Walk the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast, one of Europe's most breathtaking coastlines!

We will start our trip in the village of Sines, with a beautifully perched 15th century castle overlooking its bay. The town can be easily reached by bus from Lisbon (2h30 away). To the north of Sines lies one of Europe's most extensive beach areas, a 65km stretch of beautifully sandy dunes straddling the coastline all the way to the Tróia Peninsula, near Setúbal. Immediately to its south, in São Torpes, starts one of the continent's most spectacular and best hidden secrets, the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, to where our journey will lead us! We will start our trip here and head down south on our journey!

The "Fishermen Trail" (Trilho dos Pescadores, in Portuguese) starts here, in the beach immediately south of the town of Sines. This trail has been used by seafarers for millennia, across the dunes and perched atop the cliffs, winding its way to the hidden sandy coves scattered between the imposing walls withstanding the continuous fury of the waves. Ahead of us are 180kms straddling the mighty Atlantic in one of the world's most beautiful trails!

Our first day will conclude at Porto Covo, a quaint little village made famous by Rui Veloso, one of the country's most famous artists and commonly known as the "father of Portuguese rock", in front of the fabled Ilha do Pessegueiro (Peach tree Island, in English), where the ruins of a 16th century fort can still be visible. Our next stage, covering the 19,5kms between Porto Covo and Vila Nova de Milfontes, will be littered with sandy beaches, namely Pessegueiro, Aivados and Malhão, and a myriad other small coves, which will give us an idea of what to expect moving southward, from the massive and imposing cliffs to the endless stretches of sand, peppered with mind-numbing rock formations and a breadth of endemic and local flora that rivals any other in the country. We will start at the local "mercado", in the heart of Porto Covo.

This shorter stage, consisting of less than 15km and little more than 3 and a half hours, will take us across the Mira river, which sets the southern limit of Vila Nova de Milfontes. We will be able to enjoy the beautiful ecosystem created by the river, from its mangrove-like low tide reed areas to the surrounding forests, a pristine example of the Mediterranean flora. We will start our journey at the António Mantas street, by the tourism office, heading southwards towards Almograve.

For our next stage, we will cover 21,5kms full of quaint fishing harbours, red dunes, the scent of the nearby pine forests, and the unique sight of cliff-nesting storks! We will cross the Cabo Sardão, where an imposing lighthouse overlooks the rugged coastline, a perfect spot to enjoy some rest and do some birdwatching in peace. Along the way there are many amazing geological oddities, such as consolidated dunes, i.e., dunes so old that their sand has already become rock, remnants of an eon gone by, when sea levels were more than 100 meters lower than they are today. Fossils and archaeological remains from these Ice-Age epochs can still be seen around the area, though there are also clues from a much different era, when the region enjoyed a sub-tropical climate! We will start our stage at Avenida da Praia.

Zambujeira do Mar is one of Portugal's most famous and beloved beachside villages, both due to its natural beauty and the "Sudoeste" festival, a 5 day musical extravaganza that happens nearby and brings in thousands upon thousands of visitors every august. Perched atop imposing cliffs, its whitewashed houses overlook a beautiful beach that seems endlessly sandy and vast at low-tide, only to see itself be engulfed by a dramatically contrasting high-tide, which almost touches the bottom of the rock walls. Sunsets are particularly beautiful, as the sun disappears against the endless blue ocean. This stage runs for 18,9kms, starting at the beautiful Our Lady of the Sea chapel in Zambujeira do Mar, overlooking the ocean from its clifftop perch. We will head down to Odeceixe, crossing a stretch of coastline known to harbour many different wild species, such as Egyptian mongooses, skunks, badgers, and otters!


Odeceixe marks the beginning of the Algarve region, with a spectacular combination of whitewashed houses, the winding Seixe creek and its floodplains, and a beach to rival any other in the country; a stretch of white sand pinned between two cliffs, with the mighty ocean on one side and the river on the other.
 We can visit the old mill house, one of only a handful still running in the region, before following the riverside down to the beach, observing the impressive fauna, which includes blue herons, different types of egrets, woodpeckers and other birds, as well as the rare Cabrera’s vole! The stage to Aljezur is one of the routes finest, stretching for 22,5kms of unforgettable landscapes.

We will start this shorter, 17km stage at the Aljezur market. On our way to Arrifana, we will go to the Ponta da Atalaia, with its breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean and home to one of Portugal’s most unique archaeological sites. Here we will find the Rîbat of Arrifana, a 12th century Muslim fortification built by Ibn Qasī, a Sufi leader born in nearby Silves, an independent Muslim Taifa which he would later rule. This Muslim fortification, the only one of its kind in present-day Portugal, was built around 1130 and contained 8 mosques, a minaret, a madrasa, and accommodation for its marabouts, sometimes known as warrior monks.

We will depart from Arrifana Beach, before heading south towards perhaps one of Portugal’s most beautiful beaches, Carrapateira. Its width and length rival any other, its sandy vastness sheltered by its terracotta-coloured cliffs on one side and a meandering creek following the ridge line all the way to the ocean on the other. On our way bridging the 19kms separating both towns we will find the highest cliffs in the region, some of them being more than 100 metres above sea level! These spectacular cliffs were pushed up during the formation of Pangaea, some 300 million years ago, when the supercontinent was consolidating its form.

For our second to last stage, we will head inland for almost half of our 15km-long walk, starting at Largo do Comércio. Before leaving the ocean behind, though, we will enjoy the absolutely stunning views of the Amado and Murração beaches, the last of which one of Portugal’s coastline’s best kept secrets! Just before the Amado beach, though, we can visit another example of Portugal's Islamic heritage, the Povoado da Ponta do Castelo, a 12th century fishermen village used seasonally for fishing and whale-spotting (and hunting) until its abandonment in the 14th century. Along the way, we can find many nightingales and storks nesting close to the shore.
 We will also go by Pena Furada, a rocky beach with impressive geological formations.

Atop the last cape diving the west and the south coasts sits the Ponta de Sagres, where we will visit the Fortaleza de Sagres, a 15th century stronghold overlooking the ocean. Although this fortress was severely damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and therefore rebuilt afterwards, some of its elements still date back to the initial period, such as the Nossa Senhora das Graças church, built under the guidance of Henry the Navigator, one of the leading figures in Portugal’s golden age of maritime voyages. This site was already known to the Greeks and then Romans as “the end of the[ir] known world”, according to the famed historians Ephorus and Strabo, under the names of Hieron Akroterion and Promontorium Sacrum, respectively, the last of which gave rise to the current name of Sagres, the “holy cape”.

We will conclude our journey in Sagres, a rugged village east of the famous fortress, known today for its laid-back surfing scene, one of the nation’s most challenging due to the area’s confluence of winds and currents. The town has an unassuming cool vibe and we can enjoy some of the west coast’s best sheltered beaches, enjoying our much deserved rest, overlooking the endless ocean.