Benagil Cave is a beautiful sea cave along the Algarve’s stunning coastline. The sea cave was carved out by raging waves over centuries. What makes it different from other sea caves? The beautiful opening at the top of the cave that allows light to shine down on the sandy beach within the cave. Over the past several years this Portuguese cave has become Insta-famous and tourists flock to the cave to snap a picture or two. So is Benagil cave worth it? Yes, keep reading and we’ll tell you all about it.
When To Visit Benagil Cave
Benagil Cave is located in the Algarve region of Portugal. The most popular time to visit the Algarve is Fall-Spring. The weather here is warmer than the rest of Portugal so it is a popular vacation destination for the Portuguese, Northern Europeans and International travelers. Summer generally has the best sea conditions.
You can visit Benagil Cave year round. However, you will want to book your tours ahead of time regardless of what time of year you visit. They often book a week to a month in advance, especially the sunrise and sunset tours. Tours can be cancelled due to inclement weather so make sure your plans are flexible in case of bad weather.
Getting There and Around
To get to the Algarve region, we recommend renting a car in Lisbon and driving south. You can fly to several small airports in the Algarve but the drive is relatively short and you’ll need a car when you are in the Algarve. So in our opinion, flying doesn’t make as much sense as driving.
Benagil Cave is between the cities of Portimão and Albufeira. Kayak tours leave from beaches close to Benagil Cave – kayak tours will provide directions on getting to the meeting point. Additionally, you’ll find boat tours that leave from Albufeira, Portimão and Lagos.
All of these Algarve destinations are connected by a very well maintained toll highway. This makes traveling between cities easy and fast. You can also take the non-toll roads between destinations but it will take longer as the roads wind their way through downtowns with traffic.
Benagil Cave By Foot
While we’ll be covering a visit to the interior of Benagil cave via the water, you can also visit Benagil Cave from land. To visit by land, you park near Benagil Beach and walk east along the cliffs to the top of the cave.
If you only want to visit the top of Benagil Cave, park at the “Free Benagil Parking” that you can search on Google Maps and walk about 5 minutes to the top of the cave. From the top of the cave, there is a fence around the opening. You’ll really want to stay behind the fence, unlike some of the idiots you’ll see, the rock beyond the fence is very thin and regularly crumbles into the cave. However, because of the fence you don’t have a great view into the cave from the top.
While we don’t think visiting the top of Benagil Cave is worth a visit on its own, visiting the top of the cave is one of many stops along the 7 Hanging Valleys Trail, which was one of our favorite things to do in Portugal.
What A Visit To Benagil Cave Is Not
If you are visiting Benagil Cave, you will not be allowed to set foot on the beach. But wait, you say, I’ve seen pictures of people on the beach? In 2024 they changed the laws, due to increasing tourist traffic, and now they no longer allow you on the beach. A visit to the beach could come with hefty fines.
You also cannot visit Benagil Cave on your own. They put that rule into place in 2023, due to increasing tourist traffic. You must visit with a certified tour group.
Additionally, they strictly limit the amount of time each tour group can spend in the cave as there is a constant barrage of tour groups from all along the coast. So expect your time in the cave to be 8 minutes or less.
But I swear, it’s still amazing, keep reading! Just adjust your expectations accordingly.
A Visit To Benagil Cave
To visit Benagil Cave, you must visit either with guided boat tour or with guided kayak tour. While you used to be able to swim into the cave or rent a kayak and paddle yourself into the cave, this is no longer allowed. While we generally like to visit attractions independently, I’m actually happy they imposed these new restrictions. If we visited on our own, we likely would have just visited the cave. However, equally as impressive as the cave is the stunning coastline the guided tours take you by. We would have totally missed these if we didn’t go with a guided tour.
By Boat
There are boat tours that leave from Benagil Beach. They are short and constantly turning over tourists. These are a good option if you didn’t book in advance as there are generally spots available. However, there are better tours leaving from Portimão, Albufeira and Lagos. They are all about 2 hours long. The Lagos tour covers more distance but typically is done in a speedboat for the sake of time. If you are taking a boat tour, we’d recommend one leaving from Portimão as you’ll pass prettier sea stacks on your way to Benagil Cave.
When choosing your tour, ensure that you can actually enter the cave. Some boats, especially those leaving from Lagos, are too large to enter the cave. Additionally, some times of day boats are unable to enter the cave due to the tide.
Boats that are able to enter the cave can spend 2 minutes inside the cave. You cannot get out of the boat once you are in the cave. If you visit mid-day, you will likely wait in a line outside of the cave until it is your boat’s turn to enter the cave. Once the tour boats start running mid-morning, you’ll likely see a line of boats waiting outside the cave for the rest of the day.
This is the option we would recommend for families with small children. One of the best advantages of a boat tour is some of them also combine with a dolphin watching tour. However, we also saw dolphins on our kayak tour so I don’t think dolphin sightings are unique to boat tours.
By Kayak
This is the option that we recommend for adults. Kayak tours leave from beaches near to the cave. Our tour left from Carvalho Beach, some tours leave from Benagil Beach or Albandeira Beach.
When choosing your kayak tour, make sure that it includes a tour of the rest of the Algarve coastline. Tours 2 or more hours will include additional attractions. All of the kayak tours we saw were double kayaks. So even if you visit independently, you will be in a kayak with one other person.
All kayak tours enter Benagil Cave. In a kayak, you will also get the opportunity to get closer to the shoreline. However, you still will not be able to get out of the kayak and set foot on the beach.
Kayaks get to spend 8 minutes in the cave. We chose a tour that included photos (the first one listed above) which was nice because our guide took a great photo of us in the cave.
The sunrise kayak tour is the best tour when visiting Benagil Cave. We were literally the first people into the cave in the morning. It was dark when we left the beach but we got to the cave in the beautiful early morning, we were the first people in the cave and we even got to spend extra time in the cave because no one else was waiting to get in. Additionally, sea conditions are generally calmer in the early morning so the actual kayaking was easier. And because our group was speedy in those easy conditions, we were able to explore more of the coastline than the tour actually “included”.
However, that beam of sunlight, famous in photos, is only available midday. So if that is important to you, mid-day would be better.
What To Budget For A Benagil Cave Tour
Benagil Cave Tours cost anywhere from $20-50 USD/person. The length of the tour and departure location can affect the price. We think the tour is totally worth the price. Especially, this tour that we took, which I cannot recommend enough!
What To Pack For Benagil Cave
Dress in layers! I cannot stress this enough. Many people were wearing swimsuit and it just wasn’t necessary and it was cold. Unless your tour specifically mentions that you will be stopping at a beach for a swim ditch the swim wear and dress in active wear.
If you are traveling by boat, wear layers as the sea breeze can be chilly.
If you are doing a kayak tour, wear quick drying active wear. Leggings and a sun shirt would be perfect for women and swim trunks and a sun shirt would be perfect for men. Also, if you are doing a sunrise or sunset tour, bring a lightweight rain jacket too as the breeze is chilly in the morning.
For shoes, we’d recommend water shoes. Not necessarily those ugly mess shoes – just shoes that you can get wet. I like my Chaco sandals and Scott loves these cool looking water shoes.
If you bring your phone, make sure to put it in a waterproof case. This is great for photographing you in your boat or kayak. However, to get the best photos of the cave and other sea stacks, a GoPro is best as the wide angle view allows you to get those sweeping views of the entire cave.
Don’t bother bringing towels. Leave those in the car to dry off from any sea spray that you may have run into.
Safety
Regardless of which tour option you chose, you’ll get a safety briefing. Everyone has to wear lifejackets on all the tours that we saw. We had several people on our tour get scolded for unzipping their jackets. Again, don’t expect that cute outfit to be anywhere in your photos as the life jacket will be over top of it.
We felt very safe with our sea kayak tour guide. We’ve kayaked before but I don’t think that is necessary to be successful. The scariest part of the kayak tour is leaving the beach – that is where the biggest waves are and where you are likeliest to tip over and get wet.
You cannot visit Benagil Cave on your own. There are rules in place to help contain the chaos for a reason. Several tourists have drowned or been hit by boats in their attempt to visit on their own. So respect the rules either in fear for the fines or in fear for your personal safety.
A visit to Benagil Cave was one of our favorite things we did in Portugal. While the actual cave was great, the kayaking on the ocean along the many caves and grottos was even better. We highly recommend a visit to the cave, especially with our tour guides. For more information to help you plan your trip to Portugal, check out our Portugal travel guide here.
