Sagres & Lagos driving along southwest Portugal's coast - Private Tour to Algarve from Lisbon with Lunch

On the Costa Alentejana Sines is an old fishing town best known in Portugal as the birthplace of the explorer Vasco da Gama. His statue stands proudly beside the walls of the castle in which he grew up, and the museum inside recounts the life of this national hero. Now, Sines is making waves as Portugal’s top container port, which is separated from the old quarter in a gigantic industrial enclave along the shore. It’s a fascinating site if you’re into that sort of thing, as it has a natural underwater trench that allows the largest cargo ships to dock near the shore. Keep going south and the industry melts away, and you’ll come to a scalloped shoreline with little coves and the whitewashed village of Porto Côvo.

Sagres in Portugal is a small coastal town, known for its great surf beaches, and position at the most western point of the Algarve once thought of as “the edge of the world”.

15 Best Things to Do in Lagos (Portugal) Lagos is a busy coastal town in the Algarve that has all the things people love about the region. There are beaches of all descriptions, from long sandy bays to tiny coves walled by ochre-coloured cliffs. These rocks create a breathtaking scene at Ponta da Piedade, where the bluffs and obelisks are riddled with caves and arches and the sea is a clear emerald colour. Back in the centre of Lagos the old town is an exploring heaven, with Portuguese pavement in lovely patterns on its streets and sights that transport you to the Age of Discovery when explorers set sail from the port.

The Fortaleza Sagres is located at the southern tip of the Sagres Peninsular and this uniquely designed fort protected the town from raiders from North African. It was from here that Henry the Navigator devised his 15th century expeditions to the uncharted seas around the western side of Africa, which heralded in the golden era of Portugal exploration.

The lighthouse is a stone tower of masonry, 51 metres above sea level, with an attached keeper’s house. It has a red flashlight. Despite plans having been made as early as 1883, it was not erected until 1912-13, on the site of the ruins of the “Nossa Senhora da Piedade” hermitage and a farmhouse that was bought from the owners. The delay was in part due to the opposition of the local parish council to the construction as it involved the destruction of the remains of the hermitage. Ponta da Piedade is now a well-known tourist location because of its rock formations, which can be visited by boats on hire close to the lighthouse.