Grottos, Lagos

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If this is your first visit to Lagos, you simply must take a "grotto tour". Step into a small fishing boat, let your local fisherman be your guide, and witness from the water, the distinctive and magnificent cliffs that surround the Lagos area. It is truly a sight unseen! Your guide will navigate around and under the intriguing rock formations, take you into caves and point out the many secluded beaches that surround the town.

You can take the grotto tour by signing-up with one of the vendors along marble sidewalk in front of town. Alternatively, catch a boat at Praia Dona Ana or at Ponte da Piedad. This tour offers a little variety to your beach day. The fisherman bring the boats right to the beach, and you can generally get a good rate here
Approximately €10 to €20 per person, based on your starting point

4 more images

If this is your first visit to Lagos, you simply must take a "grotto tour". Step into a small fishing boat, let your local fisherman be your guide, and witness from the water, the distinctive and magnificent cliffs that surround the Lagos area. It is truly a sight unseen! Your guide will navigate around and under the intriguing rock formations, take you into caves and point out the many secluded beaches that surround the town.

You can take the grotto tour by signing-up with one of the vendors along marble sidewalk in front of town. Alternatively, catch a boat at Praia Dona Ana or at Ponte da Piedad. This tour offers a little variety to your beach day. The fisherman bring the boats right to the beach, and you can generally get a good rate here
Approximately €10 to €20 per person, based on your starting point.
The Video

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Just a couple of miles away from Lagos you have the famous Ponte de Piedade where you have some of the nicest rock formations in Portugal and you have many boat trips to the grottoes leaving from Lagos.
The cheapest trips are taken with the small boats operated by old local guys who have a little stand by the end of the river.
They are cheaper than the people standing close to the marina who generally offer longer and more expensive trips that includes more than visiting the grottoes.
The trips to Ponte de Piedade are worth doing and I would say it is a must while you are in Lagos.

There are extremely affordable boat trips to be had. They take you out in tiny little boats and go along the coastline into the grottoes and sea caves. Really very beautiful! They last about 50minutes and cost around 10euros.

The locals were surprised when they realised that I'd not heard of their internationally renowned grottos. To plug this hole in my knowledge we signed up for a trip to visit them.

Great way to spend a spare hour. Make sure:
a) the tide's out
b) the sun's out
c) the chap driving the boat's not on speed

Then look for one of the dozen or so operators strewn along the Avenida and in the Marina.

You get picked up on the quayside and taken on the a tour of the beaches and coastal rock formations. The boats are small, and the driver's keen... to impress you with their deft boat handling skills and their ability to call out the names of animals in English and German. We later learned that this was the guided part of the trip, and the animals were what the rocks apparently resembled. Perhaps, if you've been getting through a lot of the local wine.

On the plus side, the boat will take you on a tour past the best westward beaches, through impressive golden rock arches and into, otherwise inaccesible, caves.

Not bad for EUR 7 each.