Hi everybody,
To finish touring the most important of Algarve, we needed to rent a car. These are the stops we made:
- Praia da Rocha
- Santa Catalina Fortress
- Historic center of Portimão
- Praia Dos Tres Irmãos
- Praia do Alvor
- Ponta da Piedade
- Praia do Camilo
- Historic center of Lagos
The first thing is that we had a very windy and cold day.
The area of Portimão where Praia da Rocha is, is cool and the beach is very wide. Also, you have Praia Grande on the other side of the marina. The historic center is quite ugly, and the Santa Catalina Fortress is a fort that is behind the beach.
We entered Praia dos tres irmãos through a huge residential complex that was uncomfortable because everything was the same and it gave me the feeling of being inside some episode of Channel Zero.
There were quite a few people, although few dared to bathe in those frozen waters; however, it was crystal clear and turquoise. We toured the beach and there were a lot of people there to be May.
There is a passage behind some rocks, and you arrive at Praia do Alvor. It is longer and you can find places without many people.
Then we went to Ponta da Piedade. It is an area that on the internet came out as one of the most spectacular things in Lagos. There, what you have is a journey of several kilometers with the typical views of the Algarve and in one part there are stairs that go down to a kind of jetty where you take a boat to see rock formations and caves. I was expecting something special and it was the typical touristy boat trip.
Praia do Camilo is small it was fill of people at 17h. The water was cloudy and full of algae. Also, there is a tunnel (man-made) in the rock that connects the two bits of beach.
Finally, we went to see the historic center of Lagos and it is ugly. The only thing that is a little decent is the shopping street.
The following Sunday we had to go even further to Sagres. In this area we visited the following:
- Cabo de São Vicente
- Fortress of Sagres
- Praia da Mareta
- Praia da Bordeira
That day we had more wind and cold. We arrived at Cabo de São Vicente and the wind was scary because it gave the feeling that it was going to throw me off the cliff.
The entrance to the Fortress of Sagres cost 4 euros per person and it’s not too expensive. It’s a big complex where people even go to exercise.
From there we went to Praia de Mareta because seeing it from the fortress, it seemed to be quite protected from the wind. The beach was idyllic, and the sea was incredibly calm, but we had the same crazy wind. We walked along the beach and at first it seemed that there were no people, but then we saw that they were all tucked between the rocks to protect themselves from the wind.
We stayed there for a while and tried to sunbathe. In the end, I wrapped my head in a towel because I couldn’t bear the wind and sand anymore.
The last stop was Praia da Bordeira. The road to get there became greener and mountainous. We went through the typical surfing stands and there was a town called Carrapateira that I found super cute.
To get to the beach, you had to leave your car in a parking lot, cross a river and pass some dunes. On the part where we crossed the river there was vegetation and that was pure black mud. The beach was incredible, and I was almost alone.
The whole area of Sagres is beautiful and what I liked the most is how the landscape changed and that there were hardly any buildings to be seen.
Here are the points we visited in these two days:
On Monday morning we still had the car, and we took the opportunity to visit the Benagil Cave. It was something that we had pending from Armação de Pêra and Diego was very excited to paddle or kayak there.
I asked in various places for the rental and everything was expensive; In addition, you had to hire the tour; between 35 and 45 euros per person. In the end, we found that right on the Benagil beach there was a rental stand and it cost 15 euros for 1h30.
What we did then was arrive before nine o’clock and go swimming to the cave since it is right next to the beach, in 10 minutes we were already there.
At 8:40 am there was already a couple inside the cave, so you must get there even earlier. We took the photos, returned to the beach, and rented the paddle boards.
The route is interesting, the bad thing is that at 10:30 am the area begins to fill with boats and more people in kayaks. It is worth it, but you have to get there at 7am (as minimum).
A curious thing is that the entire area of Algarve is full of signs so that people be careful because rocks are always falling everywhere, but then you can get inside the Benagil cave without any problem. That leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to tourist safety.
Here is the map with the route we did:
I also leave the links to my YouTube channel: