Winding along the southern coast of Portugal, in the Algarve region, the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail is one of Portugal’s most stunning hikes. This hike takes you along the stunning coastline where you’ll look upon some of the best beaches in Europe as you walk along the beautiful sandstone cliffs and a peer into the famous Benagil Cave. This hike can be done two ways: out-and-back or point-to-point. We’ll give tips on hiking it both ways and ideas for how to see the best views with the least amount of walking. We also have a step by step guide of our Seven Hanging Valleys trail hike to give you an idea of what to expect!
Seven Hanging Valleys Trail Stats
- Distance: 6 km (3.7 miles) point-to-point
- Elevation Gain: 310 meters (1,000 feet) – frequent short ups and down
- Time: 4-6 hours including time for views – we would recommend planning for 6-8 hours to give yourself time to stop at a beach or two
- Difficulty: moderate
- Signage: Well-signed; signs were missing in a few places only
About The Seven Hanging Valleys Trail
This trail is a popular hiking trail along the Mediterranean shoreline of southern Portugal. The trail starts at Praia da Marinha beach and ends at Praia do Vale de Centeanes. Praia is the Portuguese word for beach so in case you didn’t get it the trail starts and ends at a beach, which makes a great way to cool off after your walk.
The coastline in this region is dotted with cliffs, grottos and sea stacks. The waves and wind from the sea caused most of the cliffs along the shoreline through centuries of erosion. Additionally, there were rivers flowing from inland (apparently there were seven of them – hence the name), causing additional valleys, grottos and sea stacks to form.
When To Visit
In the springtime, the flowers of the arid coastal plants bloom. This is generally considered the best time to hike this trail. However, it really is lovely year-round. The blue water and the yellow cliffs are scenery enough any time of the year!
If you visit in the summer months, plan on starting early and taking frequent beach rests in the middle of the day. There is no shade on the trail. It was hot when we hiked and we took 3 beach breaks total!
Lastly, if it is raining, make sure you have shoes with a good grip. The limestone cliffs get slippery when wet.
As for time of day, we’d recommend getting here for the sunrise. The sunrise on the limestone cliffs is beautiful. This also means you’ll be hiking in the cooler morning hours. We spent all day doing this hike and planned to spend the warmest parts of the days on beaches rather than walking. Save the walking for the early morning or late afternoon hours. The trail has minimal shade and the sun is strong here.
Getting There
We would recommend completing this hike as a point-to-point hike rather than an out-and-back hike. The scenery is beautiful but we’d rather take our time on the hike and enjoy stopping rather than having to rush through it in order to make the hike back on time. Psst: we spent 8 hours doing the point-to-point hike with all of our stopping.
Therefore, if you do the point-to-point hike, you’ll need to take a ride to your starting point. We grabbed an early morning Bolt to Praia da Marinha. Bolt is a ride sharing app that is common in Portugal and was the most reliable ride share app we used. From Praia da Marinha, it was easy to find the trailhead. Also, at the parking lot, they have vendors selling fresh fruit and other great hiking snacks.
Hiking The Seven Hanging Valleys Trail
First, before you start on the trail, be aware of the signs. The trail has lots of signs to help you find your way. However, they are all in symbol form and the symbols are unlike ones we’ve seen elsewhere. Above is a quick guide to what the signs mean.
There are three ways to hike the trail.
First, you can hike it out-and-back. This eliminate the need for using public transport but it doubles your time. We do not recommend this. This takes 4-6 hours of just straight hiking.
Second, you can hike it point-to-point. This is what we did. The hiking takes 2-3 hours. We spent all day doing this because we stopped a lot. We also added bonus stops that we included below.
Third, you can do a section. If you are only going to do a section, we’d recommend Praia da Marinha to Benagil Beach. This is only 2 km and you could probably do it in an hour.
Below, we’ve included some of the top sights and how far they are from the starting point of Praia da Marinha which is our recommended starting point.
Extra Stop:Praia do Pau
This stop requires a little extra walking before the official start of the hike. It’s a small beach worth the minimal extra walking.
Praia da Marinha (at 0 km)
Praia da Marinha is one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe. We started our morning with a quick stop at this beach to relax and soak up the early morning sun.
Miradouro Viewpoint (at .5 km)
Next, the Miradouro Viewpoint is a short walk off the trail and gives a great view of some sea arches. It is definitely worth the short detour.
Praia da Mesquita (at 1 km)
This beach is small and hard to get to. This beach requires going down some very steep and narrow stairs. There is even a rope to hang on to your way down. The beach is beautiful and feels very private and secluded if you’re willing to make the risky climb. However, it has some very beautiful sea arches that you can photograph from the top of the cliffs.
Alternatively, you can get to this beach at low tide by scrambling over the rocks from Praia da Marinha.
Praia da Corredoura (at 1.5 km)
This beach is only accessible to folks traveling via water. You can view it from the trail but don’t plan on stopping there on your hike.
Benagil Cave (at 1.7 km)
Next, you’ll come to the top of Benagil Cave. From the top, the view isn’t great. To see the incredible views from inside the cave, you’ll need to do a kayak tour. You can book these on Benagil Beach, though we recommend this sunrise tour instead that you’ll need to book ahead of time.
Benagil Beach (at 2 km)
Next stop is Benagil Beach. There is a small town around the beach and the trail head seems to dead end into town, not on the beach. To find the beach, you take a left on the city streets and follow them to Benagil Beach (most times of day you can just follow the noise).
Benagil Beach is not a place to stop and relax. The beach is constantly busy with a steady stream of kayaks coming and going on Benagil Cave tours.
On the west side of the beach, there are steps leading to what looks like a restaurant with outdoor seating. You have to walk out onto the sandy part of the beach to find these steps. Once you find the stairs, you just walk through this outdoor seating area of the restaurant until you pick up the trail on the other side. At least that’s what we did and we didn’t get in trouble. From here, the crowds on the trail really start to thin out and you’ll definitely have to use the trail markers to start navigating.
Praia do Carvalho (at 3 km)
This was an interesting beach to get to. The beach was very small and enclosed on all sides by cliffs. However, to get to the beach, you have to climb lots of carved stone steps through man made tunnels. It is a very steep hike to the beach but the beach feels really secluded and quiet.
Alfanzina Lighthouse (at 5 km)
One of the last attractions along the Seven Hanging Valleys trail is the Alfanzina Lighthouse. You’ll see it ahead of you for quite some time before you approach the base of the lighthouse on the trail. It’s prettier from far away in our opinion. When you’re up close, you can only see the gate surrounding it.
Praia do Vale de Centianes (at 6 km)
This is a big beautiful beach on which to end your walk. We stopped here to relax, cool off and have a drink at the beach side restaurant. The restaurant here is literally on the beach. You have now finished the official Seven Hangin Valleys trail!
Extra Stop: Algar Seco (at 7 km)
About 1 km farther along the coast, you’ll come to Algar Seco. We decided to keep going as we were staying in Carvoeiro and we were just planning on walking back home. Algar Seco is awesome and we’d definitely recommend stopping – even if you come back later to visit it. The walk here was boring but once we got here you can spend lots of time running along the cliffs like a mountain goat. There also are some fun swimming and cliff diving areas here for strong swimmers.
While this worked well for us to visit as part of our Seven Hanging Valleys trail hike, I wish we would have done it when we were more well rested. The swimming and cliff diving looked fun but we didn’t trust are tired legs to the task after a full day of walking. But definitely visit Algar Seco while you are in the Algarve!
Extra Stop: Praia de Carvoeiro (at 8 km)
Lastly, we walked on to Carvoeiro Beach. The walk from Algar Seco to Carvoeiro Beach was really nice and easy – this would be a good walk for people less interested in hiking. There were nice views of the sea but the city was on the other side of the street. Praia de Carvoeiro is right in town and there are lots of restaurants here making it a great place to end a long day of exercise.
What is the best section of the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail?
The most beautiful section of the trail is from Marinha Beach to Benagil Beach. This section is marked by dramatic sea scapes with arches, sea stacks, and beautiful light blue coves. After this section, the coastline straightens out and has fewer unique features. If you are short on time or energy, we’d recommend this 2 km section.
Can I walk it in reverse?
Yes! Absolutely. We chose to walk in this direction because we were staying in Carveoiro and we were able to walk all the way back to the place we were staying. This allowed us to save money by only taking one Bolt. However, if the other direction makes more sense to you, have at it! There isn’t a better direction. Just make sure to look behind you every now and then to get different perspectives of the view.
Where are the restrooms along the trail?
There are few restrooms along the trail. There are restrooms at the parking lot to Marihana Beach and at Benagil Beach. Additionally, there are restrooms at restaurants that are for customers only. So if you anticipate a need for toilet items, you’ll need to pack those in AND OUT. Don’t leave human waste on the trail – and the dirt is too packed to dig a proper hole.
What To Wear
While this hike does take you to several sandy beaches, it primarily covers hard rocky cliffs. You will need shoes with great support and good traction – the rocks get slippery when wet. I’d recommend what I call “hiking sandals” like these. Basically solid sandals with lots of straps to firmly attach yourself to. Flip flops or slides will not work for this hike.
You could also were running or hiking shoes. We’d recommend trail runners over hiking shoes simply because if you visit the beaches you’ll be getting your feet wet throughout the day and wet feet and hiking shoes don’t mix.
For clothing, we’d recommend swimsuits under moisture wicking hiking gear (sturdy well supported swimsuits ladies!). This allowed us to go swimming at the beaches we passed and still be comfortable hiking on the trail.
Lastly, make sure you have a sun hat. We hiked on a hot day in the fall and we were REALLY thankful for our hats. We both got a bit burnt and the hats kept the sun from our faces.
What To Pack
You’ll need to pack your own water. There were very few water filling stations or places to buy water along the trail – we only noticed one at Benagil Beach. We like our Camelbak hydration packs. We have one similar to this one and it is perfect for carrying our water and everything else we need for our day hikes.
Make sure to pack quick drying beach towels or a beach blanket. We used Turkish towels like these. They are great for shaking the sand out and using as a swimsuit coverup until your suit drys. Additionally, make sure to pack sunglasses and sunscreen. You’ll likely spend hours on this trail and you’ll need to reapply sunscreen.
Additionally, pack a bit of cash for lunch or a picnic lunch. We packed some bread and cheese for a picnic and then had a late lunch when we got in to town. You may also want to pack snacks. We originally planned on only spending about 4 hours doing this hike but we ended up spending about 8 hours doing it because we stopped frequently – and we did not have enough food for the day, nor were there enough stops to keep us well fed. Additionally, the few restaurants there are along the walk get very busy during peak meal times.
Safety
For much of the Seven Hanging Valleys trail, you’ll be hiking along a cliff’s edge. There is generally no fence. Make sure to keep away from cliff edges. Additionally, sinkholes and grottos are marked at the top with fences. Do not cross the fences! While there may be rock on the other side of the fence, sometimes those rocks are just a few inches thick and each year someone falls through. This is especially common at the top of Benagil Cave and people blatantly cross the fence. There are high fines if you get caught crossing the fences as well.
We hope this has helped you to plan your own Seven Hanging Valleys trail hike. It was one of the top five things we did in Portugal and we enjoyed our leisurely hiking day. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. If you’re looking for information for planning more of your Portugal vacation, check out our posts below or our Portugal vacation planning page here.
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