The Beautiful Coves of Lagos

Lagos is a small town in Portugal’s southern Algarve region. It is best known for its stunning cliffs jutting out from iridescent, blue water and Atlantic beaches. It is one of those places that remind you just how beautiful this earth really is.

I was lucky enough to talk my parents into spending their last three days of their vacation in Lagos with me, and thankfully they loved it! We spent our days relaxing by the water; some days we basically had our own private nook of the long, coved beach. We enjoyed a boat ride for an hour around, under and through the cliffs that provided a great perspective of how high and intricate each cliff and cove is. My favourite activity was walking along the cliff path, looking down onto each beach and into each cove for different, and absolutely breath-taking views. Make sure you don’t miss a pink-hewed sky as the sun sets as least one night to complete your Lagos itinerary.

Lagos town was small and boring in my opinion. It was laden with tourist stores, kitschy souvenirs, and overpriced restaurants. We probably spent half an hour walking through here, which leads you to the marina. On the marina, there will be a person every 4 metres trying to sell you a boat trip. If this interests you, you can try to haggle down the price. We were lucky and got our 1-hour boat trip for 12.50€ each just because the person before offered us that price and then the lady we chose said she’d match the previous man, however the going rate seemed to be 15-20€.

The first coved beach I went to was Praia do Pinhão. This is split into two sections via a rock, and one side fits very minimal beach goers, so if you get there at a good time you could be the only one on the beach! Then the next beach along is Praia Dona Ana, which is a very well known beach, and bigger spatially, so it is a more crowded beach. Next to that is Praia do Camilo, where you have to walk down 220 steps before you reach the beach! I preferred to take pictures from the top, looking down onto the coves and the crystal clear water. Continue along the path here, making your way to the most beautiful spot in Lagos, Ponta de Piedade. I can’t even describe how beautiful this spot was, so luckily I took about 100 photos to show you instead.

The street I stayed on was Largo Salazar Moscoso. This was an amazing location! The apartment had two delicious restaurants literally underneath and behind the apartment building, and was within 5 minutes walk to the closest coved beach, and 20 minutes walk to the most beautiful coved beach in Lagos. It was also about 20 minutes walk down to the marina, which has a lot of touristy restaurants.