Carvoeiro to Benagil (via lighthouse) and back. This 12km
Algarve Coastal Walk is pretty easy to follow since you just go along the
coastal path, so we have not put any particular walking instructions - mostly
just photographs of the really fantastic cliffs and general scenery.
The walk starts off at Carvoeiro - don't
park in the town instead park at the top of the cliffs by the church where
there are loads of spaces. With the sea in front of you go right on the
road and wander down hill a little way to get a really nice view of the
town's buildings and beach.
Return back and pass the church on it's left and then head over to the sea and pick up the cliff
path - this path mostly follows the cliff edge across open ground to reach the
cafe and grotto at Algar Seco.
You have to descend fairly steep steps to look
around - well worth doing - and you get your first glimpse of the really good
cliff and rock formations which will be a feature of the rest of the walk.
Back on the cliff path just continue along - the path undulates quite a bit which involves a few
mildly steep climbs in places but you really don't notice this because of
the spectacular rugged and colourfull cliffs. There are several small
beaches to be seen way below which seemed to be accessible by steps or
climbing down - take care of the cliff edges around here as they are very
fragile in places.
You then get a view ahead of the lovely Praia de Vale
de Senteanes beach and it's concrete hotel although the building is quite
low lying and does not spoil the view particularly.
The path goes above the beach here then goes all the way down on a quite
slippery scree path to reach a small road. Continue across the road and then
take the steps opposite - there are quite a few of
them but you do get good views back of the beach etc. - once up continue ahead on the coastal path
passing the hotel.
The path becomes much wider then suddenly
where the cliff has fallen into the sea and taken the path with it you
have to bear left and take a narrow fenced path which goes through the
gardens of some small houses - then re-joins the main coastal path again.
The path is again quite wide - passes several large algarves
only some of which are fenced - and now you can see
the lighthouse of Alfanzina ahead of you. On reaching the lighthouse don't
think about going in to take a look because you cannot - pass the
lighthouse by going left round a fence then via a carpark and back onto
the coastal path again.
Carry on the the path - walking down steeply into a small gorge and it's even
smaller sandy beach - then out again and a good view back of the lighthouse. The rock formations
just seem to get better if that is possible - eventually climb down on really steep
steps to reach and pass a small beach (Praia do Carvalho) which looked really picturesque.
Having climbed back out of the beach the path becomes quite wide
with good views and seemingly very tame sea-birds (they totally ignore you of course).
Then the path generally drops slowly down into the small fishing
village at Benagil where there are several cafes here and a nice little beach.
Being a "there and back" walk we eventually wandered back to Carvoeiro more or
less the way we had come..
Benagil to Nossa Senhora de Rocha. This Algarve coastal walk includes easily the best rock formations we have ever seen and also some of the prettiest little beaches too. The walk starts out of Benagil and is another "there and back" so the walk's length is really down to how far you fancy walking - in our case the total distance as described below was 11km. There is not a great deal of hiking instructions given since following the coastal path is not particularly difficult - there are however a lot of photographs.
On the day we walked this part of the coast the weather was not too good - we started off in fog and
even had a good soaking when heavy rain arrived whilst we were at Praia da Barranquinho.
This is mentioned because the weather can deteriorate on the coast and
make visibility poor - therefore great care needs to be taken on fragile
cliff edges and also because of unfenced algarves (blowholes). (The fog
did not help with our photography either).
Parking is possible at the "O Litoral" restaurant - depending on which way you come into Benagil you may pass
this just before descending down to the beach. We found the roads were not
well signposted into Benagil but eventually 
we found the small harbour - facing inland take the road going to the right hand side of the cove
which goes steeply uphill to reach this small parking area by the restarant.
From the car park head downhill and just before reaching a restaurant on the
left take the rocky steps up to the top of the cliffs area. Head towards the
cliff edge and pick up and go left on a well trodden coastal path - a good view
of Benagil's small beach is down on the right.
The coastal path undulates considerably - you get really good views of the rocks with unbeleivable
colours and shapes.
Simply follow the path mostly close to the cliff edge but sometimes going considerably inland to
pass deep cuts. There are quite a few tiny beaches along the coast some of which seemed
reasonably easy to get onto whilst others involved a considerable scramble.
Around 2kms from the start you reach the car park at Praia da Marinha - cross
the car park and then continue on a paved stepped path - part way along you can
see steps down to the beach.
Continue along the path which soon takes you back onto the cliff top - there are
several large algarves around here - some fenced and some are not.
Continue along enjoying the marvellous rocks, views and more algarves - sometimes having
to walk in and out of deep cuts to eventually reach the small beach at Praia da
Albandeira - there are picnic tables here and a small cafe so an ideal place for a lunch break.
The path continues near the side of the beach although you do have to go quite a
way inland to go in and out of a cut as you get nearer to Senhora da Rocha. Pass more
beaches and soon Nossa Senhora da Rocha (Our Lady of the Rocks) appears in front
of you perched on ... rocks... which jut out into the sea.
There are several cafes at Senhora da Rocha - we had a look round the church etc. and then reversed
our walk back to Benagil - interestingly the weather did change and we finally saw a bit of
sunshine - this altered the colours on the rocks to make them show up completely differently and so
made the walk back appear to be a "new walk".
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