Lagos in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Lagos covers 12 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Lagos rewards a detour.

Day 1

Morning

1. Ponta da Piedade: The most dramatic coastal landscape in the Algarve, a headland of golden limestone sea stacks, arches, grottos, and caves 2 km south of Lagos, voted the most photographed spot in southern Portugal.
2. Praia Dona Ana: One of the most beautiful beaches in Portugal, a sheltered sandy cove framed by dramatic red-orange limestone cliffs and rock formations, with crystal-clear turquoise water, consistently voted among the top beaches in Europe.
3. Igreja de Santo António: The most exuberantly gilded interior in Portugal, an 18th-century church declared a National Monument, whose entire interior is covered in carved and gilded baroque woodwork, azulejo tiles, and painted ceiling panels, a masterpiece of Portuguese baroque decoration.

Afternoon

1. Mercado de Escravos: Slave Market: The site of the first slave market in Europe, established in Lagos in 1444, where African captives brought back by Portuguese explorers were auctioned, a sobering and historically essential monument, now housing a museum on the transatlantic slave trade.
2. Forte da Ponta da Bandeira: A perfectly preserved 17th-century sea fort guarding the entrance to Lagos harbour, with a working drawbridge, a small chapel, and a small museum on the Age of Discovery, the departure point for Lagos boat tours.
3. Lagos Historic Walls & Arco de São Gonçalo: The Moorish and medieval defensive walls that still encircle the old town of Lagos, with the elegant 17th-century Arco de São Gonçalo gateway, the historic fortifications that once protected Henry the Navigator's base of Atlantic exploration.

Day 2

Morning

1. Praia da Meia Praia: A vast 4-kilometre straight sandy beach north of Lagos town, separated from the town by the Bensafrim river mouth and reaching the Ria de Alvor estuary at its far eastern end, calmer water than the ocean-facing beaches, ideal for families, watersports, and long walks, backed by dunes and pine forest.
2. Gil Eanes & the Age of Discovery: Lagos was the operational base of Henry the Navigator's Age of Discovery expeditions, Gil Eanes, a Lagos captain, became the first European to sail beyond Cape Bojador in 1434, opening the African coast and launching the era of European global exploration.
3. Lagos Seafood & Algarve Cuisine: The freshest Atlantic seafood in Portugal, sea bream, sea bass, tuna, octopus, and the famous cataplana seafood stew, Lagos restaurants serving the day's catch from the adjacent fishing harbour, accompanied by local wines and the unique carob liqueur.

Afternoon

1. Sea Kayak & Boat Cave Tours: The most popular activity in the western Algarve, sea kayaking or boat tours through the sea grottos and arches of Ponta da Piedade, exploring the golden limestone formations at water level in the company of expert local guides.
2. Praia do Camilo: A spectacular small cove reached by a dramatic wooden staircase descending through the limestone cliffs, with exceptional water clarity, natural rock arches, and the intimate character of a hidden beach, one of the most beautiful small beaches in the Algarve.
3. Lagos Regional Museum: The primary museum of western Algarve history, sharing a building with the Igreja de Santo António, Roman mosaics, Moorish artefacts, Age of Discovery navigation equipment, and ethnographic collections spanning 2,000 years of continuous occupation on this Atlantic coast.

Full Lagos guide and all stops →