Ever wonder how to get to the Benagil Cave from Lisbon? Most sites will recommend either bus, train or car but what they lack to mention are specifics on how to get there from Lisbon. This post is all about our experience and what I recommend if traveling from Lisbon to the Algarve region of Portugal. That is where the Benagil Cave is located.
What is the Benagil Cave?
The Benagil Cave is a stunning cave located at Benagil Beach, in the village of Carvoeiro in the town of Lagoa. Lagoa is not to be confused with Lagos, which is also in the Algarve coast. Along the Algarve coast, there are many other caves and beaches. But the most famous and most beautiful in my opinion is the Benagil Cave. Or the Algar de Benagil in Portuguese.
Easy Day Trip from Lisbon?
Is the Benagil Cave an easy day trip from Lisbon? Well, that depends. If you are willing to do a 3.5 hour trip going and coming in the same day because that is all the time you have, then maybe. I think it is absolutely worth it. But my recommendation, now having done it, is do a day trip with an overnight stay for a less stressful experience.
My Experience Getting to the Benagil Cave from Lisbon
After doing a lot of research, I decided that booking a bus was the best option for us. I booked our bus from Lisbon to Lagoa. Lagoa is the closest bus station town to Benagil Beach. I booked our bus via BusBud.
The Sete Rios station in Lisbon was the closest to our AirBnB. The bus ride was about 3.5 hours each way. We took the 8AM bus arriving in Lagoa at 11:30AM. This in theory would have given us plenty of time to get to the Benagil Beach, to eat and relax a bit, before hopping on our kayaks that we reserved for 2PM to get to the Benagil Cave.
What Went Wrong
Here is where things went wrong for us. Our bus had a few other stops along the way loading and unloading passengers. Unfortunately the bus stations or bus stops more like it are not well marked. The bus driver claims he announced them but whatever he announced was not audible 🙂
We missed Lagoa completely and remained an hour too long on the bus until we realized we are heading in the opposite direction. When I asked the passenger beside me for information, she kept saying that Lagoa is the last stop. It turns out she thought I was saying Lagos not Lagoa. And with that, we missed our stop.
Once we got to the last stop or Lagos, we explained our situation to the bus driver. He helped us find a bus heading back to Lagoa. To make a long story short, a 3.5 hours bus ride ended up being 5 hours by the time we made it to Lagoa. So learn from our mistakes. Be sure to pay close attention to the bus stops and have your GPS ready to track where you are going. We should have asked the bus driver what number is our stop so at least we knew that in advance.
Once we made it to the Lagoa bus stop, we took an uber to Benagil Beach. This was about a 15 minute ride.
Getting to the Benagil Cave from Benagil Beach
To access the cave from Benagil Beach, you can either swim the 600 feet, take a paddleboard, take a kayak or book a boat tour. Boats don’t typically allow their passengers to disembark the boats and walk inside the cave. Knowing that, I decided that since it is a short distance to the cave, kayaks would be our best option.
I booked two double kayaks for us in advance using Get Your Guide. Our kayak reservation was at 2PM but by the time we made it to Benagil Beach, it was 3PM. The kayak rental place told us we can still make it to the cave and come back prior to 4PM because they had a scheduled tour at that time.
By this point, we were hungry and tired, but figured let’s push through it since we have come this far! So we hopped in our kayaks and off to the Benagil Cave we went. Finally! The kayak trip from the beach to the cave is about 10 minutes.
Inside the Benagil Cave
Once we arrived inside the cave, the scene was chaotic but it did not take away from its beauty! At that point, I realized I reached a bucket list destination and it was all well worth it. We explored, walked around and took plenty of pictures. There is a great photo opportunity spot where you climb up a rock formation and capture the opening of the cave above you. But because the cave was bustling with tourists, we had to take it really fast because many were waiting in line to take the same photo.
If we would have had our full two hours, we could have ventured to other surrounding beaches and caves, but because we only had the hour, we decided to explore the cave and head back to Benagil Beach.
What To Expect at Benagil Beach
Once we made it back to the beach and returned our kayaks, we were famished. There is a restaurant or two on the beach itself and they are decent. If you head uphill a bit, there are more restaurant options. Once we ate, we decided to walk around and explore the cave from up top.
There is a set of stairs right around the opening of the beach. If you head up the stairs and veer left, you will come to the opening of the Benagil Cave. It is another photo opportunity. I noticed by the time we were up there, the cave was much more empty than before. This was around 5PM. You can also walk along the coastline and take in some magnificent views from up top of surrounding beaches.
Click here to shop my look or click the image below.
Heading Back to the Lagoa Bus Station
This is the part of the trip that confirmed for me that if I would have to do it all over again, I would not squeeze a day trip to the Algarve. We did not know this but apparently uber drivers are far and in between when leaving Benagil Beach. I tried several until panic set in. More panic set in when I asked the locals and they confirmed that uber drivers don’t find it profitable to come to this side of the town because of the up hill elevation. We obviously had a bus to catch, otherwise we are stranded!
We are at this, trying to reserve an uber for at least 20 minutes until Jose, whom I will forever acknowledge by name, accepted our ride! A big thank you to Jose. Luckily we made it back to the bus station in time. And our bus ended up being late anyways. We made it back to our AirBNB in Lisbon by midnight and were so thankful that the day ended the way it did.
Why You Should Consider an Overnight Stay
Well, I am sure you can gather by now the many reasons on why you should consider an overnight stay if you would like to see the Benagil Cave. One of them being, less stressful! And if you can make it earlier to the Benagil Cave before the tourists, it would probably be a much more serene experience!
But aside from the transportation mishaps, there is so much to see in the Algarve. Many more beaches, towns and caves. I would still love to go back and explore the area even more. Not sure I would necessarily love the swim because the water is chilly year round, but still the scenery is out of this world beautiful.
This post is one of two posts I wrote about our Portugal travel. For Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra itineraries, check out this post here. I also captured a reel for each day of our Portugal itinerary on my Instagram here under my Portugal highlight.
And for more travel posts, click here.
I hope this post was helpful and gives you more insight on your Benagil Cave trip planning!
