To get to the most Southwestern tip of Europe, you have to pass through Sagres. And Sagres is also a wonderfully relaxing place to be. Hence, I combine the two. And you actually have about 4 beautiful beaches in Sagres too, so I’m picking all of them in this top 10 😀 .

Driving towards Sagres, you notice that it becomes a barren plain. To me, it is clear that many, many trees should be planted at this corner of the world 😉 .

Because it is so flat without too many trees, the wind rages over it quite a bit. Now the south-west corner is good at catching wind anyway, but Sagres is the champion.

Sagres is a wonderfully relaxed place, with a surfing vibe. Not surprising with all those waves on their beautiful beaches. The South-West corner is the heaven on earth for surfers!
There is also a big castle, but due to the obligation to wear a mask there, we never went inside. Apparently, one must have great views from there.

There are also cosy terraces, cafés and restaurants, beautiful beaches. Like Praia do Beliche. Quite a long descent and another café/restaurant just before you put your feet in the sand. But on the other side of the point, Praia do Martinhal is also a nice place that doesn’t require a huge descent. Although at Praia do Beliche, I watched with admiration the surfers who run up and down all those steps running barefoot, with their boards under their arms. Whew!

Six kilometres from Sagres, you’ll find the lighthouse on the far South-western tip of Europe. Along a beautiful route with views, as the steep cliffs here can be up to 75 metres above sea level!
This place is called Cape St Vincent in English and the spot is also called the End of the World. Cabo de São Vicente, you will see on signs in Portugal 😉. The lighthouse itself is 24 metres. And in clear weather, it can be seen up to about 90 kilometres! Even from the coastal towns, this lighthouse can often be seen in the evening/night.

All in all, a lovely place, where it is good to be.

After all the BE-ing in Nature, sometimes it is also nice to be in the civilised world. Now Luz is a village with an awful lot of rental/tourist houses, but especially on the coast, at the promenade is a lovely atmosphere. There is also an organic shop nearby for e.g. shampoo, detergent, supplements and a bit of food. We could get the tastiest Latte Macchiato here for a long time, but eventually found a place with even better ones in Sagres 😀 . And no, I’m not mentioning any restaurants or café’s in this top 10 🙂 .

If you look out to the sea, you’ll find on the right, very unusual rock formations, as if a piece of land had once slipped off. You know that Portugal lies on the Atlantic Ocean? The ocean’s name is no coincedence ;).

The promenade is lined with beautiful palm trees. And once there, you notice a huge cliff. Via a not even that long walk, you can hike to the point Rocha Negra, from where you really have a fantastic view of Luz. And you can also take a lovely hike up here to Lagos. We even came across a shepherd with sheep here! A totally different area up the rocks than down in the village.

Luz, means Light. Once in Portugal, what strikes you most about the language is how simply they use it. Place names that are actually just words.

For small groceries, we often went to Luz. They also have many car rental companies and estate agents here.

As the whole western coast of Portugal is a heaven for surfers, so is the beach Praia do Amado. Plenty of parking space. And there is even a small snack bar and surf school. These were both closed for a long time. Only in early 2022 it opened up and we could go there for a drink.

Praia do Amado consists of two parts. You have a beautiful viewpoint that you walk to on wooden decking. From there, you can also see a staircase going down. If you walk down there, you will see rocks in all kinds of shades of red, pink, yellowish, orangey. Really beautiful. And when wet, those colours even stand out more.

From this part of the beach, you can walk to the more southern part at low tide. A lovely sandy beach, where at the end you even see sand with marram grass and it suddenly becomes a dune area!
So special that alternation of high rocks, boulders and sandy area!

You can also walk along the beach here. Or follow the road, northwards and walk along the coast, where there are all kinds of viewpoints all the time! And a good, typical Portuguese Restaurant.

Especially the diversity and the coloured rocks make this beach one of my favourites.

The beaches are truly phenomenal in this part of Portugal. So there are some in the top 10, but it was a difficult choice… We wanted and prefer to be in the middle of nature. And the beaches in the Southwest are pure and pristine.

Such as Praia do Zavial. Again loved by surfers, but also by the alternative community. In Portugal, nude recreation is allowed almost everywhere. And you often choose the furthest part of a beach to do so. At Praia do Zavial too, towards the high cliff.

There is also a restaurant here where you can sit, eat and drink. This place was also closed for a long time and we only got to enjoy it in 2022.

You can walk up the rock on either side and enjoy fantastic views there. Or walk to one of the neighbouring beaches, such as Praia Ingrina if you walk to the East, a small beach with a nice vibe, but parking there is difficult and Praia das Furnas, which is absolutely worth a visit and has some magic too. Quite a lot of parking space at Praia do Zavial. This beach is also well known among the ‘hippy’community.

Put a towel and a bottle of water in your backpack, and take a dip at every beach you see and walk on again 😊. Enjoy! By the way, do realise that the sea temperature in Portugal is downright cold. All year round. So you cool down considerably. That’s why surfers always wear surf suits.

Friends of ours live in the village on the access road to Praia do Zavial and we too looked into renting a house there. We just thought the price was too high and there was no good spot for the caravan. But there are some nice spots with views to the ocean.

Three beaches in one: Praia da Cordoama + Praia Castelejo + Praia da Barriga

You can walk all the way down these three beaches if it’s low tide. And from one point to the other, it will take you a while. And then you have to walk back again ;).

When it is low tide, beautiful rock formations also emerge. Here you can see the volcanic past very well. Parking is easiest at Praia da Cordoama. Praia Castelejo doesn’t have that many spaces and the road to it is a bit narrower. Not very handy with a campervan/motorhome. Praia da Barriga is fine parking for those with a 4×4. There you can also park on grass or sandy verges, which is a bit rougher.

By the way, instead of taking the turn to Praia Castelejo, you can also take an oblique turn that stays on the rocks. And then you come to a great house, which is abandoned (how many places we would like to renovate?! Unimaginable that this is empty!) and from there you also have fantastic views over the beaches.

It’s great to reset your mind, let the wind through your hair, enjoy (watching) the waves, enjoy the wide views, enjoy the peace and quiet. We were very often there alone. Or with a few people. So cool!

Best of all, crystals are hidden in some of the layers. We found several. Hubby even turned one of them into a nice big pendant and gave it to a friend as a Christmas present when we celebrated Christmas together in 2021 (with an outdoor lunch!).

At Praia do Castelejo there is a small restaurant. But at the time we were there, it was only sometimes open in 2022. It does, however, have a nice terrace. And I always enjoy a place extra when I can have a drink on a terrace.

All in all, a great recommendation if you like long beach walks. (Mind the tides though, will you?)

The first winter we rented a house on the outskirts of the town of Almádena. We discovered as we drove from Burgau to Salema (the most fantastic coastal road by the way!!!) that there was a sign pointing towards a fort. We wanted to check that out.

The fort is located very strategically. There used to be a little chapel there too. The energy feels really good there. Remember that in december 2020 Saturn and Jupiter would touch and that would be a magical moment?

We had tried to do something special with a group, but failed. We decided that the fort would be our magic spot. And it really was a magical evening. The sky was crisp, there was a brilliant sunset, there was not a breath of wind. I had placed myself in a circle of burning tea lights and they were not blown out! Bearing in mind that there is almost always wind, this was a truly amazing moment. The big deception turned out to be that from our point on earth, they were not going to touch each other at all, but were approaching each other. What the commotion was all about, I did not understand afterwards. They should indicate in news reports where on earth it did look like a merger. Anyway, we really did have a wonderful evening and will never forget it.

Stunning rock formations on the outside of Lagos. The Ponta de Piedade offers plenty of walking routes, sometimes even with steps down towards the water. And of course, always those beautiful views of Portugal’s rugged coast. That coastline really never bores!!!

Even the Fishermen’s trail runs along here. If you walk towards the west, you will also find picnic spots with great views. And towards the east, you can visit another beach.

This is a really super beautiful place.
There is a large car park.

There’s not much else to say about it. Images should do the trick here! And, of course, I hope you get to see this with your own eyes one day.

At almost 227 kilometres, the Fishermen’s Trail, also called Trilho dos Pescadores, is one of the longest and most beautiful hiking trails in the world. It is called the Fishermen’s Trail, because with your fishing rod, it gets you to the best spots. Officially, the whole route is split up in 13 stages.

It really is a magnificent route. And we at least had the whole route from Lagos to Sagres (in parts, because we had to walk back and forth to get to the car again). And we also did part of it on the west coast.

We also met a man who walked the trail with a donkey. A French landscape architect, named Paco, who was fed up with desk life. In 2019, decided to change course. And start walking with a donkey. Paco started in France, but he had also already bought an abandoned village in Grenada to renovate? At least that’s what we understood. He slept in the open if possible. What an adventure, I thought at the time. And this walking virus keeps him going. Even now he is walking trails!

The great thing is that this route went past places I didn’t think we could pass beforehand. But since there is a route, we went anyway. We did wear hiking boots, to have a good grip, but there were challenging stretches at times! Especially the stretch between Salema and Praia do Ingrina has some tough climbs and descents. But girl, are they worth it!

Hiking is especially recommended from November to March. After that, it quickly became too hot during the day we found. A good reason to visit the Algarve in the quiet winter months. And then especially do a lot of walking 😊 .

Many of the places in this top 10, you will also see if you walk the route. Just walking the route (we went back and forth because we parked the car somewhere), gives an extra dimension. You see so much. And walking back again lets you see everything from a different perspective.

For the truly adventurous
We also know people who follow this route with a backpack, sleeping on beaches, in caves. Do realise that in the South-West corner you hardly pass any houses or shops and there is no clean drinking water along the way. So be well prepared. Hitchhiking, by the way, is still quite common in this part of the world. If you need to run an errand, feel free to ask someone if they can take you to a supermarket.

In the summer of 2021, we lived for 6 months off grid on the land of a German family in Cararscalinho near Aljezur. We then got to know new beaches again. Our absolute favourite was Monte Clérigo. Wow, what a special atmosphere there is! A very charming small colourful village, built against the hill, right by the sea. With a few cosy restaurants. It is also definitely a tourist spot.

If you drive through the village, you can also park at the top. There is also a small park with a picnic table, where we celebrated hubby’s 54th birthday with friends.

And what was really special, if it is very low tide, you can walk (looking at the sea) all the way to the right. Then look at the rocks. I even saw remnants of columns standing there!!! So cool!

A lovely place for a sunset. To chill out. To swim. To sit on a terrace. The restaurants have delicious cakes too! On Mother’s Day, we had them there too. Enjoy!

Imagine this. We arrived in Central Portugal, have been looking very hard for a rental house during our stay in Ourique, where we spent several weeks on a fine campsite (Serro da Bica). From Ourique, we travelled south several times to look at various options, for example in Albufeira and in Monte Gordo, almost up against the Spanish border, to finally find something in Central Portugal. We rented a house there from a Dutch/Belgian couple, only to find out that it rains a lot in October, we can’t sleep in the house (beds too small and too damp inside), we would spend a fortune on pellets for the stove, and I realised that I had given up on my dream to be near the ocean, because the search was really difficult. In fact, by that time I had severe back pain.

I wanted to move again. Go to the sea after all. Follow my dream. The South-West corner it should be.
The moment I cancelled the lease by phone, my back pain was gone! How special!

It was a long drive and we arrive at the eco-camping of Salema at the end of the afternoon. We discovered that this campsite has a lot of elevation change and steep roads, which we did not dare with the combination of bus with caravan (and lots of kilos of luggage). And the receptionist was whining about putting on a mask. Here the concept was clearly not lived, it was a revenue model. And we didn’t want to contribute to that. (For your information, the situation there is now very different and changed a lot for the better).

Realising that it is already dusk, we decide to drive on to the village of Salema and end up in a car park right on the beach. Just by the approach, and the arrival, all four of us immediately fell in love. What a wonderful place this is!

There are few campsites in this region. And it was already late. What should we do?

I saw on Google Maps all kinds of B&Bs. And thought we could do that for one night. And then hubby found luxury villas of Nau Salema Beach Village, overlooking the sea, for 108 euros a night.
They were still open. That too was up a (steep) hill and we didn’t dare risk that. We decided to leave the caravan in a larger car park, in the village. Turning out the legs so no one could take the caravan. And we went up by bus.

And OMG, how happy we all were. What an incredibly luxurious place. The kids had their own bathroom, we had our own bathroom. Sea views.

We walked down and ate at a restaurant right by the sea. There was just one spot left for us. And what we discovered that winter, that we were the very last guests for that restaurant, because after that it was demolished. During our stay in Portugal, a completely new restaurant was built with flats attached! How special!

There was no real good sleep that night. It was hot. And I didn’t want to switch on the air conditioning. So we were up early. And then I saw the sunrise. We walked down to the beach. Everything was right, everything felt right. This was our place.
Although we didn’t find a place to rent there the first winter, it was a place we frequented often. Often there was still a terrace open where we could order our gallão (coffee with lots of milk). It kept pulling us in.

The second winter we managed to get a cottage 1 minute walk from the sea!!! We couldn’t see the sea from our cottage, but then we were able to see the sunrise almost every day, provided there was one. What a wealth!

Regularly we saw the fishing boats being pushed into the sea with the tractor. Or being pulled back onto the beach. It is a special village where there is plenty of rental property, but where the original character of a fishing village has also been preserved. How the fishermen at very low tide, seem to dance in the sand to find cockles there.

Salema has captured our hearts. It is a particularly expensive place. Prices have only gone up further since we left. But our daughter knows she really wants a place there. And so do I by now 🙂 .

And Salema is also a cat village. There are cats everywhere. And there are bowls of food everywhere. So our cat had a good time there too.

In addition, Salema Tours offers the option to do an excursion with a (fast) boat to see dolphins and combine it with seeing the cave Benagil near Carvoeiro. For the celebration of my 50th birthday we did that. What a special experience! The company is run by two very kjnd brothers. One of the brothers we also saw a year later as a waiter in Salema. It felt so special he even recognized us!

Salema at number 1 in this case has nothing to do with it necessarily being the most beautiful place, but it is a place that feels particularly good energetically and that we fell in love with instantly when we arrived in the Algarve. The village life. Coffee with milk for 1.10. We had the best time ever there.