Ponta da Piedade

Overview

Ponta da Piedade is the headland south of Lagos where the Algarve’s golden cliffs are at their most carved: arches, stacks, pinnacles and grottoes in yellow limestone up to 20 m high, threaded by narrow channels of green water, with a lighthouse of 1913 on the point and a stair down the cliff to the boat landing at the bottom. It is one of the most visited places in Portugal, 3 km from the town, and can be seen from the cliff top for nothing or from a small boat for a few euros.

The listed geosite runs from the point east to Ponta de João de Arens and on to Carvoeiro, a coast of karst that the sea has eaten into caves; Ponta da Piedade is the concentrated version, with the whole gallery within a few hundred metres of the lighthouse.

Visiting

From the car park by the lighthouse the boardwalks run along the cliff top to a series of viewpoints over the stacks, and a long stair descends the cliff to a small cove where the boats tie up; from there the boatmen take small groups through the arches and into the caves for 20 or 30 minutes, the only way to see the formations from inside. Longer trips leave from the Lagos marina and combine the point with the beaches to the west.

Walk the cliff path from the town to the point along Praia de Dona Ana and Praia do Camilo, both cut into the same cliffs, and back by the road; the path is 3 km each way and the beaches are the swimming.

History

The cliffs are the same Miocene limestone as the rest of the Lagoa and Lagos coast, eroded along joints and bedding planes into the stacks and arches that keep collapsing and re-forming; the name, Point of Mercy, comes from a chapel of Nossa Senhora da Piedade that stood on the headland. The lighthouse was built in 1913, and the boatmen of Lagos have been rowing visitors through the grottoes for as long as the town has had visitors.

Tips

• The boat from the foot of the stair is the cheap one and the intimate one; the marina cruises are bigger and calmer.
• Morning light is on the eastern faces and the arches, afternoon on the point and the lighthouse; the water is clearest in the morning before the boats churn it.
• The stair down is long and there is no lift; the cliff-top views need none of it.
• Kayak and paddleboard rentals run from the Lagos beaches to the point in calm weather.

Nearby

• Praia do Camilo: 1 km back towards the town.
• Praia de Dona Ana: 2 km.
• Lagos marina and old town: 3 km.
• Praia da Luz: 6 km west.