Lagos was a perfect coastal beach stop, with stunning coastline and refreshing North-Atlantic ocean water. Nestled away in the Algarve region of Southern Portugal, Lagos is a popular holiday hotspot, and I can understand why. The city is old, it has character, but it’s small enough that it is very walkable and accessible. And there are a range of beaches within a 20min walk of the city centre. Honestly, from the moment I stepped off the bus, backpack in tow, and hightailed it to my hostel to check in before going straight to the beach, I felt at home. The region reminded me a lot of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand with its summer popularity and coastal attractions.
I only had 3 nights in Lagos, I had hoped to extend that to 4 but in the peak of busy season everywhere was fully booked. This was enough time to see and do everything I wanted to, but I could’ve happily spent another day chilling at the beach. The hostel I was staying at (Sol a Sol) wasn’t my favourite, and during my stay I didn’t find it to be particularly social but that wasn’t really a problem as I was so socially drained from the last couple of weeks that it was a nice break.
So on the night I arrived I attended a “family bbq” put on by the hostel, this was alright, at the least it was a good meal and had free sangria. During this I booked a coastal kayaking tour for the next day along the coast out to Ponte da Piedade. This was heaps of fun, the coastline and bays were stunning, and the weather was incredible. We were under an extreme heatwave warning though, so it was pretty damn hot. However, going into this I forgot that not everyone knew how to kayak and that it’s not just common knowledge over here. My kayaking partner Adam was nice enough, but as a Brit it became quickly evident that he had little to no kayaking experience, and he was meant to be driving this kayak from the rear. So I really had to do most of the work. Meanwhile, it was as if a school group of children had been let loose in the other kayaks, everyone was all over the place, crashing into one another. No wonder they towed us all back at the end. This was a good time, and well worth it though. Afterwards I went and got a late lunch (it probably wasn’t even late for Europeans) where I had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. It was fantastic.
A bucket list item that was on my mind before coming to Portugal was visiting the Benagil Cave. But I knew that it was a little way out of Lagos, so you either find your own way there or book a tour. Luckily, my hostel was offering van trips there for 20€ (not cheap but the other tours were very pricey). It was about a 40min drive to Benagil Beach, and once we were there it was insanely busy. Or so I thought, apparently that wasn’t even that bad. We had to park right up the top and walk down to the beach where we had the option to swim to the cave or rent a kayak (for another 15€). Being the budget friendly (cheap ass) traveller I am, I opted to swim with a couple of the other girls. It wasn’t that far but we did have to dodge millions of kayakers and boaters, so it was a journey for sure. But it was well worth it. The cave was pretty spectacular, I can see why it gets all the hype. I would highly recommend it, but also wouldn’t recommend going on a boat tour as you don’t get to land upon the beach which felt like half the experience.
And that, plus a ton more swims at various beaches just about sums up my time in Lagos. While it doesn’t sound like much, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and would love to go back.
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 