Hiking in Portugal: Algarve
Good morning! My name is Ismail of Europe Diary. Today, I am talking about “Hiking in Portugal: Algarve.”
Exploring the Algarve Region
So, today we are in southern Portugal, in the Algarve region. This area is known for its impressive beaches and its rugged coastline, and there’s no better way to experience it than to do some hiking. Today, I’m doing a trail that is considered one of the most beautiful trails here in Portugal. This is the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. This trail starts at Praia da Marinha, which is a beach here in southern Portugal. Before coming to Portugal, I had no idea what it was like, what the scenery was like. But after being here for a few days, I’m starting to realize it is a really beautiful country. So check out the views of this beach! If you choose to do this hike, I would recommend starting here at this beach, Praia da Marinha, because it has a large parking lot. So there’s plenty of space for you to park your car while you hike. Once you get here, you’ll notice that on one part of the parking lot, you’ll see the entrance to the beach, and on the other end of the parking lot is the entrance to the hike.
Stunning Scenery at Praia da Marinha
I am just blown away. This beach is incredibly beautiful. This is definitely the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to, and you can even start to see some of the hikers up on the cliff, which is just getting me so pumped for this hike and the incredible views that I’m going to see. It’s so cool! This beach has some tide pools but also some really nice soft sand. It’s really cool to come and explore this place. This beach was actually named one of the top ten beaches in Europe, so that’s saying something. And this is just the start of the hike. Looks like there’s even a restaurant, so if you come during the summer, you can stop and get some drinks and food here too. I’m actually here in the middle of January, so it is cooler, but that also means there are fewer crowds. There’s hardly anyone here, so definitely stop by and check out this beach before you start your hike. You will not regret it, and this is the entrance to the hike.
Starting the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail
This is a great start to the hike. This six-kilometer hike leads all the way from Praia da Marinha to Praia do Vale de Centeanes. It’s six kilometers one way. You could either go there and come back, which would take about four to six hours, or you can just go one way, have someone pick you up, or get an Uber for the way back. I’m going to try to do the whole way there and back, but depending on sunlight, I may just get an Uber back to the parking lot, so we’ll have to see. This is what the trail marker looks like – a yellow and red stripe.
Caves and Hidden Beaches
Behind me are a bunch of caves, and it’s really neat because you can hear the water rushing into the cave and out. In this one, you can see the ocean, but in the ones back there, you can’t, which is really neat.
I found another beach! This is Praia de Corredoura, and it looks like it’s only accessible by boats. One thing I like about this trail is that there are lots of little trails you can follow that are off of the main trail. If you see a viewpoint that looks promising, or you see something that looks really cool, you can just go off the main trail and go see it. As long as you’re following the cliff line and the coast, you’re absolutely fine.
The Thrill of Benagil Cave
Well, that was insane! A guy just did a BASE jump into the cave and landed. He said it’s one of the shortest BASE jumps you can do. That was pretty impressive and crazy! I would not do that. That was Benagil Cave, which is a place you can take a kayak or boat tour to. You can’t reach it by land, but it is supposedly really cool to see. Supposedly it’s like a big rock dome with a beach on one side and just that one hole right in the top. With this coastline being so picturesque, there are lots of kayak rentals, paddleboard rentals, and boat tours you can do. This is Benagil Beach, and I think some of the boat tours leave from here.
Continuing the Hike to Praia do Vale de Centeanes
This is Benagil Beach, and on the far side of the beach, you can follow the stairs up and continue the trail. After you get to Benagil Beach, then you’re on the second section of the trail. The first section is the most popular, where you’ll see a lot of people hiking, and then as you go along, it gets less and less crowded. Coming here in January has been a good choice because the weather has been great. It’s about 14 degrees Celsius, so maybe just a light jacket is enough. But right now, just a t-shirt and hiking pants are perfect. This next beach is Praia de Carvalho. Okay, so we are right here. We have two more beaches left, okay? So, whenever you get to this point, you can go left, and there’s a small stairway down, or you can go right and go down this way. Okay. So, this is so cool. To get to this beach, you have to go down these stone stairs, and it drops you out into this little cave, then it brings you right here onto the beach.
Discovering Hidden Passageways
This is so crazy with all these little passageways and stone stairways. I feel like I’m exploring an Egyptian pyramid or tunnel or something. It’s really neat.
I would say that this beach is definitely worth checking out too. It’s really neat to be able to access it only from those stone stairs. Okay, so instead of going up to the parking lot from that beach, you’ll go up these stairs and see a dirt path, and you’ll follow that. I’ll show that to you. I’m starting to get views of a lighthouse up ahead. Okay, I made it to the Alfanzina Lighthouse. It looks like you can’t get right up next to it because it’s fenced off and closed today, but this is the five-kilometer mark. So, we just have one more kilometer until we reach the end. So, this next part, I’m walking on the edge to get around by the lighthouse.
Concluding the Hike
This trail is rated as moderate, and I would say that’s true. There are some areas where it is a little steep, and you have to take some big steps, but I’m not tired at all. It’s partly because there are so many cool things to see, and you want to just take breaks and take it slow, so you can try to see as much as you can. But I’d say this is a very worthwhile hike. A couple of great things about this hike: First thing is the smell. You get whiffs of the ocean water, and then there’s just something about the plants or something; it just smells really good here. Next is the sound, so while you’re hiking, you have the sound of crashing waves and seagulls, and it’s just incredible.
Okay, I see the beach, so I’m almost there. Okay, I made it. I’m at Praia do Vale de Centeanes. This is the final beach that this hike concludes at. I’ll tell you what, this was an incredible hike. It was so beautiful. It was so cool. You had a lighthouse, you had caves, you had amazing cliffs—all these rock formations and arches everywhere you turned. It was just something beautiful, a new landscape, something totally unique. It took me about three hours to get here, but I did a lot of filming, a lot of stopping to take pictures and things like that. I’ve done a lot of hiking through forests and mountains, but never a hike that went along the beach, along the cliffside, along the coast. That was very unique. I think definitely if I were to come back here and bring friends, I would definitely do it again. If you’re ever in Portugal, especially in the southern part, I would definitely recommend doing this hike. I would come back here in a heartbeat.
Stay Tuned for More Adventures
Still, if you want to see more blogs like this about Portugal, make sure to stay with my website. I’ll be writing more blogs like this every day on my website. My name is Ismail.
We’ll see you next time.
Bye!!
