Lagos was my second stop after the Chicks On Waves retreat since it's the closest main city. I had big plans for the city until it started raining heavily and continuously. Online guides and other posts all mention the sunny days of the Algarve. A lot of them failed to mention that the Spring here has a strong chance of rain. On the one hand, April is very quiet in the city and there are only a handful of people around, but on the other, people aren't there for a good reason! The rain in Lagos doesn't play, it's serious and heavy. If you are going to Algarve in April at least pack a rain jacket or an umbrella. Thankfully, I got some dry hours of sunshine and it was glorious. Lagos was actually one of my favourite parts in the Algarve. All the cliff photos that you see in adverts about Algarve come from Lagos. My only regret was not staying there longer!
Things to do in Lagos
Explore the architecture of Lagos
The first thing I noticed coming into Lagos was the stone city wall. During my walk, I went to the two main churches there: Igreja de Santa Maria and Igreja de Santo António. They follow the traditional Portugese style of architecture and have some lovely geometric tiles inside of them. Another place I visited was the Forte da Ponta da Bandeira, which is the stone building facing the harbour dating back to the late 17th century.
Ps. There are some nice walking maps online. I downloaded an offline walking map of Lagos from GPS my city.
Spot the Graffiti
One thing that I enjoyed about Lagos was all the cool graffiti they had on offer. I spotted a few really cool pieces when I was there walking around the old centre.
Join a yoga class
Thankfully, right next to my guesthouse was the InLight yoga studio and they offer various classes daily, so the walk in the rain wasn't too bad for three minutes. It was nice to pop down to a session and use my time wisely rather than staying in the guesthouse the whole day.
Walk around the cliffs from every side
I saved the best for last. This was my absolute favourite activity in Lagos and it is really worth the hype. The second, the sun came out, I headed there and because beginning of April is still the off-season, I had the cliffs for myself. I led myself from the old town to the further one and I started from the beach all the way up. It took me about four hours and I could have stayed longer, but I didn't want to be alone in the middle of cliffs at night. There are so many fun options to do kayak and stand up peddling. Sadly, the weather was not on my side and could not do either, so please do it for me and tell me how it is!
Where to stay in Lagos, Algarve?
I happened to stay in the cutest little guesthouse in the old centre of Lagos. Having various spaces gave me a good way to spend my rainy morning indoors. I think I would have suffocated if I was staying in a hotel room. I cooked breakfast in the kitchen and stayed there reading from the balcony. The other thing I loved that this guesthouse is located in the middle of old town, which meant that everything was close by. The only down side was that the old town is full of bars and party spots and it meant some loud noises at night.
Vegetarian Food in Lagos
I LOVED the food in Lagos. Although, I didn't find any halal options, I really enjoyed the vegetarian options they had! Below are the restaurants that I ate in because they were a walking distance from me and they had good reviews.
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