Ponta da Piedade: a first-timer's guide to the grottos

If you only do one thing on the water in Lagos, make it Ponta da Piedade. This headland of ochre cliffs, sea stacks and hidden caves is the postcard image of the Algarve — and it is even better from the water.

You can experience it three ways: a guided kayak tour (the most intimate — you slip right inside the caves), a small grotto boat tour (relaxed, dry, story-rich), or a self-paddle rental if you're confident and want freedom.

Go early. The light is softest before 11am, the water calmest, and the crowds thinnest. By midday in July and August the grottos get busy with boats.

Bring a dry bag for your phone, reef-safe sunscreen, water, and a hat. Wear something you don't mind getting wet — you will. And leave time to simply float for a while; the colour of the water inside the caves is the thing people remember most.