Algar Seco, Portugal – The playground for adults

Oh, the art of spontaneous travel. I’m a planner. We don’t travel very often without every detail thought out. But, I always leave one or two days open for a “do whatever you please” kind of day to please the hubs. As this post will prove, we really should leave our plans open more often.

Algar Seco wasn’t even on our radar before our trip to Portugal. But, after stumbling across a picture of it during our 3-hour breakfast in Ferragudo we set our sights on spending our last afternoon in the Algarve wandering around these impeccable caves.  

Running around all of the nooks and crannies of these caves like a little girl at a new playground, Algar Seco proved to be the best part of our trip to Portugal.

Cave landscape

Coming from a boardwalk on top of the caves, you enter the “park” by accessing a staircase down to the rock formations. The caves are multi-layered and easily accessible (I walked around in $5 Target sandals).

As we started to walk down towards the sea, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Around every corner you’ll be greeted by rock formations literally jutting out of the roaring sea below. 

The rocks have remnants of tiny seashells embedded within. The textures and colors change depending on how close to the water the rocks are. It might be the past scientist in my blood (in my former life I was a chemist), but I was in complete awe.

Can it get any better than this? It can and it does!

Grotto Adventuring

After wandering around for about an hour we were thirsty. As we headed up with the intention of going back to the car, we saw a sign in the distance that pointed towards a bar. As we walked towards the sign we realized the bar was carved into the caves!

Despite the fact the drinks were way too expensive (10 euro/drink) I couldn’t resist. We were on vacation after all!

Flash forward an hour and two drinks later and we were in no shape to drive. Alas, we had to explore more. 😉

As we got up we saw a sign that pointed towards an outlook. During our boat trip a few days prior we had seen people standing in what looked like a cave window. We didn’t think we would ever find this vantage point, but lo and behold we did right behind this bar!

Those boat-goers are probably thinking the same thing I did a few days prior “Where is that cave window?!” Well now you know!

Once back up on the boardwalk we saw a white staircase leading down to more caves. We knew we needed at least an hour before we were fit to drive so we made our way down.

If you are into cliff diving this is your place to be. Once you are down into this area you will see a sign that points straight to a cliff-diving point. Once you dive into the water there are steps that lead you right back up to the top. Talk about perfection.

Plus – at the bottom of the cliff diving there is a heart-shaped rock that in my alcohol-hazed state brought me to happy tears.

I was tickled pink. Water, cliffs, sun, time with the love of my life – I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. 

Heading back up to the top to rest with the hubs we enjoyed watching the boats speed by below us. We had a bird friend for a bit and took a bunch of selfies – blame the drinks.

An hour later we were sobered up and headed back to the car.

Our time in Portugal was quickly coming to an end and I was so thankful we got to spend our last few hours at Algar Seco. I couldn’t have dreamed up a more perfect ending. 

The Nitty Gritty

Algar Seco is located smack dab in the middle of the Algarve.

We found parking right down the street for free and it was an easy stroll over to the boardwalk. The town nearby is really cute and if we’re ever back in the Algarve we’ll be spending an entire day in this area to explore more of the town and the surrounding beaches.

The Algar Seco blew us away and is a can’t-miss on your trip to the Algarve. 

Have you ever been to Algar Seco? What did you think?

Happy Trekking!

– Boots not Roots