but during the latter half of January some rainy weather arrived, fortunately we had travel planning and a busy social calendar to keep us occupied. In early January our friends and fellow nomads, JD & Sheri, drove down from Lisbon to spend a couple of days with us. We have not seen them since Calgary in June of 2022 so we had a lot to catch up on! We walked the clifftops from Lagos to Praia de Porto de Mos, toured Sagres, enjoyed a couple of lunches together and shared lots of stories and travel information. We were sad to see them leave and look forward to meeting again somewhere in the world.
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Mid month we had a house guest for a few days when my cousin Steph flew over from London to visit. We have not seen each other since May 2023 when we stopped in the UK so once again it was a great opportunity to catch up in person. We kept busy with some sightseeing around Lagos, hiked the 7 Hanging Valleys Trail, walked from Lagos to Ponta Piedade, visited the towns of Burgau and Luz and celebrated her 65th birthday with a couple of incredible dinners out. A most amazing evening was spent at Don Sebastiao in old town Lagos. The restaurant is a Michelin recommended restaurant and its definitely worth dining here if you are in Lagos. We were fortunate to be invited to tour their wine cellar where they have a port wine from 1867 and many more old and priceless wines.
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A detour along the Ponta da Piedade boardwalk worth taking is the stairs down to Praia do Camilo. There are roughly 220 steps but it’s worth the descent to the beach. On the eastern side of the beach is a tunnel through to another small beach but the attraction here is going inside a circular cave open to the sky. I had already done these stairs once so waited up top while Blair and Steph headed down to the beach and clambered over the rocks to get inside the cave. Reaching this cave is only possible at low tide, and even then its not an easy route!
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While we were in Faro dropping my cousin at the airport we popped in to the Igreja do Carmo church for a look around and to see the macabre Capela dos Ossos, chapel of bones. The chapel serves as the final resting place for over 1,250 skeletons. These bones belonged to the Carmelite Monks who once served at the Carmo church, their remains transferred here in 1816 when Faro’s cemeteries reached capacity. The interior of the church is lavishly decorated with gold leaf and intricately carved altars funded by gold imported from Brazil. While a bone chapel may seem like a creepy attraction, exhuming bones from graves was a common practice in the past. The entrance fee to the church was 2 Euros (USD $2.10) each.
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Even though we spent the month of December in Praia da Rocha the beach is so spectacular that we returned 4 times during our month in Lagos to go for long walks and enjoy a drink at our favorite clifftop bar Cloque au Mar. The views from the bar just can’t be beat and if you like beach walking Praia da Rocha is simply the best, in our opinion. 💕
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After two months in the Algarve, did we prefer Praia da Rocha, Portimao or Porto de Mos, Lagos? Both have their good points but overall we both agree that Praia da Rocha suits us better. Why? Our favorite thing to do is long beach walks and Praia da Rocha had the best beach. If we timed our walk at low tide we could go about 3.5 km one way before running out of beach. Praia da Rocha also wins with the most clifftop and beachside restaurants with amazing views. For clifftop walks Lagos is the winner with the Ponta de Piedade boardwalk and Fishermans Trail up from Porto de Mos to Luz. Lagos also has the nicest old town with lovely cobbled streets, shops, restaurants and a trendy marina, and I loved our neighborhood of Porto de Mos.
Depending on your interests either of these two towns would be a lovely place to stay but we would choose Praia da Rocha as our return destination. But definitely not in the busy summer season, we have heard its overrun with tourists, but I think that goes for the entire Algarve region.
As we sadly leave the beautiful beaches of the Algarve our next destination is Estoril, 30 minutes west of Lisbon…
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TRIP TIPS
We booked our Benagil Cave boat tour with Atlantis Tours and while the boat was good in the waves, we were packed in like sardines and it was not all that easy to take photographs. We would not go with them again.
We joined Lift Fitness in Lagos and of all the gyms we have joined over the past 7 years this is the first one we have encountered where you buy a block of hours to use the facility. The cost for a 15 hour package was 55 Euros, plus 5 Euros for insurance and 20 Euros deposit for the wristband, so a net cost of 60 Euros (USD $61.82) each once we get our refundable deposit back.
Our e-bike tour in Lagos was with Federico of Portugal E-Bikes and we were very happy with our tour. Federico and his wife own the company and they take a maximum of 5 guests. We highly recommend contacting Federico if you are in Lagos and looking for an e-bike tour. He can be reached on WhatsApp at +351 969 315 040
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