A LITTLE GUIDE TO LAGOS, PORTUGAL
Since I started traveling at 18 I have been lucky enough to visit a good amount of Europe’s beautiful coast lines, mostly on the Mediterranean.
I’ve admired the colorful villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre over looking the sea in the late summer sun, I’ve boated through the bright blue waters in the South of France along the cliffs and pebble beaches, and laid in the grass and stared at the Atlantic along the edge of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, but after visiting Lagos for the first time I quickly caught on to how special and indescribable Portugal’s Algarve Region is as a whole.
Portugal in itself is one of my favorite places, right now as I write this, I am on a red eye flight back over to Lisbon actually. Both the cities and the country side in my opinion, have a special, different feel to the rest of Europe that I have hit so far, but nothing compares in the same way to the beach town of Lagos.
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LAGOS OVERVIEW
Tucked down on the country’s southwestern coast, lagos is a surf town on the atlantic full of insane cliffs and caves on beautiful beaches, some of my favorite architecture, and the best vibe of surfers and travelers.
Life is lived slowly and though there are a good amount of people it is still so peaceful.
With spring beginning and another european summer coming up, I figured I would write about my time spent there, my favorite parts and little things I did not know, mostly to remind myself as I write into the void.
GETTING TO LAGOS
I took the train down south and it was super easy and much cheaper than my trips around Italy. Most people will leave from Lisbon’s Entrecampos Station, but I left the city from Oriente. I do not remember why I ended up leaving from Oriente but the station is cool looking.
After about a 3 hour train ride you will stop over in Tunes, a little town in the southern countryside, the station is basically just the one little platform to hop and off.
The train I was on ended up running late and I was unsure if I was going to make it, but again it is just the one little platform essentially just there to connect the two and the train was there waiting. The entire train emptied out and switched over along with me and from there we headed down to the coast.
It took about an hour to get to Lagos, I was there in October and the train carts were filled with travelers and their big backpacks in the aisles like it could have been July. From the station it took about 10 minutes of walking through some beautiful marinas to get into the center.
The trip from Lisbon to Lagos will take just over 4 hours, and the train ticket cost me €26.
BEST BEACHES IN LAGOS
PRAIA DOS ESTUDANTES- 8600-315 LAGOS
Praia Dos Estudantes was my favorite beach, I ended up going every single day. Through out the mornings into the afternoons more people would start to make their way down to the beach, but it never got even remotely full.
The beach is spread over two or three huge beautiful rock cliffs, connected by tunnel like caves in the rocks. My favorite spot that I ended up making my little home base on the beach was right below mar restaurante & bar, a cute outdoor restaurant on the cliffs overhead. The hot sand, beautiful seashells and nice warm water made it hard to believe I was looking out into the Atlantic ocean, I have a list of my favorite beaches in this world and Praia Dos Estudantes was immediately added.
PRAIA DO PINHÃO- R. JOSÉ FORMOSINHO, 8600-315
Praia Do Pinhão was another lovely beach that is very close to Praia Dos Estudantes, it is smaller and it seemed to get crowded faster, but at sunset the energy of all of the people sitting in the sand watching the sea was so sweet.
BEST CAFÉS IN LAGOS
SWEET & TEMPTATION- FOOD & BREAKFAST: R. MARREIROS NETTO 5
COFFEE & WAVES: TV. DO COTOVELO 10
POM POM BAGELS: R. GIL VICENTE 4
BEST LOOKOUT SPOTS IN LAGOS
PONTA DA PIEDADE- 38JJ+9F, LAGOS
Ponta da Piedade is one of the most popular places to explore the cliffs from above as there are many connecting walking paths and beautiful lookout spots all in one place at the most southern end of Lagos.
You will have to Uber or ride a bike to Ponta Da Piedade as its a little further from the center of Lagos, but it is not a crazy distance and the Uber was very cheap as they tend to be in Portugal.
Next time I am in Lagos I am going to have to hit this spot again but this time during sunset as I only visited during the daytime.
PRAIA DE DONA ANA- 8600-315 LAGOS
Praia de Dona Ana is an honorable mention after Ponta da Piedade because while walking along the coast in Lagos you will have a beautiful lookout over the cliffs anywhere, but this one stood out to me for some reason, so unbelievably beautiful.
ACCOMMODATION IN LAGOS
I did not want to have any social battery on this trip and I used my time in Lagos to rejuvenate and recharge in the sun with actual reasonable hours of sleep, so I stayed in a beautiful little room in a b&b, but Lagos’ backpacking and surfing scene and fun nightlife makes it a great hostel spot and I scoped out the best ones during the day and night for a good idea of what I should book next trip. The hostel that looked the best and cutest to me was Bura Surfhouse.
SPENDING IN LAGOS
In total over a span of five short days and nights in Lagos I spent just over $400 USD.
That is not including my flights to and from Portugal of course, but one major pro of living in Massachusetts (there isn’t many) is weirdly cheap direct flights to and from Boston and Lisbon- I spent $330 USD for a round trip in October.
SPENDING BREAKDOWN:
Accommodation: $38/night, $190 total. (I just checked the price of the b&b I stayed at, and it is now $100/night being spring now.)
Food/drinks: ∼$30/day, $150 total
Roundtrip train tickets: $26 usd each way, $52 total
Activities (tanning, swimming, hikes, lookouts, etc.): free
During the warmer months as more people make their way to the algarve the prices of things like accommodation and Ubers definitely increase, but not by much looking at it now. Also compared to other popular spots Europe during the summer these prices are soooo much cheaper.
I think about my time in Lagos every single day. I have worked for years and years on being present and appreciative in the moment, and this is one of the places that I have visited during my travels that makes it so extremely effortless to be fully present, not thinking about the past, future, or anything except for the perfect bubble that I was in.
Lagos was one of the highlights of my 2022 and is undoubtedly one of my favorite places that I have been so far.
THINKING OF TRAVELING TO LAGOS? DO IT.
HERE ARE ALL OF THE RESOURCES I USE TO PLAN MY TRIPS:
FLIGHTS AND ACCOMMODATION: BOOKING.COM IS WHAT I WILL ALWAYS USE TO BOOK FLIGHTS AND STAYS. NEVER DONE ME WRONG.
TOURS, DRIVERS, AND ALL THAT FUN STUFF: VIATOR IS MY GO-TO.
TRAVEL INSURANCE: SAFETYWING HAS ALWAYS BEEN FABULOUS. THE BEST EVER.
RENTAL CARS: WHEN BOOKING ANY TRIP THAT YOU DECIDE TO RENT A CAR FOR, BOOKING.COM IS FABULOUS LIKE ALWAYS.
