One of our main resources for our travels in Portugal has been Rick Steves’ Portugal book (Eighth edition). In this book, he describes the Algarve section of Portugal as stretching for some 100 miles along Portugal’s southern coast with beaches along the water’s edge and rolling green hills with orchards farther inland. The actual coastline varies from lagoon estuaries in the east (like Olhao and Tavira) to sandy beach resorts in the center (Faro to Lagos) to rugged cliffs in the west (Sagres). Based on this, he provides a map of the Algarve which divides and categorizes it into three areas — Worst (central section from Portimao, which is just west of Lagos to Faro), Better (Faro west to the Spanish border, including Olhao and Tavira), and Best (from Lagos to the western edge of Portugal). We are not sure we would agree with this rating system, and haven’t had enough exposure throughout the area to say, but it made us curious to visit at least one town in his Best section.
With Lagos (LAH-goosh) being the town in the Best section that is closest to Olhao, we decided to head out for a visit. This would be a quick visit, as travel time one-way is about 2 hours by train (actually 1.5 hours by train with about a 30 min layover in Faro). It was worth the trip, as Lagos was a fun, active town to stroll around and we got a glimpse of some of the craggier coastline that marks the western shores. The train trip itself was fun, as we got to glimpse other lovely towns along the way (such as Portimao with its beautiful bridge) as well as a number of attractive golf courses.
See the photos below for some highlights of our quick 4 hours in Lagos.
Peckish Travels 