There’s no better way to see the beautiful Algarve coastline than by going on a Ponta da Piedade boat tour. With all the grottos, caves, and hidden beaches you’re sure to see the best of this amazing Portuguese coastline.
If there’s one thing Lagos is known for it’s all the awesome boat tours that leave from the marina right in the heart of town. We’ve done a few of the tours ourselves and the Ponta de Piedade boat tour was one of our favourites.
Ponta da Piedade is nice and close to Lagos so it really doesn’t take long to get there by boat. Since it’s so close, the tour guide has more time to show you all the caves and inlets wherever the boat can go. The way they can maneuver the boats into these tight little spaces is very impressive.
You really get the best views of the cliffs and the whole coast around Ponta da Piedade!
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The Ponta da Piedade boat tour in Lagos
Know before you go:
- 🚤 Book your Ponta de Piedade boat tour in advance on GetYourGuide or Viator
- ⏰ Length: Roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes
- 👩🏼⚕️ Insurance: Make sure your adventures are insured with SafetyWing
- 📸 Bring your camera and get Insta ready
⚠️ Note: Most boat tours book out during the summer months so we recommend booking your tour in advance!
How to book the Ponta da Piedade boat tour
If you like to plan and book in advance you can look and see the prices for the boat tours in Lagos here. In the summer months, the boat tours in the Algarve get booked way in advance since it’s a popular time of year to visit the south of Portugal.
If you’re a bit more spontaneous you can walk down by the harbor next to the Lagos marina where you’ll see the different companies and their ticket booths and you can book directly there.
Look for Lagos Grotto Trips and you may be lucky enough to find this sweet lady named Connie who runs the company with her husband. It’s a small family-run Lagos boat tour company and any chance we get to support a small family business we do!
So the two options to book boat tours are either online through the tour companies, GetYourGuide or Viator or in person down at the marina with one of the staff members of the tour companies.
Where does the Ponta da Piedade tour start
All boat tours in Lagos start at the Lagos Marina which is right across the bridge from where all the tour booths are. You can either meet at the company’s booth 10-15 minutes before the tour or you can cross the bridge to where all the boats leave from and wait there.
On the Lagos Marina side of the bridge, there are a few nice cafes right next to the marina where you can enjoy a cup of coffee or tea before the trip. We sat outside one of the cafes soaking up the sun and sipping on a coffee right before the boat ride and it was really nice.
How long is the boat tour
The Ponta da Piedade boat tour is one of the shortest boat tours you can do from Lagos and is just over an hour. The caves, beaches, and grottoes you’ll see are just south of Lagos between Lagos and Ponta da Piedade.
Once you get to Ponta da Piedade the guide will share some information, let you take some pictures, and then cruise back to the marina.
What to expect on the Ponta da Piedade tour
The Ponta da Piedade tour is the perfect boat tour if you want a quick sample of the coastline around Lagos and the Algarve. The tour itself isn’t that long but it does offer the best views in the area.
If you’ve had a chance to hike the Lagos coastal trail from the city center out to Ponta da Piedade then this will be a fun experience because you’ll get to see the coast from a completely different perspective.
On this tour, the boats can get really close to all the inlets and caves which is only really possible by boat tour or kayak (if you want to kayak, we can highly recommend this Ponta da Piedade Kayak Tour tour).
There are so many beaches in and around Lagos that you really wouldn’t know about unless you either go on the boat tour or hike the coastal trail. The beach in the image above, for example, is a nudist beach called Praia dos Pinheiros.
The Algarve is known for its grottos and caves along the coast with Benagil Caves being the most famous. That’s a tour for a different day. But the caves around Lagos are just as stunning and you’ll see a bunch of them on this boat tour.
What to bring on the boat tour from Lagos
Since the boat tour is just over an hour there isn’t too much you need to bring yourself. If you have any sort of camera, GoPro, or smartphone to take pictures then bring that (we used our Sony Alpha a6000 for the images you see in this post). The guide will slow down and stop at times for you to get some great photos and videos!
If you’re doing the trip outside of the summer months it’s best to bring some layers and a backpack you can switch from since it can get cold out on the water. Even though it’s only just over an hour it’s no fun being out on the boat and freezing because you’re only in a t-shirt! We went in December and although it was sunny and 18 degrees Celsius (like 65 Fahrenheit), the wind was chilly, so we were happy we had our jackets.
You can also see the weather forecast for Lagos, Portugal here to give you a bit of an idea of what the conditions are going to be like.
Are there other boat tours in Lagos?
There are so many different boat tours you can take from Lagos! The boat tour to Ponta da Piedade is just one of many different tours you can take from the Lagos Marina. A few of the other popular boat tours you can go on are to the Benagil Caves, a dolphin tour, and a 3-hour Algarve Cruise by Catamaran, and so much more!
Related: 5 Awesome Boat Tours to Do in Lagos, Portugal
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- 5 Awesome Boat Tours to Do in Lagos, Portugal
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- Hiking the Lagos Coastal Walk to Ponta da Piedade
- 8 Beautiful Beaches in Lagos You Need to Visit
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Recap of the Ponta da Piedade boat tour from Lagos
There you have it! One of the local boat tours from the Lagos Marina. You can see here there’s a bunch of different boat tours from Lagos and we recommend them all but we did really enjoy the Ponta da Piedade one.
We actually hiked the Lagos coastal trail to Ponta da Piedade first so we had seen a bunch of the beaches and coastline from up high before the tour. So it was super cool seeing them out from the ocean too. It’s a totally different experience seeing the caves and coastline from out at sea compared to on land.
We’re super happy we did the boat tour and had an awesome experience. If you like to be out at sea and want to experience something cool then this is the tour to do!
We hope you have a great time exploring the Algarve and especially the Lagos coastline. It’s beautiful!
Have fun!
Dom & Jo
Red White Adventures
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hey thanks for the article, do you recommend doing this tour at a specific hour to have the best lights over the rocks?
Hey Flore,
If you want to be out for a cool hour of the day then consider going on one of the evening/sunset boat tours! The sun doesn’t set directly over Ponta Da Piedade but it will still look amazing!
-Dom