Cala de Benagil

Hello everyone! In this entry I would like to talk to you about a place I went to with my mum not too long ago. We live in Andalusia, in the part that borders more of Portugal than Spain (Huelva). This is why we had the opportunity to go and spend a day in the Algarve (southern region of Portugal).

Where is Benagil?

Benagil is a tiny little fishing town in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It's an hour and a half away from Andalusia, Spain.

What is there in Bengail?

What Benagil is best known for is the huge cave, and there's a circular hole in its roof. It's a really famous cave, and you can access it from the small bay that's a few metres away from it. It's a sandy beach.

Is there anything near Benagil?

Near Benagil you will find Praia da Marinha, that as you can see below, is one of the prettiest beaches in the world according to the guide. But I personally think that they haven't seen the beaches in Sicily...

What's there to do in Benagil?

In Benagil, there are plenty of different activities to do.

- You can do swimming out to the famous cave with the hole from the beach. There's just a big rock in the middle that you swim around and that's it. It takes 5 minutes to swim there. I went with my flippers, and there were a lot of other people there too. There were people floating by on lilos too. Halfway there, there were gigantic rocks in the water that you could stand for a few minutes if you wanted a rest. But, that isn't really necessary.

- Another activity that you can do is snorkelling, as wherever there are rocks, there are fish. When I was getting closer to the big rock that separates the beach, there were a lot of people snorkelling as this part of the beach has clearer water than the central part of the beach.

- Paddle Boarding You can also enjoy a trip on a paddle board for €25 for 45 minutes (a little expensive in my opinion). It was a very popular activity.

- Kayaking In the same place, where you rent the paddle boards, you can also rent kayak's for the same price. You could go and visit the nearby caves with them.

- Boat trips Where you can rent paddle boards and kayaks, there were another few stands where they offered boat trips to nearby caves. This is the option my mum and I chose.

When people arrived, they joined the queue straight away to book their trips because they filled up quickly. In fact, when we went to book the one at midday, we had to reserve tickets for the one at 6pm because the others were already full. We reserved our tickets at the kiosk to the left because the one on the right had already closed as they had already sold every ticket for every trip.

In the kiosk where we booked our tickets, there were two options: the long trip (an hour and a quarter) which was €25 per person, or the short trip (half an hour), that cost €15 per person. We chose the short half an hour trip that visited 8 caves. Time just flew by.

The trip we did

We started at a cave that was on the right of the beach, and I don't know how anyone could have missed it. It was a cave that was 15 metres in height where, according to the guide, the biggest waves reached the cave's ceiling.

The second cave that we saw was the famous one with the hole in the ceiling.

Afterwards we saw 6 more that were really cool. Some were so tiny that it seemed impossible to be able to get in there on a boat, but we did! The captain was excellent at driving the boat. Also, whilst we did the trip, there were other boats as well as ours looking at the caves and sometimes, I don't know how more than one boat fit in those tiny narrow spaces between the rocks without crashing.

We also saw some huge unusually formed rocks near to the Praia da Marinha. One looked like an elephant drinking water, and there was a crocodile (the natural formation of these rocks made them look like this).

The best of all, although it seems like a lie, was the way back when the captain went full speed on the boat and it was so much fun, bouncing and splashing over the waves.

You could do this trip fully dressed, with sandals and backpacks. We went without anything. We were in our bikinis without sandals because we didn't have a clue. But, it is better to wear sandals and depending on the time, whether it's after 6pm or when the temperature starts to drop, put something extra on as it can get chilly going at top speed. Also, bear in mind that it's obligatory to wear lifejackets.

Is it easy to park in Benagil?

It's absolute madness! As you arrive through the upper part of the caves and you have to get down to the beach, we were super lost when we arrived in this unknown place, especially by car. There were cars absolutely everywhere. There was a car park and a parking meter as well. We saw some cars continue travelling downwards so we decided to follow them to try our luck, and we were imagining we wouldn't manage to get back up. So we went down that steep slope and got to the entrance of the cove where, as you can expect, there was nowhere to park. And, all the road did was go back up again round the other side. So, from down there, we went all the way back up again. But this time it was really difficult to get up as the slope was really steep and we constantly had to keep stopping because people were heading down to the beach on this road, both on food and by car. Total madness.

So, we finally decided to go to the upper car park near the exit because we never found the entrance. It was completely full and we were in there for a while, seeing what we could do (looking for a parking space in somewhere like this is so stressful), and whilst we were stopped a few cars left. It was midday, 12pm or whatever the Portuguese call it, so the people who had come to make the most of the morning had been and gone, so we were finally able to park. We got our things and went down to the cave. The bad thing was climbing back up, laden with our belongings...

My experience in the Benagil cave

I very much enjoyed myself here, but at the same time I saw nothing out of this world. It's a normal cave-beach, it doesn't have anything special. What made it so popular with tourists was the hole in the ceiling of the cave that I've mentioned a few times.

I went in August so it was completely rammed with people, and I don't really like beaches with loads of people. You can't do anything. You can't play volleyball nor any other ball-based sport. You can't even sit where you'd want to. We had to sit quite far away from the water. I would have preferred to have been closer.

A stroll around the area

The outskirts are really pretty because of the cliffs that you can climb. From them you can see some beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean. You can even climb up to the hole on top of the cave and look inside. It's really cool. It's all prepared for you with routes and paths.

If you look at the photo of the hole, you can see tiny people poking their heads through.

Water in Portugal

The water in Portugal is freezing. It's super cold even when it's hot outside. It's not very far from Huelva and they share the same ocean, but it's much colder in Portugal.

So, that's all guys. I hope you've enjoyed this post and that the nuggets of information serve you well. If you live near there, go on and visit! And if you have any questions, don't hesitate in contacting me!