Places to visit in the Algarve Portugal

The Algarve's West Coast

When we first visited the Algarve, many years ago, several people told us to visit the west coast, that it was well worth the effort to see the magnificent deserted beaches, the high cliffs and scenery so different from the southern coastal area.  We've been many times and over the years the roads have improved so that now you can be on the west coast in no time at all. The west coast of Portugal, along with other west coasts you can think of such as Norway, Scotland and Ireland, is a bit wild and sometimes extremely windy.  After all, there isn't much between Portugal and the east coast of America except the Azores and an awful lot of Atlantic Ocean!

So, how did we get to the Algarve's West Coast?  We jumped in the car and, leaving Lagos behind us, drove west on the EN125 towards Sagres.  We passed the signs to Praia da Luz, Burgau and Salema leading left off the road and down to the coast. The village of Figueira was visible on the left as the road sweeps round to the right and we passed the small Church - Ingreja Guadaloupe - where Henry the Navigator use to stop in the 15^th century on his journeys between his base in Lagos and the Forteleza de Sagres where he housed his School of Navigation.  We continued on through the traffic lights at Raposeira where the road to the beaches at Ingrina and Zavial leaves to left and on to Vila do Bispo, the administrative town for the area.  We left the EN125 at Vila do Bispo and took the EN268, running slightly inland and north up the west coast, towards Aljezur.

The road runs through forest and back into open country where agriculture predominates. The area is sparsely populated and, although this length of coast is used as a holiday destination, it is on a very small scale at the moment compared with the south coast. The west coast of the Algarve has long been recognised as a surfer's paradise and there were several people in the water on each of the beaches that we visited. We turned left at Carrapateira and took a look at Bordeira and Amado beaches. The road is marked with a sign showing binoculars and although the road starts off well enough, it does get quite rough in parts. However, as usual, we did not want to drive quickly anyway as we gazed at the magnificent beaches and coastline. Not this trip but previously, we have stopped here and watched the sand yachts racing up and down the large beach. Back onto the Aljezur road there is more inland scenery to enjoy before joining the N120 which is the direct route from Lagos. Just a few kilometres further on, we took the left turn signposted Arrifana and Monte Clerigo and then forked left and meandered down to Arrifana, which together with Monte Clerigo is one of the few beaches on the west Algarve coast where there is a village. The road down is steep and parking at the top was our preference as the view from here is truly magnificent. We retraced our steps back to the fork and took the other road to Monte Clerigo. There were some houses on the left and it did look as though it may be possible to wind our way to Monte Clerigo along the top of the cliffs - we shall try that another time. This is one of my favourites. There are some brightly coloured beach huts nestling into the bank as you approach the village downhill, across a small “bridge” over the stream and into the village square. We parked here and lingered over coffee overlooking the beach. On the other side of the headland is the south side of the riverbank but our final destination was the beach of Amoreira on the north side of the river so we drove through Aljezur, staying on the N120, towards Rogil, before turning left down to the beach. Why here? This time it was because we had been told that there was a fantastic wild flower natural rock garden where the flowers were spectacular at this time of the year but that they would soon be over (our visit was 5^th May 2007). We parked in the small car park and climbed up the bank to the top of the cliffs. The route was sandy and it was hot so sensible shoes were required but the variety of plants and flowers was spectacular and worth every bit of effort. We wished our wild flower recognition had been better and have vowed to find a book in time for the next visit, which we think we will make a little earlier next year. Once at the top we could see the coastline disappearing north out of the Algarve and into the Alentejo. We needed to eat now so we relaxed, Portuguese style, over a leisurely lunch at the beach restaurant which served a good selection of fish and meat, salads and snacks before returning by the same route. We wanted to pay our usual visit to the Cape St Vincent headland and lighthouse which with the Sagres headland are at the most south westerly point of mainland Europe. So arriving back at Vila do Bispo, we headed off west on the EN125 again, towards Sagres.  Straight ahead at the roundabout we could see the fort where Henry the Navigator had his School of Navigation but we were turning right and driving the last couple of kilometers to Cape St Vincent and the lighthouse.  The lighthouse sits on the edge of the cliffs staring out across an ocean which has seen so much history and where today it is a beacon for all shipping, overlooking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.    The cliffs here are immense, high and vertical with the sea thrashing against them at their base and the view - nothing but sea, horizon and sky and the sense of the enormity of nature............................ a fitting way to end a fabulous day out.

Would you like more suggestions?  Take a look at our Things to do in the Algarve and Places to go in the Algarve sections for loads of ideas of what to do and where to go

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